Miami Hurricanes defense has dominated early. But one key element is lacking

University of Miami admin September 15, 2026 0 Comments

Miami Hurricanes defense has dominated early. But one key element is lacking

It’s a point of emphasis for the Miami Hurricanes.

The defensive coordinator talks about it regularly, and the coaching staff discusses it daily.

“We obsess about it,” Corey Hetherman said. “It’s all we talk about.”

Which makes it understandable that despite all the success Miami’s defense has had through its first two weeks — a 45-6 road win against Stanford and 77-7 rout of Florida A&M at home — that frustration looms over the fact that the Hurricanes still have not forced a turnover this season.

As No. 5 Miami (2-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) enters a road game against Wake Forest (2-0) on Friday (7:30 p.m., ESPN), it is one of just four Power 4 conference teams without a turnover forced. Mississippi State, Wisconsin and Georgia Tech are the others.

“We’ve gotten tips, some overthrows, have gotten hands on the football a couple of times,” Hetherman said of his defense, which has broken up 11 passes. “We are going to get one; I’m hoping it’s soon.”

Miami knows firsthand how beneficial it is to win the turnover battle. UM forced 25 turnovers (16 interceptions, nine fumble recoveries) last season in its first year with Hetherman at the helm of the defense. That was tied for the ninth most nationally. Miami went 9-0 in games when winning turnover battle, compared to 2-3 when losing turnover battle and 2-0 when turnover battle was even.

Luckily for the Hurricanes, the rest of their game on defense has held up against a pair of inferior opponents. Miami has held teams to an average of 203 yards per game, a 20.7% success rate on third down (6 for 29) and out of the end zone (the only touchdown UM has allowed was on a fumble recovery for a touchdown).

But they yearn for more. They want those game-changing plays. That’s the next step for this unit.

“We know we haven’t, and we really emphasize ball security and ball disruption as hard as you can,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “But we haven’t done a good enough job. That is part of a long list of things that we have to get better at. We’ve had some bright moments. We have had some solid play in some areas, but as a football program, we have to get a heck of a lot better in just about every phase.”

Secondary support

And Miami will look to get those big turnovers while sorting out its secondary.

The Hurricanes will be without both of their starting outside cornerbacks in Xavier Lucas and OJ Frederique Jr. on Friday against Wake Forest for the immediate future after that as they deal with injuries.

Neither played against FAMU, which prompted some big changes in how the Hurricanes lined up in the defensive backfield.

Most notably, sophomore Bryce Fitzgerald moved down from safety to start at outside cornerback along with Damari Brown. Freshman JJ Dunnigan started at safety with Zechariah Poyser. Omar Thornton stayed at his usual starting nickel position.

Hetherman preaches versatility with his defensive backs, and it shows with how they practice. On any given day during 1-on-1 drills, Hetherman will have all his defensive backs — cornerbacks and safeties alike — practice both press coverage and off-ball coverage so that they are comfortable in both.

“We want to see guys down [at the line of scrimmage]. We want to see them working on the slot. We want to see them playing off versus slot. We want to see him playing versus tight end. We want to see him playing versus the outside receiver,” Hetherman said. “We move our guys around so much that I think it helps them get prepared for the moment that ‘Hey, do I have to be a corner? Do I have to be a nickel? Do I have to be a safety? Am I going to go and play linebacker?’ Whatever it is that they need to step up for.”

And while they will be playing without two key players, the Hurricanes are plenty confident in the group at their disposal.

In addition to Brown and Fitzgerald, redshirt junior Ethan O’Connor received plenty of playing time last season in Miami’s outside cornerback rotation. Hetherman also pointed out the growth of redshirt sophomore Ryan Mack, redshirt freshman Chris Ewald and true freshmen Camdin Portis, Brody Jennings and Jaelen Waters.

“I think the biggest thing with the room that we have, especially like in spring football and in fall camp, when some of the guys came back, is just the competition,” Hetherman said. “And I think anytime you have a lot of competition in a room, it pushes that room to get better and better every single day And I think that’s where you can see the way we roll on defense in camp, the way we do it, I don’t really look at ones, twos, threes. It’s just, ‘Hey, let’s get guys in there.’ … So the guys, they’ve been in there with the ones, they’ve been in there with the twos, they’ve been in there with the threes, they’ve been against different receivers we have, the different looks that we’ve shown on offense. And I think they’re used to playing together.”

This story was originally published September 15, 2026 at 11:25 AM.