Miami loses key defensive starter to long-term injury after Week 1
Published:
Miami might have won its season opener in dominant fashion on Friday night, but the 45-6 victory at Stanford came out a big cost, as it turns out.
On Monday afternoon, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal revealed to reporters that starting cornerback Romanas “OJ” Frederique Jr. sustained a “pretty significant injury” and that the star junior will be out for “quite a while.”
Frederique is a local product who played his prep ball down the road at powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale. He’s in his 3rd season in the program, but his campaign has been short-circuited after he made 1 solo tackle in the Week 1 blowout win.
Now, Cristobal’s 7th-ranked team will have to adjust to life without Frederique, who has been a productive player since he arrived in 2024. During his freshman season, Frederique finished with 27 total tackles, 21 of which were solo. He added 1 interception and 7 pass deflections as a freshman.
Frederique followed up that freshman breakout season with 19 tackles as a sophomore, 12 of them solo, and 7 more pass deflections.
Now, the 6-foot, 185-pounder would appear to have a long road back, according to what Cristobal told reporters on Monday, as the Canes’ national championship hopes likely took a little bit of a hit after just 1 game.
Frederique originally committed to play at West Virginia when he came out of high school. But then he flipped his commitment to Miami, staying local to play for the Hurricanes.
With Frederique out indefinitely, Miami will be challenged more during the regular season as it strives to get back to the College Football Playoff. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the Hurricanes’ chances to do just that despite this latest significant injury:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
