Mario Cristobal provides injury updates on multiple Miami players

Following No. 16 Miami”s 70-13 blowout of Bethune-Cookman during college football’s opening weekend, ‘Canes head coach Mario Cristobal updated the Miami injury report ahead of Saturday’s matchup against Southern Miss.

“From an injury standpoint, we came out relatively clean,” Cristobal said. “We got some guys that got dinged up in both Jakai [Clark] and Leonard Taylor that we feel really good about. We don’t feel like they got anything significant. Jaylan Knighton is on his way back to be able to play this weekend. We feel the same about Zion [Nelson]. They both practiced yesterday.”

Clark, Miami’s starting center, was injured during in the first quarter of Saturday’s season opener, though walked off on his own power, but would remain out for the rest of the game. Clark started the final nine games of the season at center during the 2021 season for the Hurricanes, becoming one of the team’s anchors along the offensive line.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

Taylor, a top-10 recruit in the class of 2021, was also injured in the season opener. Shortly after halftime, Taylor walked off to the sideline with a limp, but it appeared to be some sort of upper body injury as he was grabbing his left shoulder when he was going to the sideline, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press.

The injury is an upper extremity injury for Taylor, per AM 560 Sports WQAM. He had ice under his left shoulder pad on the sidelines and is questionable to return to the game, per David Wilson of the Miami Herald.

For Knighton, fans are excited to see what he can bring to the ‘Canes rushing attack when healthy, as he started the final six games and ran for a team-high 561 yards with eight touchdowns and added 20 catches for 280 yards and three more scores, while Nelson was an honorable mention All-ACC selection and was a big part of the Miami offensive line. He’s expected to play another key role this year in Cristobal’s first year at the helm and his name is already coming up in NFL Draft circles.