2019 Miami Hurricanes Position Recap: Tight End

The Miami Hurricanes have acquired, developed and deployed well at the tight end position over the last 25 years, and that hasn’t stopped heading into a new decade. The ‘Canes have produced some of the all-time great tight ends both in college football, and the NFL. Names like Jeremy Shockey, Bubba Franks, Greg Olsen, Jimmy Graham, and David Njoku have played in the orange and green.

The 2019 Hurricanes had three capable tight ends, including Brevin Jordan who was a Mackey Award finalist for the nation’s best tight end during his sophomore season. I personally thought the tight ends would be even more involved and the choice at times to put Irvin or Mallory in routes and have Jordan in pass protection was mind boggling. Luckily, that era of the offense is over.

Brevin Jordan

Jordan has been an excellent The Bishop Gorman alumnus has produced since arriving in Coral Gables. As a freshman he played in nine games and caught 32 balls for nine yards a catch and four touchdowns. In 2019, Jordan was injured towards the end of the season and only played in nine games, again. Jordan caught 34 balls for 14.1 yards per catch and only two touchdowns.

The six-foot-three, 235 pound athlete should have been involved more in the red zone and disappeared from the call sheet against Georgia Tech, Pitt, and at times against Virginia. An elite athlete that’s a match-up nightmare has to be getting Rhett Lashlee excited for spring football to start in 2020.

Will Mallory

Mallory is another four-star, blue chip tight end on the ‘Canes roster. Mallory flashed moments of brilliance but also sheer absurdity with regards to the ugly drops. The six-foot-five, 231 pounder out of Florida averaged 18.3 yards per catch on 16 catches and scored three times in 2019. Mallory needs to refine his eye discipline heading into a 2020 season that will typically see one tight end, but at times two tight ends on the field. Also, Jordan might wind up lined up wide with the lack of experienced talent in the wide receiver room.

The Rest

Michael Irvin II, Brian Polendey, and Larry Hodges were the other tight ends on the roster. Irvin II is a six-foot-three, 234 pounder from St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida. Irvin II is built more like a blocker than a pass catcher and only caught two balls in 2019.

Polendey is in the transfer portal heading into 2020 after limited playing time in 2019. He has caught one career pass at Miami but at six-foot-six, 240 pounds has the size to be a quality back up somewhere in the Group of 5 where his lack of speed won’t be so obvious.

Larry Hodges balled out against Bethune-Cookman, catching two touchdown passes in his only action as a Hurricane so far.

2020 Look Ahead

In 2020 I expect Rhett Lashlee to use Brevin Jordan in a variety of ways and all over the field. LSU gave offensive coordinators a blueprint of what having a versatile lineup can do regarding tempo, and keeping the defense from being able to make substitutions of their own. Jordan is the kind of kid who can line up on the outside, the slot, wing, inline with his hand down or in the backfield.

Mallory has to start training his eye discipline this off-season. He has the raw ability but it’s going to have to be honed in and the drops just can’t be so common. How do you train eye discipline? A variety of ways from how you train speed, agility, change of direction and even getting extra work in on the jugs machine. Using open-ended speed, agility, and COD work that forces the player to watch, read and react to the coaches rather than having set places to run and timing can be key to establishing that the eyes catch the ball first.

There’s also incoming freshman signee Dominic Mammarelli out of Naples, FL. He’s a three-star that’s already six-foot-three, 235 pounds and ready to compete for playing time.