Miami football without Safety Amari Carter and DL Jason Blissett for Cheez-it Bowl
The Miami football team will be without Safety Amari Carter and defensive lineman Jason Blissett for their Cheez-it Bowl game against Oklahoma State on Tuesday.
The Miami football team will be without senior starting safety Amari Carter and second-team redshirt freshman defensive lineman Jason Blissett for their Cheez-it Bowl game against Oklahoma State on Tuesday. Carter is second on Miami with 53 tackles this season and has one pass breakup and two fumble recoveries.
Playing behind senior DT Jon Ford, junior Nesta Jade Silvera and redshirt freshman Jared Harrison-Hunte, Blissett had seven tackles this season. Jalar Holley will likely receive the snaps with Blissett out. Harrison-Hunte returns for the first time since a season-high five tackles and a 0.5 sack against North Carolina State November 6.
Redshirt junior Bubba Bolden and junior Gurvan Hall will start at safety for Miami with Carter out. Bolden leads Miami with 65 tackles and has four tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, three pass breakups, four forced fumbles and two blocked field goals against Clemson. Hall has 37 tackles, 1.5 TFLs and three pass breakups.
Freshman Brian Balom will sub in behind Carter and Hall. Balom contributed 10 tackles this season in limited playing time. Miami already knew they would be missing defensive ends, Jaelan Phillips and Quincy Roche who opted out earlier this month to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft.
The return of Harrison-Hunte is huge for the Miami defensive line. Harrison-Hunte supplanted Ford as the starter at DT earlier this season. In seven games, Harrison-Hunte has 16 tackles, 5.5 TFLs and one forced fumble. The young Miami defensive linemen playing can use the Cheez-it Bowl to develop for 2021.
After a three-game stretch with six players missing against Virginia, 11 against North Carolina State and 13 against Virginia Tech before having to take a two week hiatus due to players lost to COVID-19 Miami is as healthy as it has been in nearly two months to face a 7-3 Oklahoma State team in Orlando.