{"id":378984,"date":"2026-08-23T11:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T11:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/378984\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T11:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T11:24:07","slug":"miami-hurricanes-football-player-to-watch-oj-frederique-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/378984\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Hurricanes football player to watch: OJ Frederique Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/112_Miami_vs_Indiana_DS.JPG\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" title=\"Miami Hurricanes defensive back Jr. OJ Frederique Jr. (29) breaks up a pass intended for Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Charlie Becker (80) during the first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.\" alt=\"Miami Hurricanes defensive back Jr. OJ Frederique Jr. (29) breaks up a pass intended for Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Charlie Becker (80) during the first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Miami Hurricanes defensive back Jr. OJ Frederique Jr. (29) breaks up a pass intended for Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Charlie Becker (80) during the first half of the College Football Playoff national championship game Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.<\/p>\n<p>                Photo by David Santiago<\/p>\n<p>            dsantiago@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n<p>The Miami Hurricanes kick off the 2026 season on Sept. 4 on the road against the Stanford Cardinal (9 p.m., ESPN).<\/p>\n<p>The Miami Herald is counting down 30 of the most important players on the Hurricanes\u2019 roster, one per day leading up to the season opener, to provide a closer look at the team heading into coach Mario Cristobal\u2019s fifth season.<\/p>\n<p>Today: The No. 12 player on our list, OJ Frederique Jr.<\/p>\n<p>What to know<\/p>\n<p>Position: Cornerback<\/p>\n<p>Hometown: Deerfield Beach<\/p>\n<p>Year: Junior<\/p>\n<p>How he got to Miami: 2024 recruiting class<\/p>\n<p>Key stats: 49 tackles, 14 pass breakups in two seasons<\/p>\n<p>In summary: Frederique has the tools and the skills to become a shutdown cornerback. He has shown glimpses of that ceiling. It\u2019s a matter of putting it all together \u2014 and staying healthy (he played in just 10 games as a sophomore). Frederique will be part of a deep cornerback unit for a second consecutive season.<\/p>\n<p>What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI used to be quiet and just let my game speak, but the coaches told me guys listen to me. They see what I\u2019ve been doing, so if I\u2019m able to communicate with them, that\u2019s gonna help them.\u201d &#8211; Frederique on becoming a leader as an upperclassman<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have to come every day with it because if I don\u2019t, they\u2019re going to take advantage of that. We have a lot of guys \u2014 from older to younger \u2014 that have a lot of fuel. I have to keep going.\u201d &#8211; Frederique on the internal competition during practice<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/profile\/218644615\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787484247_670_JordanMcPherson (1).JPG\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Jordan McPherson\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/profile\/218644615\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jordan McPherson<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    Miami Herald<\/p>\n<p>            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.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami Hurricanes defensive back Jr. OJ Frederique Jr. (29) breaks up a pass intended for Indiana Hoosiers wide&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-378984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}