What is the impact of Miami Hurricanes losing TE Brian Polendey?

The Miami Hurricanes are down a second tight end this season. It was announced on Tuesday that Sophomore Brian Polendey is out for the season following knee surgery.

Polendey is the second of four Miami Hurricanes scholarship tight ends who are out for the season. Junior Michael Irvin who was the first team tight end tore his MCL that required surgery in August. Irvin is expected to be out for four months.

Polendey’s loss hurts the Miami Hurricanes depth but not what they want to get accomplished offensively. Even with Irvin out Polendey was playing about only seven snaps per game according to Miami Offensive Coordinator Thomas Brown.

With Polendey and Irvin out Freshman Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory are the last remaining scholarship tight ends for Miami. That will cause the Hurricanes to largely abandon two tight end sets. Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Mark Richt said to expect to see more three receiver, one tight end sets offensively.

Redshirt Sophomore Walk-on Nicholas Ducheine will spend time with the Miami offense in practice to add depth for Polendey’s loss. Stepping into Polendey’s shoes as a receiver are not big. Polendey has only one reception for 14 yards this season. He did not have any last year.

Brown discussed what losing Polendey does to the Miami Hurricanes offense.

"“It gives you less depth, obviously, scary when you’re dealing with any position when you have less numbers…Brevin basically plays almost every snap anyway, so that won’t change a whole lot. We’ll obviously have less depth behind him. Just try to find some more creative ways to get guys involved in the game.”"

Miami was also short on tight ends in 2017. Defensive lineman Scott Patchan moved to help the Hurricanes have enough bodies at the position. Patchan said he could help out there if he has to but would not be switching back to tight end.

In the initial Tweet about Polendey’s season-ending knee surgery, the official Miami football Twitter account announced that Ducheine would be the one to step in and assist with the depth at tight end.

Jordan and Mallory have only cracked the box score in the win over Savannah State. Jordan had seven receptions for 52 yards and two touchdowns against the FCS Tigers. Mallory one for two yards and a touchdown.

The Miami offense thrived on Saturday without any production from Jordan and Mallory. There are going to be weeks where they will need them to be productive to be able to move the football. When starter Chris Herndon went down with a season-ending knee injury in 2018 the Hurricanes offense struggled in the final two games.

Irvin stepped in and had four receptions for 22 yards in the losses for Clemson and Wisconsin to end the season. He only had one for four in the Orange Bowl loss to the Badgers.