Miami loses top freshman running back Mark Fletcher Jr. to foot injury in Pinstripe Bowl

The Miami Hurricanes lost another major true freshman to what could be a significant injury Thursday in their 31-24 loss to Rutgers in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.

Mark Fletcher Jr., the 6-2, 225-pound bruiser who started four games this season, including the bowl, was grimacing in pain as he was carted off the field late in the first quarter on a non-contact injury to his left foot. Fletcher took a handoff from quarterback Jacurri Brown, made a cut and continued for 2 yards before falling. He put no pressure on the foot as he was helped off the field at 4:20 of the opening quarter.

UM coach Mario Cristobal said after the game that the X-rays came back negative for Fletcher but that “certainly something’s going on there.’’

Fletcher, a Plantation American Heritage alum, ended his first season as the second-leading UM rusher with 105 carries for 514 yards and five touchdowns (4.9 yards a carry). He added seven catches for 62 yards.

Last month, freshman quarterback Emory Williams sustained a compound fracture of his left (nonthrowing) arm at Florida State.

Also on Thursday, UM sophomore linebacker Wesley Bissainthe was injured and attended to by UM medical personnel at the start of the fourth quarter. Bissainthe walked off the field on his own, and Cristobal said it was an upper body injury.

Lineup changes galore

The Miami Hurricanes were without several former starters Thursday.

The Hurricanes were missing three usual starters on offense and three on defense.

Fourth-year junior quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who transferred to Wisconsin, was replaced by sophomore Jacurri Brown. Heading into the game, Brown had not played a single snap this season. He had two previous starts in 2022.

UM’s offensive line starters Matt Lee (center) and Javion Cohen (left guard) were replaced by 6-2, 286-pound third-year sophomore Ryan Rodriguez at center and 6-1, 295-pound fifth-year redshirt junior Luis Cristobal at left guard. It was Rodriguez’s fifth game this season and Cristobal’s fourth game. Neither had started before.

“Ryan has certainly put in and invested a bunch of time, and his development has been incredible, especially over the last couple of weeks,’’ Cristobal said Wednesday. “Him, Logan [Sagapolu], Luis Cristobal, all these guys are mixing and matching. They’ve done a really good job.’’

The Canes also started Isaiah Horton at wide receiver for the second straight game.

On defense, UM’s former safeties Kam Kinchens and James Williams declared early for the NFL Draft. The four starting defensive backs Thursday: Daryl Porter, Damari Brown, Te’Cory Couch and Jaden Davis.

On the defensive line, where former junior Leonard Taylor III started the first 10 games but is entering the draft and opted out, the Canes had Branson Deen in his place. Deen had started four games this season. The other starters were veteran Jared Harrison-Hunte and freshmen Rueben Bain and Jayden Wayne. It was Wayne’s first start.

Senior linebacker Keontra Smith got his first start of the season in his 10th game played.

UM also lost the services of running back Don Chaney Jr. (transferring to Louisville), linebacker Corey Flagg Jr. (transferring to Missouri), defensive end Jahfari Harvey (transferring to SMU ) and 6-5 receiver Colbie Young (transferring to Georgia).

Take a knee

During a pregame bowl news conference that included UM chief executive officer Joe Echevarria and athletic director Dan Radakovich, Echevarria was asked about the Georgia Tech game, and the Canes not taking a knee to run out the clock, which resulted in a subsequent lost fumble and Yellow Jackets victory.

“As a fan it was painful,’’ Echevarria said. “It’s one of those difficult moments. Humans. Things happen in a game. Lots had to happen in that game for it to turn the way it did. It wasn’t one play at one moment in time. People focus on the one play but there were probably five or six plays in the last two minutes that made a difference in that game.

“The bottom line is we grew from that. We got tougher, we got stronger, we got more resilient and we rallied as a team around all of that.’’

Radakovich was asked about Florida State’s situation regarding taking steps to leave the Atlantic Coast Conference and how he views Miami’s current status in the conference.

“For the University of Miami,’’ Radakovich said, “we’re a proud member of the Atlantic Coast Conference and have been for many, many years. As all these things continue to come up into the marketplace and what Florida State is looking to do, we’ll be very, very interested observers. But I think the conference is strong. I think we have a good operation there.

“Would we like to have more resources? Sure. I think everybody would. And we’re going to try to move forward and get those within the conference. But at this point of time we’re interested observers and proud members of the ACC.”

Radakovich was also asked about the status of the planned football operations center.

“We’re moving forward,’’ Radakovich said. “It’s good. we have some architectural drawings and construciton drawings all pulled together. when we get back to start the next semester we’ll look to get the final approvals put together and hopefully we’re going to break ground very, very shortly.

Hopefully we’ll pull that all together in the first quarter of 2024.”

Empire State Building

Miami and Rutgers were honored Wednesday night by the iconic Empire State Building being lit in both teams’ colors — orange and green for the Hurricanes and scarlet for the Scarlet Knights.

After the game has concluded on Thursday, the Empire State Building will shine in the winner’s colors for the remainder of the night, per the Pinstripe.

Memorable week

The Hurricanes and Scarlet Knights did plenty of sightseeing of New York City and its landmarks. Among the memorable moments were ringing the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange, visiting Radio City Music Hall, seeing the giant Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, checking out Times Square and visiting the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

“I can tell you families and our players are going to come back [to New York] to do it again,’’ Cristobal said. “The events have been off the charts. Everything just first-class. It just feels big. It feels New York-ish. Our guys have really enjoyed it.

“The simplicity of Ray’s Pizza right down the street — they’ve been killing that. Not only that... Our practice facilities. Columbia [University] has been super gracious. The New York Giants and their facility. We got a chance to catch up with some former players and teammates there as well.

“All in all, you couldn’t ask for a better balance of both enjoying and earned bowl opportunity and also preparing at a high level.”