Miami Hurricanes redshirt junior quarterback Tate Martell was among the players announced as unavailable for the opener against UAB an hour before kickoff Thursday night while two backup offensive linemen won’t play this season.
Redshirt junior linemen Kai-Leon Herbert and Zalon’tae Hillery are now unavailable for the season. They were added to a list that already included star redshirt sophomore defensive end Gregory Rousseau, who opted out of the season is declaring for the 2021 NFL, and freshman safety Avantae Williams, who was found to have a preexisting medical issue ahead of training camp.
Martell was competing for backup quarterback duties behind starter D’Eriq King in training camp before he wasn’t listed on UM’s depth chart on Monday. Fellow redshirt junior N’Kosi Perry is backing up King while freshman Tyler Van Dyke is listed as the third-string quarterback.
Along with Martell, freshman offensive tackle Issiah Walker Jr. was announced as unavailable for Thursday, as well as backup punter Matias Gasc.
Neither Herbert nor Hillery has seen much playing time in three seasons with the Hurricanes.
Herbert came in as an All-American recruit out of American Heritage. Hillery is out of Brunswick, Georgia.
Whether they played or not this season, they still have two seasons left of college eligibility as the NCAA determined this fall season will not count against players as a year of eligibility.
UM is announcing unavailable players an hour before games kick off in the 2020 season taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic. The school does not specify the nature of the absence.
Two unidentified UAB players did not travel to Miami, Blazers coach Bill Clark told reporters on Wednesday. He said both are backups.
ACC Network, again
What could be more fitting in 2020 for die-hard Miami fans than the first game finally arriving and not being able to watch it?
UM’s opener is airing on ESPN’s ACC Network. Comcast/Xfinity, a popular television service provider in South Florida, doesn’t have a deal with the network that debuted in 2019.
Also not having an agreement in place with Atlantic Broadband, it is still an improvement over the start of last season. When Miami first played on ACC Network in its conference opener at North Carolina in Sept. 2019, it wasn’t available on AT&T Uverse either.
Under normal circumstances, fans in South Florida could easily attend a Hurricanes home opener, but with this season being played amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Hard Rock Stadium will be limited to 13,000 fans, a figure that amounts to about 20 percent of normal capacity.
“While we currently do not have an agreement with Comcast to carry ACC Network,” an ESPN spokesperson told the Sun Sentinel in an email, “it is available nationwide through distributors like DIRECTV and DISH and all major pay TV streaming providers including AT&T TV NOW, fuboTV, Hulu Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV — all of which can be activated immediately without a service call.”
All ACCN games will also be available on the ESPN app to authenticated subscribers. ACC Network’s team on the call Thursday night has former Marlins play-by-play broadcaster Dave O’Brien, Tim Hasselbeck for analysis and Katie George on the sidelines.
Captains and uniforms
Miami announced its four captains for the season on Thursday. Quarterback D’Eriq King, center Corey Gaynor, linebacker Zach McCloud and safety Amari Carter make up the group.
Last year, the Hurricanes had game captains go out to midfield for the pregame coin toss that could vary from game to game.
UM also announced on social media that the team will be wearing orange uniforms with white pants for the opener against UAB.
