Skinner enters transfer portal

Tight end Jaleel Skinner arrived at Miami as a gem in Mario Cristobal’s first recruiting class.

After limited playing time in his two seasons at Coral Gables, Skinner announced on social media that he entered the transfer portal. Skinner is the seventh Miami player to leave via the transfer portal this postseason.

“All good things come to an end some day,” Skinner wrote on social media.

Skinner was rated a four-star prospect from Bradenton powerhouse IMG Academy. He was listed as the No. 3 tight end in his class by 247Sports’ composite rankings.

At UM, the lanky Skinner earned early playing time. As a freshman in 2022, he had nine catches for 129 yards and a touchdown. He played 145 offensive snaps.

However, he had just one catch for 9 yards this season and played only 25 offensive snaps. Veteran transfer tight end Cam McCormick and freshman Riley Williams got the bulk of playing time at the position.

“(Skinner’s) approach to the game has to be a lot more diligent,” Cristobal said in November. “He’s a really good young man. He’s a talented young man. He can run. He’s a little bit thin, but he’s working on his body. I think he has a really bright future. Just has to go all-in on what it takes to be a great football player at that position. You have to be good at the line of scrimmage and you have to be good detached. You’ve got to be able to have great balance and body control and track the ball because if you’re that size, you want to be able to make contested catches. Those big-body throws, right? Those back-shoulder fades and those deep balls where you just jump over people. So we challenge him daily. Going to keep challenging him daily because he has to get more out of himself and we need to get more out of him for him to be a productive player in our system.”