The Miami Hurricanes' secondary depth was tested two plays into Friday's opener against Stanford when starting cornerback OJ Frederique went down with an injury and was removed from the game.
Frederique, a junior, appeared in 11 games and made nine starts. He did miss five games with injuries last season and his availability will be key for the Hurricanes' defense in 2026. Manny Navarro from the Athletic reports that Frederique appeared to be favoring his shoulder after making a tackle.
I'm no doctor and not trying to make a big deal of it, but it looked like OJ Frederique might've tweaked his shoulder on his first tackle and the game's second play from scrimmage. We'll see if he comes out for the second series.
— Manny Navarro (@Manny_Navarro) September 5, 2026
OJ Frederique has superstar potential if he can stay healthy
There's no good news when a starter goes down with an injury, especially one that's expected to be a shut-down corner, but the Hurricanes have a lot of talent in the secondary and several experienced starters.
Mario Cristobal did not release a depth chart prior to the game, a disturbing trend in itself, but it's assumed that Damari Brown and Ethan O'Connor are the first two guys that will come off the bench and Brown was a part-time starter, making five starts in 12 games last season and O'Connor appeared in all 16 games last year with six starts. Both players are extremely capable and competitive, so there isn't going to be much drop off.
Let's hope Frederique's injury isn't one that's going to have him miss much time. Shoulder injuries can be tricky to recover from and while Miami should be fine for the first month of the season, I'm sure Corey Hetherman would love to have Frederique back when the schedule stiffens up in October.
Until then, there's no reason that Brown and O'Connor can't hold the fort down and there will be opportunities for some young guys to step up as well. Camdin Portis, a true freshman and son of legendary Hurricanes running back Clinton Portis, is a player that could soon find his way on the field.
Stanford did find some success in the pass game in the first half. Davis Warren was expected to throw a lot, and he was 14-of-25 for 159 yards and hit a couple of long plays. Miami has had trouble keeping up with Stanford's top playmaker Caden Hall, who has six catches for 92 yards.
So there are a few things to shore up in the secondary and the pass rush will have to get home a little more to help the Miami pass defense. Armondo Blount had the only sack for the Hurricanes and overall the defensive line has been ok, but not flying around like we expected.
Frederique's injury is one to monitor, but don't expect to see him in the second half of a game that has the makings of a blowout.
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