OJ Frederique's injury will immediately test Miami's ability to overcome adversity

The news on OJ Frederique is not good, and it's one that will stretch the Miami Hurricanes secondary for a while.

Mario Cristobal announced that the junior cornerback suffered a significant injury and will be out for a while. With college football's new 5-for-5 rule and the elimination of redshirts, there's no need for Cristobal to declare Frederique's injury as one that might keep him out for the season. Instead, the Hurricanes will take it week by week. Still, this is a bit of a setback for the defense, and this group will be tested as a whole moving forward.

"OJ suffered a pretty good injury, pretty significant injury," Cristobal said while speaking to the press. "So, he'll be down for quite a while."

Frederique was injured on the second play of Miami's dominant 45-6 win over Stanford over in Palo Alto. He appeared to injure his shoulder while making a tackle. It's not the first shoulder injury for Frederique, who missed a handful of games last season with various injuries. Now, more of the same issue has arrived.

OJ Frederique's absence will put Miami's depth on display for the time being

Frederique entered the season as Miami's No. 1 cornerback and he was considered to be a potential high pick in the 2027 NFL Draft if he decided to declare early. However, injuries have been an issue for the former St. Thomas Aquinas High School standout and this one appears to be the most serious.

Miami has some very experienced depth behind Frederique. Both Ethan O'Connor and Damari Brown have plenty of starts under their belts and both played extensively against Stanford, with Brown's 55 snaps leading all cornerbacks and O'Connor's 46 snaps being second. One of the two players will step in on the opposite side of Xavier Lucas, and Corey Hetherman will put all three in heavy rotation.

There are also a ton of young players that will line up at cornerback, safety or in the nickel spot, which gives Hetherman some flexibility to be creative with packages. Freshmen Chris Ewald Jr. and Camdin Portis are both expected to take on a bigger role at cornerback this week against Florida A&M.

"We'll do different things in different areas," Hetherman said during Monday's media availability. "But we're going to continue to attack offenses the way we normally do."

This will also put more pressure on Miami's pass-rush to get home, which it didn't do much of against the Cardinal. Armondo Blount and safety/nickel Omar Thornton had the only recorded sacks, while the defense had just five quarterback hurries as a whole.

It's a tough position for sure. You hate to see injuries of any sort and no fan wants to hear of a significant starter missing an extended amount of time. The September schedule, however, is a good opportunity for the young players in the secondary to get plenty of snaps, and it gives Hetherman time to figure out the alignments and personnel groupings he feels most comfortable with. Let's just hope Frederique can return at some point this season. 

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