Miami Hurricanes tight ends, a ‘dynamic group,’ putting up results early

Miami Hurricanes tight end Elijah Arroyo is a big fan of teammate Riley Williams.

Arroyo is not a fan, however, of Williams’ execution with the hurdle attempts he has tried this season.

After both catches Williams has made this season — which went for 27 yards against Florida A&M and 24 yards against Ball State — the sophomore has tried to leap over a defender in his way.

Let’s just say they haven’t gone exactly as planned.

“I’m gonna have to give him a 3 out of 10, I’m not gonna lie to you” Arroyo said. “But apart from that, I feel like he’s doing really well. He’s been doing a great job, adjusting to the offense and playing his role. When he gets in the game, he takes advantage as you can see, and it’s really no drop off when he’s in the game. That’s my favorite part about us.”

The Hurricanes’ tight end group — led by Arroyo, true freshman Elija Lofton, ninth-year senior Cam McCormick and Williams — has a lot to be happy about with their production so far this season.

The quartet has combined for 17 catches, 320 yards and four touchdowns. Last year, Miami’s tight ends had just 18 catches, 154 yards and one touchdown.

Arroyo leads the group this season with seven catches, 159 yards and two touchdowns. Lofton has six catches for 92 yards and a touchdown. McCormick has two catches for 18 yards and a touchdown. And then there’s Williams.

“[Tight ends] coach [Cody] Woodiel has done a great job with those guys,” coach Mario Cristobal said, “and I think that tight end group has done a great job just buying into a couple things. No. 1 is the weight room because they’re much bigger into conditioning and speed work, because they’re more explosive. And they were patient last year. That was tough, right? At Miami, we’re so used to tight end production being at a high level. They were patient. They bought in, and they’ve reaped the rewards and benefits of it early this season. I think it’s a dynamic group. I do. They’re funny as all get out. I mean, they are as different personalities as you can find. They come in all ages, shapes, sizes, colors, ethnicities. I mean, these guys are almost a reflection of our city. And they love to play football. They love to play football. They’re all about it. That’s another group that, in our opinion, is just scratching the surface, and we’re going to demand a lot of them because they’re capable.”

Miami wants to utilize Chris Johnson’s speed

The Hurricanes know what they have in redshirt freshman running back Chris Johnson.

“Speed’s where it’s at, right? And he has a lot of it,” offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “So we’re just trying to find ways to get him involved.”

So far, that has mostly come through the passing game, giving Johnson space to do damage after the catch.

Johnson has just five carries for 7 yards so far this season, but he also has five catches for 65 yards and two touchdowns.

“The one thing about him that’s really neat is that he can do everything that we do at running back,” Dawson said. “So you put him in there and you just call plays. He isn’t a guy that we’re trying to do certain things with. Obviously, he has a different skill set, but literally every play on the script is things that he can execute.”

This and that

▪ Fifth-year senior Xavier Restrepo is 20 yards away from becoming the 10th receiver in Hurricanes history to have 2,000 career receiving yards. Fellow wide receiver Sam Brown, who transferred in this season from Houston, is 8 yards shy of 1,500 for his career.