Brad Kaaya injured against Clemson (video)

Miami quarterback Brad Kaaya was injured in Saturday’s game against Clemson.

Things went from bad to worse on Saturday for the Miami Hurricanes with the injury to stud quarterback Brad Kaaya.

Down 21-0 to the Clemson Tigers early in the second quarter, Kaaya took a 3rd-and-6 snap from the shotgun. As he was stepping up to throw the ball, Kaaya was met by prohibitive ACC Defensive Player of the Year favorite Carl Lawson and driven roughly to the ground. Miami would punt on the subsequent play, and Malik Rosier would enter in Kaaya’s stead.

Miami started out the game in plucky fashion, jawing at Clemson during pregame warmups. Unfortunately for the Hurricane faithful, that’s about as competitive as Miami would appear on the day. Clemson was all over Miami in the first half and jumped out to a 42-0 lead in the game’s first 30 minutes.

As if things couldn’t get any worse for embattled coach Al Golden, losing his star quarterback might just be the death knell. After losing a bevy of talent to the NFL following last season’s disappointing campaign, Kaaya was one of the lone bright spots to help both lead Miami’s resurgence and save Golden’s job.

The Hurricanes did their best to blow an early-season game against Nebraska (but eventually held on). From there, they lost an uncompetitive contest to Cincinnati and then were, once again, on the losing end against Florida State. Now, at home against Clemson, the Hurricanes have finally gone belly-up. Predictably, the boo birds have come calling for Golden’s head as a result of his team’s first-half performance today.

Regarding Kaaya’s injury, ESPN reports that the quarterback has been checked for a concussion in the locker room.