Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
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CORAL GABLES — The analogy his coach uses to describe the opportunity Michael Irvin II has this spring at Miami is simple.
With Will Mallory and Brevin Jordan, two topnotch tight end prospects, set to arrive this summer, now is Irvin’s chance to prove he’s finally growing into the player the Hurricanes have long needed — and wanted — him to be.
“Everybody knows that we have the cats coming in, so they need to put money in the bank right now. They need to put reps in the bank right now, because the guys coming in the fall are going to get their opportunity,” Hurricanes tight end coach Todd Hartley said earlier this week of Irvin II and fellow tight end Brian Polendey. “These guys know that. They need to take advantage of the opportunities they have right now.”
Making the most of his opportunities has, at times, been a challenge for Irvin, the son of Hurricanes legend Michael Irvin.
Since arriving in Coral Gables, the tight end has endured multiple suspensions, including one that sidelined him for the 2016 Russell Athletic Bowl and another that prompted public criticism from coach Mark Richt ahead of last year’s game against Syracuse.
There have been conditioning and dehydration issues too, including some that sidelined Irvin during part camp last August.
But this spring, Hartley says things are “night and day different” for Irvin, a former St. Thomas Aquinas standout who has been primarily running with Miami’s first offense after the graduation of former starter Chris Herndon.
“As far as just missed assignments, knowing what he’s supposed to do, where he’s supposed to be, how to do it — he’s been on top of it. He really has. I’ve seen a lot of improvement there, a lot of improvement in his work ethic,” Hartley said. “We’ve had these conversations before, we’ve talked about how hard he needs to work. He’s done that. He’s matured. Not to where I want him, but he’s better than where he was at. I’ll say this – he has definitely improved finishing. There’s no quit in the energy, the effort, the enthusiasm there. He still has his moments. He still has his moments, but I’m impressed at his progress so far.”
Last season, Irvin made the first start of his college career in Miami’s regularseason finale against Pittsburgh, lining up with Herndon in a two-tight end set. Herndon’s season, and Hurricanes career, ended later that day when he suffered a knee injury.
That set Irvin up as Miami’s starter in both the ACC Championship Game against Clemson and later in the Orange Bowl against Wisconsin.
The Hurricanes lost both of those games, with Irvin quietly putting together a combined four catches for 22 yards.
He finished his sophomore year with just nine catches for 78 yards in nine games, numbers he knows have to be better for not only his sake, but for the Hurricanes’ offense as a whole.
To help on that front, Irvin says he’s tried to focus more on the mental aspect of his game, not just what he’s doing on the field.
“Studying the plays. … you’ve really got to be studious with it,” Irvin said. “It’s not easy at all. It’s not just getting out here and having the physical aspect of it, you got to have it in your head, too.
“I think when I missed a couple of practices in camp last year I felt as if I was really letting the team down and that was the first time I really felt like, you know, they needed me and I was wrong for not being there. I think that’s when things clicked for me, and I think I started to learn things, figure things out a little bit better.”
His next challenge, he knows, is trying to hang onto the starting job when Jordan, an All-American, and Mallory, rated the third-best tight end prospect in the nation, arrive this summer.
“Competition makes everybody better and me, and Brevin and Will are all real good friends. … You know it, we all know it that we are going to push each other,” Irvin said. “Brian [Polendey], too, even the walk-on [Nicholas] Ducheine, we all know that we got to push each other if we want to be great, if any of us want to be great in the first place.”