With the Hurricanes playing Notre Dame at home on August 31 to start their 2025 season, college football season is quickly approaching.
Miami just finished a 10-3 season that had a promising start but ended with two late-season losses that denied UM a chance to win the ACC and qualify for the College Football Playoffs.The Hurricanes’ Pop-Tarts Bowl loss against Iowa State marked the end of their season.
However, the 2024 season has already passed. We looked at Miami’s quarterback predicament earlier this week following Cam Ward’s departure for the NFL. We get our first look at UM’s running backs, Carson Beck’s supporting cast, as he takes over at quarterback.
Damien Martinez, Ajay Allen, and Chris Johnson Jr. were the Hurricanes’ three running backs from the previous campaign.
The largest loss is Martinez. The former Oregon State back made the most of his one season at UM. The veteran became Miami’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Mark Walton in 2016 with his 1,002 yards of rushing. Martinez added 204 receiving yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
Martinez tied for third place among all running backs with an offensive grade of 91.2 from Pro Football Focus. He was selected in the seventh round of the draft by the Seattle Seahawks.
Although they did not play as much as Martinez, Allen and Johnson are also skilled runners.
Allen was a rotating running back at UM for two years. He had 24 carries for 183 yards and two scores the previous season. He received a running grade of 85.8 from PFF for his limited role. Allen went to Tulsa after transferring to FIU.
Johnson, a Dillard graduate renowned for his lightning-fast speed, also left to join Rhett Lashlee, the former offensive coordinator at UM, at SMU. Last season, Johnson had eight catches for 72 yards and two touchdowns and six carries for 31 yards.
Mark Fletcher Jr. and Jordan Lyle, Miami’s two best non-drafted running backs from the previous season, were retained. This season, the Hurricanes’ one-two punch will probably consist of the two Broward County running backs.
After recovering from a foot injury to finish as the Hurricanes’ No. 2 running back the previous season, Fletcher is starting his third season with the team. With 112 carries for 607 yards and nine touchdowns, the American Heritage alumnus outperformed his freshman year, getting an offensive rating of 75.6 and a running grade of 84.7 from PFF.
Among ACC running backs with 100 or more carries, Fletcher’s running grade came in sixth. He is now in a position to handle the majority of the carries this season.
“I just want to take off as much as I can this year and definitely do better than I did last year,” Fletcher stated in March.
Lyle had a stellar rookie year after UM flipped him from Ohio State, where he had previously attended St. Thomas Aquinas. He averaged 7.4 yards per carry, which was second-best in the ACC, and ran for 400 yards and four touchdowns on 54 carries. With a 91-yard score against USF, he broke the Miami record for the longest run from scrimmage.
Among running backs with 50 or more carries, Lyle finished fifth in the ACC with an 84.8 rushing grade the previous season.
“Now everything is going well for me,” stated Kyle in March.At this stage, I’m attempting to assist the young men in acclimating themselves before the season begins.
Chris Wheatley-Humphrey, a South Broward alumnus who played in one game and ran once for seven yards, has also returned to Miami.
Two running backs were added by the Hurricanes in the offseason: one through the transfer portal and the other with their 2025 high school recruiting class.
The transfer acquisition, CharMar Brown, joins Miami following two seasons at North Dakota State, a consistent FCS powerhouse. Following his 2023 redshirt, Brown had a stellar season last year, rushing for 1,181 yards and 15 touchdowns. Brown was named FCS’s top freshman and received the Jerry Rice Award.
PFF gave Brown an offensive grade of 90.8 and a running grade of 89.5.
Girard Pringle Jr., a four-star prospect from Seffner Armwood High near Tampa, was also added to UM as a freshman. On 147 carries, Pringle amassed 1,199 running yards and 19 touchdowns. He also caught two touchdown passes.
Pringle had time to adjust to college life and practice as he landed on Miami’s campus prior to the start of spring football.
Fletcher claimed in March that the boy was like lightning. incredibly quick. He is simply hungry, eager to work, and really modest; he will work on his patience.
