{"id":385223,"date":"2026-08-30T11:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/385223\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T11:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:22:09","slug":"miami-hurricanes-football-player-to-watch-ahmad-moten-sr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/385223\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Hurricanes football player to watch: Ahmad Moten Sr."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/194_Miami_vs_Indiana_Photo_Gallery.JPG\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" title=\"Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. (99) reacts after tackling Indiana Hoosiers running back Roman Hemby (1) in the first half of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Monday, January 19, 2026.\" alt=\"Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. (99) reacts after tackling Indiana Hoosiers running back Roman Hemby (1) in the first half of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Monday, January 19, 2026.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Miami Hurricanes defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. (99) reacts after tackling Indiana Hoosiers running back Roman Hemby (1) in the first half of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Monday, January 19, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>                PHOTO BY AL DIAZ<\/p>\n<p>            adiaz@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. 5 player on our list, Ahmad Moten Sr.<\/p>\n<p>What to know<\/p>\n<p>Position: Defensive tackle<\/p>\n<p>Hometown: Fort Lauderdale<\/p>\n<p>Year: Redshirt senior<\/p>\n<p>How he got to Miami: 2022 recruiting class<\/p>\n<p>Key stats: 31 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks in 2025<\/p>\n<p>In summary: Moten has gone from three-star prospect to potential first-round pick during his career with the Miami Hurricanes. He became a full-time starter last season on the Hurricanes\u2019 run to a National Championship Game and will be relied upon heavily as Miami attempts to play for a title again this year.<\/p>\n<p>What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt just shows you that hard work pays off. You don\u2019t have to transfer because something\u2019s not going your way. You just put your head down and go work.\u201d &#8211; Moten on staying the course at Miami despite not playing much early in his career<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe epitomizes what college football used to be. We still see bits and pieces of it, but what it should be: It\u2019s development. You never know when a guy\u2019s gonna pop. And he\u2019s been popping the last year and a half or so.\u201d &#8211; Miami coach Mario Cristobal<\/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\/1788088929_572_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 lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. (99) reacts after tackling Indiana Hoosiers running back Roman Hemby (1)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-385223","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\/385223","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=385223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}