Miami offensive lineman injured against Duke after several Canes returned from injuries

Several former injured Miami Hurricanes were back and played against Duke at Hard Rock Stadium — not that it did much good in the 45-21 UM loss.

But one Hurricane, usual backup center Jonathan Denis, who started Saturday for formerly injured Jakai Clark, appeared to be hurt significantly when he went down with 5:07 left in the second quarter. Denis, 6-3 and 320 pounds, had to be helped off the field and could not touch his left foot to the ground as he hopped off. Clark then replaced him and played the rest of the game.

Back were starting tight end Will Mallory, running back Henry Parrish, receiver Mike Redding III, center Jackai Clark — and for the first time in many weeks, sophomore receiver Jacolby George, who also was used as a punt-returner.

Last week at Virginia Tech, tight end Mallory, UM’s leading receiver with 23 catches for 304 yards coming into Saturday, was hit hard in his right shoulder/upper body area early in the second quarter and left the game for good. Mallory, a fifth-year senior, had two catches for 45 yards and a 34-yard third-quarter touchdown.

Mallory’s backup, Elijah Arroyo, was already out the rest of the season with an injury.

George, who played one game Sept. 17 at Texas A&M and came into Saturday with three catches for 41 yards, got get game action for the first time after sustaining a hand injury. George, 6-0 and 176 pounds out of Plantation High, caught five passes for 30 yards. He returned one punt for 10 yards.

Cristobal gave no specific updates after last game, other than saying he thought some of the players were “on track” to return against Duke.

Linebacker Waynmon Steed was not seen at the game, nor was offensive guard Justice Oluwaseun and tackle Zion Nelson.

Nelson, projected in the preseason as a high NFL Draft pick, has only played in one game after arthroscopic knee surgery in July, followed by a recent setback. Oluwaseun sustained a more significant injury against North Carolina.

Also out long-term this season: freshman running back TreVonte’ Citizen, who sustained a major knee injury during fall camp; and Tailback Don Chaney Jr., who missed the final 10 games of the 2021 season after major knee surgery and came back for the start of fall camp only to sustain a lower-extremity injury the second half of August. He has been out since. Both were at the game.

From Hurricane to Blue Devil

Last year’s Miami Hurricanes interim head coach was back Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium — across the field from the Canes as the Duke co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach.

After Manny Diaz was fired Dec. 6, the move that immediately preceded the hiring of Mario Cristobal as head coach, Jess Simpson was named the head coach for the bowl game that UM never played. Simpson is one of four assistants who left UM (3-3, 1-1 ACC before the game) for Duke (4-3, 1-2) after Cristobal was hired.

Ishmael Aristide, last year’s Hurricanes outside linebackers coach, Miami native and son of former longtime Miami Northwestern principal Wallace Aristide, serves as the Blue Devils’ cornerbacks coach.

David Feeley, last year’s director of strength and conditioning for football, serves as associate director of sports performance and director of football sports performance. And Tyler Miles, who was an assistant to Feeley last year, serves as an assistant director of sports performance.

Simpson, who spent the two years before Miami as the defensive line coach for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, was a high-profile head high school coach in Buford, Georgia, where he won seven state titles and compiled a record of 164-12 (.932) in 12 years. But he was especially excited to get the chance — which never materialized — to coach UM in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.

Leading up to the bowl, Simpson, who also was the D-line coach at Miami in 2018, said he was “fired up” to coach in it, which would have been his first game as a college head coach. UM pulled out of the Sun Bowl on Dec. 26 because of COVID-19 issues, about four hours after scheduled opponent Washington State had arrived in El Paso, Texas, for the Dec. 31 game.

Ishmael, 32, know as “Ish,’’ told reporters last year that he “came out of the womb” wearing a “Miami bib.’’ He was born at Miami’s North Shore Medical Center.

“He comes out, he’s a boy and I grab him and start running around the hospital room with my baby in my arms,’’ Wallace Aristide, a former head coach in the 1990s at North Miami and Miami Central and 1980s center for Bethune-Cookman under legendary Miami Dolphin Larry Little, told the Herald last year. “I was soooo happy. You know when you score a touchdown? I felt like I had scored one.’’

Brinson, Seymore get first starts

Sophomore wide receiver Romello Brinson showed signs of his talent last season with a flashy touchdown catch against Central Connecticut State and three catches against Michigan State. But Charleston Rambo was starting ahead of him, so his opportunities were limited.

Brinson got his first career start on Saturday against Duke and got on the stat sheet with an 8-yard catch on the Hurricanes’ opening drive. The Miami native was a three-time state champion at Northwestern High and chose UM over Alabama, Clemson, Florida, and Georgia, among others.

Another local player making his career start was right guard Laurance Seymore, who stepped in for injured Justice Oluwaseun. Seymore, a redshirt freshman, is a 315-pound Miami Central High graduate who spent most of his first season on the practice squad.