Life after Jordan looks promising
Mallory, Hodges expected to fill role for departing tight end
The onset of the 2021 offseason for the Miami Hurricanes has provided the team with great news in retention of draft-eligible talent, but the UM offense will lose Brevin Jordan, the junior tight end that was arguably quarterback D’Eriq King’s most lethal weapon, to the NFL.
That’s no reason to worry for the Hurricanes with what’s coming back and coming in for tight ends coach Stephen Field’s unit, along with the pieces around them as King, running back Cam’Ron Harris, receiver Michael Harley and the offensive line remain intact.
To start, junior Will Mallory wasted no time in committing to a return in 2021, doing so in a press conference with reporters days before the Dec. 29 Cheez-It Bowl. The standout tight end even indicated he’d like to spend two more years at UM, utilizing the extra year of eligibility all athletes have available to them because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mallory, listed at 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, had 22 receptions for 329 yards and four touchdowns as a No. 2 tight end in 2020. Better yet, in the three-game midseason stretch that Jordan missed, Mallory amassed 10 catches for 187 yards and three touchdowns against Pittsburgh, Virginia and North Carolina State. He showed what he can do when he’s elevated to being the team’s primary tight end.
Jordan’s departure will also mean
there’s opportunity for an enhanced role for returning redshirt freshman Larry Hodges and true freshman Dominic Mammarelli. Incoming tight end recruits Elijah Arroyo and Kahlil Brantley will have a chance to make an immediate impact.
“Larry Hodges is a guy that I think he’s going to have a big offseason,” Miami offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said when he last spoke to reporters ahead of the bowl game. “What we’ve seen is he’s got the ability to really catch the football at a high level. He’s very athletic. Was a very athletic, versatile player in high school, and if he could have a really good offseason in the weight room, put on some weight, get a little stronger, his ball skills are definitely there to really help us next year and kind of for him maybe make a big jump and earn a lot of playing time for us.”
Added Mallory: “Larry, he’s a special talent. I’m excited for him to be able to show what he can do because I don’t think everybody’s had a chance to see what he can do. … I really think that we have a special room when you got a guy like Dom coming in as a true freshman doing what he’s doing, a lot further along than I certainly was.
“The spring will be huge because we’re going to need them next year, and I know exactly what they’re going to do is special, so just waiting for their moment.”
Having Arroyo already enrolled for the spring semester is pivotal. The four-star recruit from Independence High in Frisco, Texas will have the head start in working with — not only the other tight ends — but quarterback Jake Garcia, who has also enrolled early. The 6-4 target can also gain chemistry with other signal callers in Tyler Van Dyke and Peyton Matocha in the spring while learning from the veteran King as he recovers from a torn ACL before his anticipated return for fall camp.
“Freaky talent,” said Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz of Arroyo. “That’s what it looks. When you watch the guy on film, it looked like the guy scored four touchdowns every game, and not just like where they leave the tight end wide open when you run the tight end corner route from the 2-yard line. I’m talking about down the field, lining him up at the X receiver, lining him up in the slot, he’s running posts, getting past safeties and he’s catching the ball over the middle and breaking tackles and scoring long touchdowns. I think it’s not hard for him to imagine, for us to imagine all the different ways that you can line him up. You see all the different ways that we use Brevin and Will.”
Arroyo, who grew up in Miami before moving to Texas and still has family living locally, had a relationship with Lashlee going back to his days as SMU offensive coordinator when Lashlee would recruit the Lone Star State.
“He’s your long, 6-4, athletic [pass catcher], Lashlee said. “He plays like a receiver in a tight end’s body in a lot of ways like Brevin does… but he’s that style of player which is big for us.”
Brantley’s potential also excites Diaz and Lashlee.
“When you factor in Kahlil Brantley, just the same — another very unique skill set, great hands, great ball skills that you can utilize in so many different ways,” Diaz said. “It’ll be fun to have two of those guys come in together and just give us options of how you can line up and present problems to a defense.”
Said Lashlee: “Brantley is very versatile, obviously used to winning championships at Miami Northwestern.”