How Hurricanes’ Lightfoot becoming ‘serious about football’ is seriously helping UM

Marquise Lightfoot heard the chatter.

He’s only a pass rusher. He’s too small to be an every-down defensive end.

“I was trying to this whole offseason,” Lightfoot said, “on changing that narrative.”

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Four weeks into the season, Lightfoot has proven his worth for the No. 4 Miami Hurricanes (4-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). He leads the team with 17 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and four sacks, the latter of which is already a single-season career high and tied for 10th nationally. His 11 quarterback pressures, per Pro Football Focus, are tied with Armondo Blount for the team lead.

And Lightfoot has a couple notable mentors who helped him get to this point in former Hurricanes edge rushers Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor, both of whom were first-round NFL Draft picks in April.

“Their work ethic taught me a lot with just how I operate on and off the field,” Lightfoot said Tuesday ahead of Miami’s prime-time road game against Clemson (3-1, 2-0 ACC) on Saturday (7:30 p.m., ABC). “Just taking time to evaluate myself and upgrade myself as a player and as a person. That like covers really all the categories. I just watched them [pay so much] attention to detail, and they implemented the same things onto me. I’m basically just trying to do that and implement the same things onto the younger guys.”

Or, as Miami coach Mario Cristobal summarized it…

“He’s become serious about football,” Cristobal said Monday.

“He drifted a little bit [in the past], working through immaturity,” Cristobal continued. “He’s a guy that loves football. The more he was around Mesidor and Bain, they started affecting him and you saw the habits change. His body changed, investment in the weight room changed. He’s closer to 240 pounds, for him that’s a lot. His metrics in the weight room are off the charts. And he’s getting better, doing a much better job, still has a lot to work on. We’re proud of him.”

Lightfoot is slowly but surely turning into the player the Hurricanes hoped they would get when they signed him three years ago. Lightfoot was a five-star recruit and the No. 31 overall prospect in the Class of 2024 according to the 247Sports composite ranking coming out of Chicago’s Kenwood Academy. He only played five defensive snaps as a true freshman before being used primarily as a pass rusher in 2025. Lightfoot had success in that role, logging 2.5 sacks and 30 quarterback pressures in 166 pass-rushing snaps.

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He has already elevated his game to another level one month into his junior year. Entering the Clemson game, Lightfoot has the second-highest grade among Hurricanes defenders by Pro Football Focus (79.5, behind only cornerback Ethan O’Connor’s 79.5) and the highest pass-rushing grade on the team (87.8).

“His buy-in in the weight room, the way he attacked his development from his pad level to hand placement, his reads and reactions in that room, it’s been very good,” defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman said. “He’s playing at a high level.”

So… what changed?

“It’s just the work ethic,” Lightfoot said. “It’s understanding that I’m a football player at the end of the day, and I’ve gotta prioritize everything that goes into that, which is my health and how I eat. I’m a defensive end. I’m gaining weight, so there is a lot goes into that. But I still say work ethic mainly.”

His effort has helped Miami’s defensive line step up its production. The Hurricanes have recorded 13 tackles for loss and seven sacks during the past two games (wins over Wake Forest and Central Michigan) after having just six tackles for loss and three sacks through their first two games (wins over Stanford and Florida A&M).

“That’s our standard,” Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot is helping maintain it.

And those who helped set it have told him as much.

“I just spoke to Bain the other day,” Lightfoot said. “He just wants me to keep going, telling me I’ve been rushing my ass off. That’s a good feeling.”

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This story was originally published September 29, 2026 at 12:51 PM.