Hayden Lowe injury update: Mario Cristobal reveals season-ending issue to Miami DL

The injury bug has struck in South Florida. Now, head coach Mario Cristobal and the Miami Hurricanes are going to be without freshman defensive lineman Hayden Lowe for the remainder of the season.

Ahead of Week 3, Cristobal shared that Lowe is going to miss the remainder of the season. He did not, however, share exactly what the injury was at this time.

“Hayden Lowe,” Mario Cristobal said. “Hayden Lowe will now be out for the season. His injury is a little bit more significant than what we thought. So, he’ll come back strong and he’ll be ready for spring football, but he’ll be out for the season.”

Hayden Lowe came to Miami as a four-star recruit in the Class of 2025. He was the 34th-ranked player nationally and the third-ranked edge rusher in that recruiting cycle. Quickly, he made his presence felt within the program, and the coaching staff is still excited about his future. He just needs to get healthy first.

“That guy’s got an unbelievable future, tremendous upside,” Cristobal said. “He is physical, he is strong, he loves football. He’s young. You know, he makes his mistakes like everybody else, but we were really looking forward to playing him a bunch. He got banged up a few weeks ago and really tried to come back and it didn’t work out. So, finally, the decision was made that we have got to start getting him ready for spring football and the rest of his career.”

Despite the good impression he’d made on the coaches, Lowe had not yet seen the field for Miami. After all, the Hurricanes boast one of the best defensive lines in the entire sport. That includes Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor returning from last year’s team. Then, Lowe was battling with defensive linemen Marquise Lightfoot and Armondo Blount, among others, for playing time. However, as Cristobal noted, the initial injury occurred a few weeks ago.

Through two games in 2025, Miami boasts one of the top defenses in the country. That’s given Miami a base of success to build on moving forward. It’s also helped to give them one of the biggest wins of the season, taking down Notre Dame in their opener. Now, it appears as if the Hurricanes are positioned to make a run at the ACC Championship and potentially the College Football Playoff.

Miami is facing another major test in Week 3. The Hurricanes will host the USF Bulls, who are coming off one of the biggest wins in their program’s history, taking down the Florida Gators in The Swamp.