Defensive back Ja’Boree Antoine (16) preps for a drill as Miami Hurricanes football team practiced on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, at the Carol Soffer Indoor Practice Facility in Coral Gables, Fla.
Carl Juste
cjuste@miamiherald.com
The Atlantic Coast Conference on Tuesday night released the first availability report for the No. 7 Miami Hurricanes’ season opener against the Stanford Cardinal, and two UM players are listed as out for the season-opening contest.
The two players: Defensive back Ja’Boree Antoine and tight end Luka Gilbert.
Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal has previously announced that Gilbert was going to be out for the season with an injury sustained before fall camp. The specifics of Antoine’s injury have not been publicly announced.
Antoine was a reserve cornerback for the Hurricanes as a true freshman, but his role increased late in the season. He played in all four of Miami’s College Football Playoff games, including 16 snaps on defense in the semifinal against Ole Miss after OJ Frederique went down with injury and Xavier Lucas was ejected for targeting.
The Hurricanes’ cornerback room is still plenty loaded to offset Antoine’s absence. All four of UM’s primary outside corners from last season in Frederique, Lucas, Ethan O’Connor and Damari Brown are still on the team.
As for tight end, junior Elija Lofton is the starter while true freshmen Israel Briggs and Gavin Mueller are in line to see extended roles with Gilbert sidelined.
Stanford, meanwhile, has 15 players listed as out, one as doubtful, five as questionable and four as probable.
The Cardinal’s full list:
OUT: Linebacker Dylan Stephenson; wide receivers Carter Shaw and Daylen Sharper; defensive backs Jason Hil Jr, Breylan Thompson, Jack Duckworth, Zaiden McDonald and Aaron Morris; offensive linemen Aidan Kilstrom, Nathan Mejia and Nick Fattig; defensive linemen Jacobi Murray and Brendan Delaney; tight end Reiman Zebert; and kicker London Bironas
DOUBTFUL: Linebacker Gabe Kaminski
QUESTIONABLE: Wide receivers Caden High and Nico Brown, linebacker Ernest Cooper, and offensive linemen Simione Pale and Niki Prongos
PROBABLE: Safety Jay Green, cornerbacks Chris Garland and Jaivon Randall, and wide receiver Jacob Butler
Perhaps most significant for Stanford are the injuries across the offensive line. Kilstrom started at center in the Cardinal’s season opener against Hawaii and has 23 career starts under his belt. Mejia has 27 career starts. Pale has 22 career starts. Prongos has 20 career starts.
Miami and Stanford play at 9 p.m. Friday at Stanford Stadium.
Breaking down the ACC’s availability reports
The ACC is in its second season requiring teams to submit availability reports before conference football games. They are released daily starting three nights before the game (Tuesday in this case), with the final two hours before kickoff (so 7 p.m. Friday in this case).
Reports submitted before game day will have four potential designations: Available, probable, questionable and out. The league defines those four designations as follows…
Available: “Fully available to play in the game.”
Probable: “Likely to play; greater than 50% chance.”
Questionable: “Uncertain to play; less than 50% chance.”
Out: “Will not play in the game.”
The report released on game day have three status designations for players: Available, game time decision and out and are defined as follows
Available: “Fully available to play in the game.”
Game Time Decision: “Final decision will be made closer to the game.”
Out: “Will not play in the game.”
This story was originally published September 1, 2026 at 11:34 PM.
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Miami Herald
Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.