(Alex Slitz/Getty Images North America/TNS)Adam Lichtenstein, South Florida Sun-SentinelSun, December 28, 2025 at 1:37 AM UTC·3 min readMIAMI — The Miami Hurricanes desperately needed a stop.
The Aggies were driving toward the end zone, and now only 5 yards separated them from tying the game in the final seconds of the College Football Playoff first-round game against Miami last weekend.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementEnter Bryce Fitzgerald.
The freshman safety intercepted Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed once earlier in the game. Fitzgerald watched Aggies tight end Nate Boerkircher angle around a linebacker and saw Reed try to float the game-tying pass to the veteran pass-catcher. Fitzgerald stepped in front of the tight end and picked off the pass, securing the Hurricanes’ victory. The visiting sideline celebrated. Safeties coach Will Harris could not contain himself — he ran to the back of the end zone to jump on the safety prodigy’s back.
“I freaking literally ran, sprinted, down the sidelines, (toward) him,” quarterback Carson Beck said.
The game-sealing pick was only the latest for Fitzgerald. The freshman safety has six interceptions this season — the most at UM since safety Kam Kinchens notched six in 2022 — and has grown into a ball-hawking threat in Miami’s secondary.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“The ball finds his hands,” defensive back Keionte Scott said.
Fitzgerald looks like a veteran in the secondary, but he was actually the last freshman to arrive on campus. While the rest of the freshman class arrived in time for spring football, Fitzgerald did not enroll until summer.
But the former Miami Columbus star dove into his work and got on the field quickly. Fitzgerald made his college debut in Week 1 against Notre Dame and played 20 or more snaps in three of the next four games. He picked off his first career pass against Bethune-Cookman and added two more against USF and Florida State.
“Obviously, (he) loves football, (he is) committed, works hard,” defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman said. “He’s in the building all the time, constantly competing in practice. I think I’ve made comment earlier in the year: (in) practice, the ball always finds him. And it does the same thing in games. Fall camp, preseason, I thought he created a lot of takeaways in those situations and then got an opportunity to play on the field, and it’s happened over and over again.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFitzgerald took on a bigger role when defensive back Keionte Scott suffered an injury, and he started Miami’s last three games of the season. He also started in the win over the Aggies. The moment was not too big for him.
“He’s always been a student of the game,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said on WQAM’s “The Joe Rose Show” on Monday. “He’s always worked hard but … as the game and the season goes on, (he) just keeps getting better and better. (He is) more comfortable in scheme and … he doesn’t look or play like a freshman.”
Fitzgerald’s six interceptions are tied for second-most in the nation and tied for the most among Power 4 defenders. His 92 defensive grade against Texas A&M from Pro Football Focus was his best single-game performance this year. Fitzgerald has an 81.1 defensive grade, which ranks second nationally among freshman safeties with 200 or more snaps this season.
Fitzgerald and the Miami secondary have a tough task next week; they have to deal with Ohio State’s dominant passing game in the Cotton Bowl. But if not for Fitzgerald’s game-saving interception, UM may not have gotten the opportunity to face the Buckeyes.
“When you make a play like that at such a young age, we were just super (thrilled) for him and super excited for him,” Scott said. “And we’re excited to see that keep going.”
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