Five Canes (four starters) held out with injuries for Miami game; Coach Mark Richt honored

Miami lost four players — three of them starters — to injuries in its win against then-No. 23 Texas A&M on Saturday. The Hurricanes held out all four Thursday against Bethune-Cookman, with another Canes starter also missing the game.

Running back Mark Fletcher Jr., defensive linemen Akheem Mesidor and Branson Deen, and star safety Kamren Kinchens all did not dress for Week 3. Defensive lineman Nyjalik Kelly also did not dress. Fletcher, a freshman, is the only one who didn’t start last week.

Mesidor, Kelly and Deen were all on the sidelines at Hard Rock Stadium, wearing their green jerseys with shorts and without any pads. Mesidor wore a boot on his right foot and Deen had athletic tape covering his knee.

Miami has not specified any of the players’ injuries.

Kinchens’ injury in Week 2 was the scariest. He took a hit to the head in the fourth quarter of the Hurricanes’ win and was placed on a stretcher and transported to the hospital. Kinchens was released from the hospital Sunday, but was not on the sidelines Thursday.

Tight end Elijah Arroyo also remained out for the third straight game as he continues to cover from a knee injury he sustained last season.

Mark Richt honored

A former University of Miami quarterback will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on December 5 — but not for his quarterback play.

Mark Richt, the Hurricanes head coach from 2016 through 2018 and University of Georgia coach from 2001 through 2015, was set to be honored by UM and the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame on Thursday night during the Miami vs. Bethune-Cookman game at Hard Rock Stadium.

Richt isn’t the only former Hurricane who will be inducted in December. Joining him will be former left tackle Bryant McKinnie, who played on the Canes last national championship team in 2001.

Richt played at UM from 1979 to 1982, and was the backup to Jim Kelly, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002 as a former Buffalo Bill.

The National Football Foundation holds a similar “on-campus salute’’ for every future College Hall of Fame inductee, presenting a plaque that stays on permanent display.

Richt led Miami to a 26-13 record that included three bowl appearances, the most prestigious being the Orange Bowl in 2017 after leading UM to the ACC Coastal Division title that season. He was named the ACC Coach of the Year and Walter Camp Coach of the Year in 2017, when UM won its first 10 games and was ranked as high as No. 2 before losing its last three.

Richt, now an analyst for the ACC Network, amassed a 145-51 overall record at Georgia and led the Bulldogs to 15 consecutive bowl appearances. He led Georgia to two SEC titles and is currently the 10th winningest coach in SEC history.

Regarding his career as a UM backup, Richt told Miami reporters in 2017 that he always called Kelly “Lucky Jim,” conceding that “I can probably truthfully say he was better than I was. ... It’s not easy being No. 2.

“There was a moment where I was like, ‘I’m leaving.’ I left the team for like a week. I didn’t like how it felt. I felt like a quitter, and I didn’t want to be a quitter. I groveled and went back to Coach [Howard] Schnellenberger and asked him if I could come back on the team. “When I said I was leaving, it was after spring or the spring game, he said, ‘If you change your mind, let me know.’

“He did open the door for me. Within a few days, I was like, ‘This doesn’t feel right. I love this place. I love my teammates. I’m not leaving.’ Did I play a lot of ball here? No. But God blessed my decision to stick it out and try to do what was in the best interest of the team.”

2024 College Hall of Fame nominees

The 2024 College Football Hall of Fame nominees, announced in June, include four former Hurricanes:

▪ Defensive tackle Jerome Brown, a 1986 unanimous first-team All-American and former Philadelphia Eagle who died in a car accident in 1992 at age 27.

▪ Quarterback Ken Dorsey, a first-team All-American who led the Canes to back-to-back national championship games in the 2001 and 2002 seasons and was the 2001 Maxwell Player of the Year.

▪ Linebacker Darrin Smith, a two-time first-team All-American who helped led the Canes to national championships in 1989 and 1991.

▪ Coach Larry Coker, who posted a 60-15 record at Miami from 2001 through 2006, including a 35-3 record and a national title (and another national title game) in his first three seasons.

Wildcats South Florida connections

At least 13 players on the Bethune-Cookman are from South Florida or attended high school in South Florida, with 11 of them from Broward or Miami-Dade.

Per the B-CU roster, they are CB Omari Hill-Robinson (Fort Lauderdale Dillard High); Nickelback Darnell Deas (Pompano Beach Ely); WR Jaylin Terzado (Hialeah Champagnat Catholic); CB Stephan Peterman (Hollywood Hills); WR Omari Stewart (Miami Norland); CB Hervin Louis (Parkland Stoneman Douglas); DL Conroy Cunningham II (Palm Beach Lakes), S Reyan Blake (Loxahatchee Seminole Ridge); OL Jahmari Sylvester (Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas); Wistanson Mathurin (Coconut Creek Monarch); TE Brandon Armenteros (Pembroke Pines West Broward); DL Jeffson Lafantant (North Miami Beach); and WR Jahem Guillaume (Carol City).

The B-CU coaching staff also has South Florida ties, including offensive line coach Brandon Washington, the Miami Northwestern alum who played at UM from 2009 through 2011, started 28 games and was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft.

Head coach Raymond Woodie Jr. played at Bethune-Cookman and became the Wildcats coach after UM great Ed Reed’s reported contract in principle fell through in early 2023. Woodie has coached at several schools on various levels, including as the Oregon special teams and linebackers coach in 2017; as the Florida State linebackers coach in 2018 and 2019; and as outside linebackers coach/special teams coordinator and assistant head coach at FAU in Boca Raton (2020-2022).

Cristobal was Oregon’s Co-Offensive coordinator/offensive line coach in 2017, and knows Woodie well.

“Great man, great football coach,’’ Cristobal said this week. “Very fond of him... He was awesome with my kids. You always remember that... Tons of respect for him [and] the job he’s doing.’’

Defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Robert Wimberley is a Miami native who played at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Alabama.

Special teams coordinator/tight ends coach DJ McCarthy grew up in Boca Raton and graduated from the University of Washington in 1994, where he played receiver for the Huskies for three seasons.

ACC Championship tickets

Tickets for the 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference Football Championship go on sale to the public at 11 a.m. Tuesday via Ticketmaster.com and through the ACC’s official website at theACC.com.

The game will kick off at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. It’s the first year the ACC title game will adhere to the conference’s new scheduling model, which eliminates divisions and pits the top two teams with the highest winning percentage in regular-season conference play.