Miami tight end Elijah Arroyo makes return after more than a year; and injury report

The Hurricanes on Saturday finally got back a player who was expected to be a major contributor before he got hurt early last year.

Tight end Elijah Arroyo, a 6-4, 245-pound redshirt sophomore from Frisco, Texas, played for the first time since sustaining a major left-knee injury in last year’s fourth game against Middle Tennessee State. He wore white compression leggings over a brace on the knee, and entered the game on UM’s third series, making a nice block on a 7-yard Henry Parrish rush.

Last week, Arroyo dressed in uniform against Georgia Tech, but sat on the sideline and didn’t get into the game.

Arroyo, a 6-4, 245-pound redshirt sophomore from Frisco, Texas, has not played since that late September 2022 game at Hard Rock. He was ranked by 247Sports as the nation’s No. 4 tight end as a four-star prospect and 21st best player in Texas. He had more than 1,200 yards and 17 receiving touchdowns in his two high school varsity seasons.

Before Saturday, three UM tight ends had combined for five catches for 77 yards and a touchdown.

Also out for the second straight game was freshman running back Mark Fletcher, who had a knee-high boot on his left leg on the sideline last game against Georgia Tech and didn’t travel to UNC. Fletcher first got hurt in the Sept. 9 win against Texas A&M and missed the next week’s game against FCS Bethune-Cookman. He returned to play at Temple on Sept. 23.

Out Saturday for the fourth straight game was former starting defensive end Akheem Mesidor, who injured his left foot Sept. 9 against Texas A&M. He was on the sideline dressed in street clothes.

ESPN’s Rece Davis takes shot at Cristobal

Even ESPN’s good-natured College GameDay host Rece Davis took a shot at Miami coach Mario Cristobal during Saturday’s morning broadcast.

“This is the kind of game North Carolina has lost forever,’’ Davis said before No. 25 UM’s game at No. 12 North Carolina. “But this year feels different. They’ve got [Heisman Trophy contender] Drake Maye. They’ve got their star receiver back. They’re rolling and they believe they can win the ACC.

“But when Miami comes calling, the one thing they had better know, the Hurricanes won’t just come in there and take a knee…’’

Then Davis got quiet as the other supposedly surprised hosts looked at Davis. “Too soon?” Davis asked, as ESPN showed a replay of UM running back Don Chaney Jr.’s fumble after Cristobal opted not to take a knee with 33 seconds left in last week’s Georgia Tech game. Georgia Tech scored four plays later and won.

Fellow GameDay participant Desmond Howard said he attended UM’s practices Wednesday and Thursday. “I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that he did not lose his team,’’ Howard said of Cristobal. “I spoke to players, spoke to Mario. I even spoke to the team pastor. They were in good spirits. They understood what took place Saturday night [and that] it’s something they can put behind them...

“If they can win this game,’’ Howard continued, “people’s memories will start to get a little hazy and fuzzy about what happened against Georgia Tech. Mario said this kind of humanized him for his players. When something like that happens it can galvanize your team and try to turn a negative into a positive. That’s the attitude of the Canes going up to take on the Tar Heels.”

After that, all five GameDay folks, including guest picker Joel McHale, chose UNC to beat Miami. Davis doesn’t make predictions.

UNC center played 5 years at UM

The University of Miami has its eighth-year wonder in 25-year-old tight end Cam McCormick, who began his seven-season career at the University of Oregon in 2016 before transferring to Miami in January for his eighth year of football.

But the North Carolina Tar Heels have their own mature grinder in 6-3, 305-pound starting center Corey Gaynor, who played for Miami for five seasons before transferring to UNC before the 2022 season. Gaynor, from Parkland, graduated from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, where he was a Miami Herald first-team All-Broward.

Gaynor had started 27 consecutive games for UM — 28 in all including one start his freshman season in 2017 — before knee pain got too severe to continue and he underwent surgery after starting the first three games of 2021. Last season, he started all 14 games for the Tar Heels as a team captain and was named Honorable Mention All-ACC for a UNC team that averaged 462.8 yards and 34.4 points per game.

While at UM, Gaynor started for a line that had left tackle Zion Nelson, guard Navaughn Donaldson, guard DJ Scaife and tackle Jarrid Williams. All of them except for Nelson are no longer on the Canes roster, and Nelson, who barely played last season, has not seen the field this year.

UM’s starting offensive linemen, from left to right, are now Jalen Rivers, Alabama transfer Javion Cohen, UCF transfer Matt Lee, Anez Cooper and former five-star prospect Francis Mauigoa.

The Canes’ rushing offense was 13th nationally (of 130 FBS teams) heading into the UNC game, averaging 211 yards a game. Miami’s passing offense was No. 22, averaging 294.8 yards. UM was ranked 16th in sacks allowed (5).

In a story published earlier this month on the UNC athletics website, Gaynor was asked what Florida activity he misses most.

“Being able to be outside in a pool at all times of the year,’’ he said. “Here, the cutoff is coming if it hasn’t already passed. I miss the year-round pool access the most.’’

Turnover dip

The Hurricanes went from being among the leaders nationally in turnovers lost to not-so-great in one week.

Before the Georgia Tech game, UM was fifth in the nation with three turnovers lost — one interception and two fumbles. But their five turnovers against Georgia Tech — three interceptions and two lost fumbles — plummeted them down to 61st of 130 teams ranked in that category.

“We do have a ball security circuit we do during the week,’’ UM offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said when the Canes were among the best in turnovers lost. “We stress it hard. We have people that are stressing it every time a play is run. There’s not a play that is run at practice that people aren’t stressing ball security. And if you’re not securing the ball the proper way you get called out on it.”

Dawson said that staff members take photos “all through practice and when a picture is taken and you have poor ball security that picture is sent to you.”

“Kids know what we expect as far as ball security and that is never going to change, from Coach Cristobal down. The quickest way to lose a game is to turn the ball over and if you turn it over in the wrong areas of the field it’s even more detrimental. We do harp on it a lot, but do we harp on it more than other programs? I don’t know.”

Quietly making mark

Hurricanes kicker Andy Borregales was quietly having another strong season heading into the UNC game.

The junior out of Hialeah Champagnat Catholic had hit nine of his 10 attempted field goals this season and 21 of 22 extra-point attempts — the one miss on a bad snap. Last week against Georgia Tech, Borregales scored the only first-half points on a 30-yard field goal before kicking a clutch 39-yard field goal with 6:23 left to tie the score at 17.

Before Saturday, three of the past UNC-Miami games were decided by three points. Borregales was asked how he prepares himself mentally for the possibility of facing a game-tying or winning kick. Borregales said he stays “as calm as possible, trusting the work I put in, trusting my snapper, the line, the holder — everyone — and letting my body take control.”

This season, his longest field goal was a 50-yarder against Texas A&M and only miss came from 54 yards that game. He’s averaging 63.5 yards on 35 kickoffs, of which 22 have been touchbacks.

“There’s always room for improvement, always something you can work on,’’ he said earlier this week. “For me it’s my kickoffs. I’ve been working on that a lot and my consistency on field goals.’’

Borregales is the younger brother of former UM/FIU kicker Jose, who won the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top collegiate kicker in 2020. Younger bro has had some big-time moments as well. Last season, Borregales went four-for-four on field goals, including the game-tying kick at the end of regulation in an eventual four-overtime victory.

Captains

The Canes captains for UNC: quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, center Matt Lee, cornerback Te’Cory Couch, linebacker Francisco Mauigoa.