The Miami Hurricanes enter the 2026 season with a seasoned quarterback and an abundance of quality players at running back and wide receiver.
They also go into the season with the hope that their retooled offensive line will allow the offense as a whole to live up to its potential.
Miami is replacing four of its six primary offensive linemen from last season’s team that reached the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. That’s a lot of turnover from a unit that has been among the elite in college football the past couple seasons. That makes the usually proven group one of Miami’s biggest question marks entering the season.
At least to those outside of the program.
“We don’t worry about the questions that people have about us,” offensive line coach Alex Mirabal said. “We just go out and work and answer them in practice.”
And now, finally, they will have a chance to answer them in a game. Miami’s new-look offensive line will make its season debut when the No. 7 Hurricanes face the Stanford Cardinal (1-0) on Friday night (9 p.m., ESPN) in Palo Alto, California.
Mirabal, head coach Mario Cristobal and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson have praised the development of the group up front.
But the reality is there are big shoes to fill — literally and figuratively. Miami no longer has Francis Mauigoa, a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and a consensus first-team All-American last season, manning right tackle like he did for three years. Or Anez Cooper at right guard like he did for four seasons. Or 6-9 Markel Bell at left tackle like he did for a year and a half. Or James Brockermeyer, who was their third transfer center in as many years.
But in Mirabal’s estimation, the Hurricanes do have close to 10 players they feel confident can get the job done as Miami looks to build on its run to the title game last year.
Now, it’s a matter of validating their coach’s belief.
“This is not the group that took us to the national championship game,” Mirabal said, “so we’ve got everything to prove again. … It’s back to proving to ourselves that we are capable of helping the University of Miami achieve what it wants to achieve.”
For the Hurricanes to get that done, Mirabal’s first task is identifying who among his 19 players are worthy of starting spots. Forget positions for the moment, save for Ryan Rodriguez as the starting center. Mirabal and the Hurricanes take pride in cross-training their offensive linemen. Everyone gets reps at both guard and center. They practice on both the left and right sides. If they show they can effectively snap the ball, they will get time at center, too. The more positions each lineman is comfortable playing, the better off the Hurricanes will be in the long run.
“To me,” Mirabal said, “it’s about us at the University of Miami finding the best five offensive linemen, and they go to play. And then if something happens to one of them, it’s ‘Who’s the next best guy?’ not ‘Who’s the next-best left tackle?’”
Added Rodriguez: “One of the best ways to learn all the positions on the offensive line is just play them all. If you’re only a left tackle and you only know what the left tackle does, if for whatever reason coach might need to throw you in at right tackle, well, now you’re not going to know what to do because you only know the left side. It’s best to know what everybody at every position is doing and having that knowledge will give you a better understanding of the offense as a whole because then you’ll know what the guy next to you has and what his responsibility is and how he might play that play and use the technique on that play. It just builds chemistry together.”
As for exactly what the line will look like for that first snap on Friday? The Hurricanes aren’t giving that away just yet. Three players are virtual locks to start in Rodriguez, redshirt senior Matt McCoy and redshirt junior Samson Okunlola. McCoy and Okunlola split time at left guard last season but are slated to open the season as Miami’s tackles — Okunlola at left tackle, McCoy at right tackle.
Four players appear to still be in the mix for the two guard spots in sophomores SJ Alofaituli and Max Buchanan plus freshmen Jackson Cantwell and Ben Congdon.
Transfers Jamal Meriweather (Georgia) and Johnathan Cline (East Carolina) provide veteran depth. A host of underclassmen — notably freshmen Joel Irvin, JJ Sparks and Rhys Woodrow — round out the group.
“The good thing about that room — and everybody knows we’ve lost some talent in that room — is we have talent,” Dawson said. “May it isn’t as experienced as it has been, but the phrase ‘In Maribal I trust’ is pretty important, and I do. I trust that guy to get those guys ready and get them in the right place. I’m excited about that group. That group is a refreshing group.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2026 at 11:21 AM.
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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.