Miami Hurricanes defensive back Dylan Day (23) reacts after tackling Florida State Seminoles wide receiver Squirrel White (4) during the second half of their NCAA game at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida, on Saturday, October 4, 2025.
PHOTO BY AL DIAZ
adiaz@miamiherald.com
A third Miami Hurricanes player has been ruled out for No. 7 UM’s season opener against the Stanford Cardinal on Friday (9 p.m., ESPN).
The Hurricanes have added junior safety Dylan Day to the group of players unavailable for the game at Stanford, according to the latest availability report released by the Atlantic Coast Conference on Wednesday night. He joins sophomore cornerback Ja’Boree Antoine and sophomore tight end Luka Gilbert as Miami players who won’t play on Friday.
Day has been a key player on special teams for Miami the past two seasons and worked his way into the safety rotation as a sophomore. He recorded 11 tackles, one sack and two pass breakups in 2025 while playing 120 snaps on defense.
Zechariah Poyser and Bryce Fitzgerald are slated to be the Hurricanes’ primary safeties entering the season. Day being out opens the door for true freshman JJ Dunnigan, who has impressed since stepping on campus in the spring, to have a significant role early on Friday.
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.”
.JPG)
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.