Who’s to blame for UM’s pass coverage, OL issues? What data says. Many nuggets

The Hurricanes’ first game against a decent opponent amplified two concerns that, to an extent, were hiding in the weeds: pass coverage after a defense that’s depleted at cornerback and an inexperienced offensive line with four new starters.

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What the Pro Football Focus data revealed on both issues in the wake of Miami’s 33-20 win at Wake Forest on Friday night:

Pass coverage

With the Canes (3-0) missing their top cover cornerbacks (OJ Frederique and Xavier Lucas) due to significant injuries – and second-year player Jaboree Antoine also sidelined longterm – Miami has given a larger role to veteran corner Ethan O’Connor and freshman safety JJ Dunnigan.

O’Connor and backup cornerback Damari Brown played well enough Friday. O’Connor snagged UM’s first interception of the season while permitting four completions on six targets for 36 yards. Brown was targeted three times and allowed all three to be caught, for 21 yards.

But Dunnigan, who started opposite Zechariah Poyser, permitted four of five passes in his coverage area to be caught for 90 yards on Friday – including a 49-yard reception by Jack Foley.

(Poyser was fine in coverage, allowing 16 yards on three completions and five targets, per PFF. And Dunnigan, to his credit, had eight tackles and was an asset as a blitzer, generating four pressures on just five pass rushing snaps, including a critical one that forced an errant Geo Lopez throw on 4th and 3 on Wake’s penultimate possession.)

Besides Dunnigan’s early growing pains, two other issues have been hurting UM’s pass coverage:

1). New nickel cornerback Omar Thornton’s physicality and blitzing have been enormous assets, but he hasn’t yet measured up to predecessor Keionte Scott in pass coverage.

On Friday, he permitted four of five targets to be caught for 50 yards, and PFF blamed him for two of Wake Forest’s three touchdown receptions.

The hope was that Thornton, from a pass coverage standpoint, would follow a similar arc as Scott, who yielded a putrid 145.1 passer rating in his final year at Auburn in 2024 (when he was miscast as a boundary cornerback) but a sterling 69.9 rating last year at UM, where he was a natural fit in the slot.

Thornton’s passer rating at Boston College was 126.6 last season. It’s a bloated 113.3 through three games at Miami.

The good news: Thornton has been a menace as a blitzer; he had eight pressures on 17 pass rushing snaps on Friday – and 9 on 23 for the season.

2). Linebacker Mo Toure has been leaky in coverage this season, and that continued Friday. Toure allowed Wake Forest’s first touchdown, one of two completions yielded for 23 yards. He has a 150.3 passer rating in his coverage area through three games, among the worst for FBS inside linebackers.

UM’s other starting linebacker, Chase Smith, gave up three receptions on five targets for 23 yards and has a strong 64.6 passer rating in his coverage area this season.

Backup inside linebacker Ezekiel Marcelin allowed both of the passes in his coverage area to be caught for 26 yards.

One positive has been safety Bryce Fitzgerald’s seamless transition to starting cornerback. He was targeted three times on Friday and allowed just one catch for four yards.

Among UM’s 21 players who logged snaps on defense on Friday, PFF rated O’Connor first and Fitzgerald second; Dunnigan ranked last.

At safety, Dunnigan played a team-high 68 defensive snaps, Poyser played 62 and Dylan Day played 2.

At cornerback, Fitzgerald and Thornton each logged 67 snaps, while O’Connor played 54 and Brown 26.

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Of Lopez’s 312 passing yards against UM, 145 came after the catch.

Offensive line play

After struggling some with run blocking at Stanford, pass protection was an issue in the second half against Wake Forest. That was one of many factors that contributed to UM mustering just 26 yards on its final six possessions after the offense was again virtually unstoppable in the first half.

Per PFF, left tackle Samson Okunlola allowed two pressures, and left guard SJ Alofaituli and right tackle Matthew McCoy permitted one apiece. Alofaituli was given a dismal PFF grade as a pass blocker, by far the worst on UM’s line.

PFF graded McCoy as UM’s best run blocking lineman on Friday and center Ryan Rodriguez as the worst. In Rodriguez’s defense, he hasn’t permitted a single pressure on 88 pass blocking snaps this season, according to PFF.

PFF said McCoy was UM’s third-best offensive player overall Friday, behind Malachi Toney and Darian Mensah.

The five offensive line starters — Rodriguez, Oklunlola, McCoy, Alofaituli and right guard Max Buchanan — each played all 70 snaps on Friday.

The question now is whether five-star freshman Jackson Cantwell, who played just two snaps, will begin taking any of Alofaituli’s playing time.

Another option would be promising freshman Ben Congdon, but he didn’t play at all on offense; nor did Georgia transfer guard Jamal Meriweather.

Besides Cantwell, two other linemen received offensive snaps off the bench — center Rhys Woodrow (two) and left tackle Jacob Hawks (2).

This and that

▪ Mario Cristobal said Toney’s second half snaps were somewhat limited because he “banged up” with an injury that he said wasn’t serious.

As a result, Toney played just 47 of UM’s 70 offensive snaps. Cooper Barkate played 55, Joshua Moore 39, Daylyn Upshaw 34, Vandrevius Jacobs 5 and Vance Spafford 1.

▪ With CharMar Brown leaving in the first half with an apparent knee injury after eight offensive snaps — and Mark Fletcher Jr. departing in the second half with an unspecified upper body injury after 40 snaps –, UM used freshman Javian Mallory on 21 snaps and Girard Pringle Jr. on 11.

Jordan Lyle was in uniform but did not play.

▪ At tight end, Elija Lofton played 61 snaps, Owen Ruskavich 15 and Gavin Mueller 7. PFF said Ruskavich was Miami’s worst player on offense Friday; Barkate was next-to-last.

▪ Though defensive tackle Ahmad Moten quickly returned to the game after an early injury, he was limited to 27 snaps, half of Justin Scott’s 54. Keona Davis played 19 and Jarquez Carter 13.

▪ Among edge players, UM gave 61 snaps to Armondo Blount (who is also needed some at tackle), 51 to Marquise Lightfoot and 41 to Damon Wilson. They combined for a remarkable 25 quarterback pressures, per PFF.

Blount produced nine quarterback pressures and shared a sack with Moten. Wilson had 9 pressures and a sack, and Lightfoot seven pressures on a sack. They were one of the bright spots Friday.

Herbert Scroggins played three snaps and Booker Pickett two.

▪ Marcelin (13), Kamal Bonner (12) and Cam Pruitt (6) are sharing backup inside linebacker duties behind Toure and Smith.

▪ For the season, Mensah is now 71 for 79 for 873 yards, 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. He entered Saturday leading the nation in touchdown passes and completion percentage (89.9).

Per ESPN, he’s the first FBS player in at least 30 years to complete 85% of his passes in three straight games (minimum five attempts).

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This story was originally published September 19, 2026 at 9:35 AM.