Miami football's defense has taken some hits in Thursday night's College Football Playoff Fiesta Bowl showdown against the Ole Miss Rebels at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
With the No. 10-seed Hurricanes already losing defensive back Xavier Lucas after he got tossed from the game for targeting, Miami football's stop unit took another blow shortly after in the fourth quarter, as defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor went down with an injury.
That is in addition to the injury suffered by defensive back OJ Frederique in the first half.
“Miami is without both starting cornerbacks now. Freshman Jaboree Antoine replaced OJ Frederique at halftime. Now, Akheem Mesidor is hurt. Feels like it is all unraveling,” shared Manny Navarro of The Athletic via a social media post on X, formerly Twitter.
The good news for Miami football is that Mesidor appears to be just fine after all, as he's returned to action, according to Navarro in an update.
The senior Mesidor is one of the top defensive players of Miami football. Prior to the Fiesta Bowl showdown against Trinidad Chambliss and the Rebels, he had 56 total tackles and 10.5 sacks — the most on the team. Those are in addition to his four forced fumbles.
In the College Football Playoff semifinal game in the Cotton Bowl against the No. 2-seed Ohio State Buckeyes, Mesidor came up huge for the Hurricanes, as he came up with five total tackles to go along with two sacks to help Miami pull off the upset against the then-reigning CFP champions.
