Miami Hurricanes 2022 position recap: Tight End

During the 2022 College Football season, the Miami Hurricanes struggled to consistently move the ball and score points. One of the few occasional bright spots throughout the season was senior Will Mallory and the future of the tight end position.

The offense's struggles came from all over the field, but Mallory was one of the best performers throughout the season. Younger tight ends on the roster had some moments as well.

In his fifth season in Coral Gables, Mallory had career-bests for receptions and receiving yards, and earned All-ACC Second Team honors. His 42 catches and 538 receiving yards were both team highs. He also had the second-most receiving touchdowns with three.

Mallory had his two best single-game performances of his career in 2022, going over 100 yards against North Carolina and Pittsburgh. Against the Tar Heels, he finished with eight catches for 115 yards, both career highs. He had nine catches for 103 yards and a touchdown to end the season against the Panthers.

With the injuries and other struggles at receiver, it was Mallory that the offense went to in big moments throughout the season.

The problem with using Mallory as a short-yardage receiver to try to pick up third-and-shorts is that isn’t his strength. His strength has always been his big-play ability. He showed it his entire career, averaging 13.4 yards per catch.

But the Hurricanes will miss Mallory in 2023 as he was an extremely dangerous player at the position.

Though it took him five seasons, Mallory leaves Coral Gables with one of the best careers for a Hurricane tight end. He finished with 115 receptions, 1,544 receiving yards, and 14 touchdowns. He leads all Miami tight ends in career touchdown receptions.

Some of the reasons they may not miss him as much as they could are Jaleel Skinner, Elijah Arroyo, Kahlil Brantley, and Riley Williams. One of the big losses early in the season was Arroyo going down with a significant injury.

As the second option at the tight end, Arroyo is extremely talented at his size. Losing him took away one of the few threats in the passing attack as well as the opportunity to truly use two-tight end sets while maintaining a real threat to pass the ball. He finished with five catches for 66 yards in four games.

It was Skinner who took over as the second tight end when Arroyo went down, though almost every tight end on the roster got an opportunity. Skinner was easily the most effective backup when it came to catching passes. He finished the season with nine catches for 129 yards, including three for 40 yards against North Carolina.

Kahlil Brantley was used more sparingly as a receiver, catching just four passes for 21 yards. Dominic Mammarelli is just a blocking tight end, catching one pass for a two-yard loss.

Riley Williams will be an incoming freshman for Miami in 2023 along with Jackson Carver.