Miami football expects Jeremiah Payton and another player out vs. Louisville
The Miami football team is expected to be without redshirt freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Payton and one other player against Louisville due to COVID-19 concerns.
As first reported by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, the Miami football team left at least one player at home and potentially another as of 3:00 PM ET. Redshirt sophomore Jeremiah Payton had a post on his Instagram stories wishing his teammates well that he has since taken down.
If Payton cannot go, one of the four true freshman Miami wide receivers will move up a spot on the depth chart. Payton is currently listed second on the depth chart for Miami as one of the three starting WRs behind junior Mark Pope. True freshman Daz Worsham is listed as the third WR behind Payton.
Although potentially Payton and the other unknown player have been exposed to COVID it has not been confirmed if they have the virus or just came into contact with someone who does. The game between Miami and Louisville has not been canceled and per ACC procedure Miami is not close to being required to cancel.
Miami left for Louisville on Friday afternoon as reported by the Twitter account that tracks sports teams traveling SportsAviation. At the least, if the game is canceled, the Miami football team would have to return to South Florida after already arriving in Louisville. Expect the game to be played.
A person involved in UM program said at least 1 UM player is not traveling to Louisville because of a COVID-19 issue. I have not confirmed if a 2nd player is also not traveling. Game is still on at this point. UM's policy is not to comment on how many -if any -players have virus.
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) September 18, 2020
Miami fan Robby Esplin captured the post by Payton that clearly came from his Instagram account. Payton’s exact words to his teammates was “Wishing the gang the best. Y’all know what we gotta due.” The post tagged Miami WRs Pope, Mike Harley, Dee Wiggins and Marshall Few. Payton played 29 snaps against UAB.
Only Wiggins with 70 snaps, Pope with 53 and Harley with 47 played more snaps among the Miami WRs according to Pro Football Focus. Few played 16 snaps and true freshman Michael Redding III played 12 snaps at WR for Miami. No other Hurricanes WRs played against UAB.
BREAKING: Miami WR Jeremiah Payton did not travel with the team today and could be OUT for tomorrow night’s game at Louisville. He used the 😷 emoji on IG. It seems like he might have had a positive test, though not confirmed. pic.twitter.com/fEYEtHXePK
— Spark College Football (@SparkCFB) September 18, 2020
Miami might need to go deep into the depth chart on Saturday night against a high scoring Louisville offense. Beyond Harley, Pope and Wiggins, Miami does not have a lot of experience at WR. Redding, Worsham and fellow freshmen Xavier Restrepo and Keyshawn Smith provide the Hurricanes with a deep receiving corps.
A tweet from Jackson at about 3:40 ET stated “UM tells me that the football game at Louisville Saturday definitely will be played. There is no consideration to postponing…at least one rotation player was left home. Situation under control.” The report that at least one rotation player was left home matches Payton’s Instagram post.
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More information will come out as Miami settles in their hotel in Louisville. At the very least expect more information available on ESPN College Foootball Game Day on Saturday morning. Miami and Louisville is the ABC College Football Primetime Game of the Week and ESPN Gameday will be live from there Saturday morning.