Hurricanes freshmen ‘stepped up to the test’ in extended playing time vs. FAMU

University of Miami admin September 12, 2026 0 Comments

Hurricanes freshmen ‘stepped up to the test’ in extended playing time vs. FAMU

Matt McCoy was like most of the Miami Hurricanes veterans on Thursday.

By the time the second half rolled around in No. 7 Miami’s 77-7 rout of Florida A&M at Hard Rock Stadium, the fifth-year senior offensive lineman and first-year starting right tackle was on the sideline, giving way for the next generation of UM players to get pivotal live reps.

Most notably: 27 members of Miami’s 29-member true freshman class took the field on either offense or defense in the blowout.

And those players didn’t let up, with the offense continuing to score touchdowns and the defense continuing to keep Florida A&M out of the end zone even as the team rolled through its second- and third-team units over the final 25 minutes (the fourth quarter was abbreviated to 10 minutes).

As for the starters who got the second half off? They loved every minute of it.

“I felt like a proud uncle,” McCoy said. “It was amazing. I was so hyped that I almost caught a calf cramp just jumping out there, just being happy for them. It’s amazing just seeing all those guys out there. They did a phenomenal job. They stepped up to the test. We want to see guys hold up the standard, and they did. So they did a phenomenal job.”

Miami was expecting big things out of its 2026 recruiting class, which was ranked No. 8 nationally by 247Sports. The group has gotten plenty of playing time over the first two weeks as the Hurricanes have rolled past Stanford and Florida A&M.

Thursday showed that a few in particular have the chance to be critical pieces for the team this season.

Running back Javian Mallory ran for a team-high 142 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns. It was the most yards in a game by a UM true freshman since Duke Johnson had 176 yards on Nov. 24, 2012, against Duke. He’s part of a stacked running back room that includes Mark Fletcher Jr., CharMar “Marty” Brown, Girard Pringle Jr. and (potentially soon) Jordan Lyle and has found his way to getting meaningful carries with his combination of size (5-11, 210 pounds), burst and vision.

“Coming into this game,” Mallory said, “I knew I had to make the most of it, and that’s what it did.”

All four true freshman receivers (Somourian Wingo, Vance Spafford, Milan Parris and Tyran Evans) and both freshman tight ends (Gavin Mueller and Israel Briggs) caught passes, with Wingo and Spafford also hauling in their first touchdowns.

Jackson Cantwell, the top recruit from the class, played 26 snaps and continued to get spot reps with the first team offensive line at right guard and stayed on the field for a bit with the second unit as well. Four other freshman offensive linemen played as well: Rhys Woodrow (team-high 39 snaps), Ben Congdon (26 snaps), Canon Pickett (20 snaps) and Joel Ervin (three snaps).

Meanwhile, first-year quarterback Dereon Coleman entered in the final two minutes of the third quarter and finished the game, completing 5 of 6 passes for 30 yards while rushing for 25 yards on four carries.

On defense, JJ Dunnigan made his first start at safety and led the Hurricanes with five tackles against Florida A&M. He held the Rattlers to just 18 passing yards on three pass attempts (all completions) that went his way while playing 23 snaps — tied for the second-most snaps among UM players in the secondary and tied for fourth-most overall among defenders.

Dunnigan was one of five freshman defensive backs that received plenty of run on Thursday, which was needed considering the Hurricanes have question marks in that unit following a slew of injuries. The team is down three cornerbacks long-term in starters OJ Frederique and Xavier Lucas plus key backup Ja’Boree Antoine. Because of that, Bryce Fitzgerald moved down from safety to cornerback to start opposite Damari Brown, which opened the door for Dunnigan to start at safety opposite Zechariah Poyser.

Beyond Dunnigan, Cortez Redding played 24 snaps, Camdin Portis 15, Brody Jennings 15 and Jaelen Waters nine. Redding had one of the team’s six pass breakups to go along with three tackles. Jennings, Waters and Portis each had one tackle.

In the front seven, nine freshmen took the field: DeAnthony Lafayette (five snaps), Asharri Charles (three snaps), Keshawn Stancil (three snaps), Logan Nagle (three snaps), Jordan Campbell (two snaps), Isaac Chukwurah (two snaps), Fred Sainteus (two snaps), Karsten Busch (two snaps) and Tyson Bacon (two snaps).

“It’s really exciting to see all my dogs in the freshman class making plays,” Dunnigan said. “Those are my brothers. I’m really excited for this class to see what we can do.”