Hayden Lowe injury update: Mario Cristobal reveals freshman DL's status moving forward

On Monday, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal announced defensive lineman Hayden Lowe will miss the remainder of the season, per Adam Lichtenstein. Lowe was the No. 3 defensive lineman in the 2025 recruiting cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings.

Lowe hadn’t seen any action yet for Miami this season. Despite only being a freshman, Lowe boasts elite size. He stands at 6-foot-5, 255 pounds. In August, Lowe pulled back the curtain on his mindset heading into his debut campaign.

“Even though I’m coming from high school and the perception I’m playing with these college dudes, I wanted to treat it like I was in high school, have the same intensity, bring the same fight,” Lowe said. “When I got into spring ball it just clicked – ‘Wow, this is what I want to be, want to do.'”

From the start, it wasn’t going to be easy for Lowe to find snaps on the defensive line. Starters Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor returned from last season. Moreover, Lowe was competing with defensive linemen Marquise Lightfoot and Armondo Blount.

Alas, Lowe didn’t back down from the challenge. In fact, the California native was learning multiple positions on the defensive line to improve his chances of getting on the field.

“I’ll play a little end and inside – I’m being taught 3-tech, 5-tech, rush,” Lowe said. “I can play along the whole line. I love the versatility. (Inside) everything happens quicker, but you put a quicker dude on a slower dude and you’ll see the odds on that.

“I feel it’s unfair – (interior offensive linemen) can’t mess with my feet, can’t mess with the quickness. They can try to lunge but I still have the strength. So it’s very unfair.”

Miami’s defense has looked excellent this season under new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman. Hetherman joined Miami after spending last season as Minnesota‘s DC.

The Hurricanes are only allowing 252.5 yards of offense per game, ranking No. 33 in the nation. More impressive, one of the team’s two games was against last year’s runner-up, Notre Dame.

Hayden Lowe wasn’t the only player who Mario Cristobal had an injury update for. Cristobal also said Jojo Trader, Jordan Lyle and Armondo Blount should be available for the Hurricanes on Saturday.

Miami will need all the help it can get. The Hurricanes will square off against USF on Saturday. The Bulls are coming off a stunning win over Florida in Week 2 and will be hungry to build on their momentum.

Miami and USF wills square off at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will air live on the CW Network.