For the second season in a row, the Miami Hurricanes are losing their leading receiver. Braxton Berrios graduated after leading Miami in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns in 2017.
Berrios adeptly became the Miami Hurricanes leading receiver in 2017 after UM lost Stacy Coley following the 2016 season. Coley led Miami in 2016 in receptions and receiving touchdowns in 2016.
Berrios surprised Miami Hurricanes followers this season by winning the team receiving triple crown. Entering the 2017 season Ahmmon Richards was expected to be Miami’s best receiver.
Berrios finished 2018 with 55 receptions for 679 yards and nine touchdowns. All of those numbers were significantly higher than anyone else on the Miami Hurricanes roster.
Richards missed the first two games of the season with a hamstring injury. It was an injury that he had to deal with the entire season.
During the week of practice prior to the ACC Championship game preparing for Clemson Richards tore his MCL. That required season-ending surgery. Richards missed the game against Clemson and the Orange Bowl against Wisconsin.
Richards needs to bounce back to get back to his 2016 Freshmen form for the Miami Hurricanes offense to reach its full potential. He broke the school Freshman receiving record set by Michael Irvin in 1985 with 934 yards on 49 receptions with three touchdowns. Richards led all Freshmen in receiving yards, receiving yards per game and yards per reception in 2016.
In 2017 largely because of the injuries Richards regressed to 24 receptions for 439 yards and three touchdowns. He is the most experienced among a largely inexperienced group returning at wide receiver for the 2018 season.
The Miami Hurricanes also bring in at least a trio of highly talented receivers in the Storm ’18 class. The Hurricanes are also still hoping to add one more receiver to the class.
Rising Sophomore Jeff Thomas showed his big play ability this season. Thomas was fifth on the team in receptions and touchdowns and fourth in receiving yards.
He was a four-star player out of East St. Louis, Illinois in the Class of 2017. Thomas was the 40th ranked player overall in the class, the second best player coming out of Illinois and the fifth-best wide receiver.
The former East St. Louis Flyer lived up to his high school’s nickname. Thomas finished the 2017 season with 17 receptions for 374 yards and two touchdowns. His 22 yards per catch led the ACC among qualifiers.
DeeJay Dallas who is listed as an “athlete” on Miami’s roster averaged 23 yards on four receptions. He switched to running back when Mark Walton went down with a season-ending ankle injury after four games.
Thomas also did a reasonably good job returning kickoffs. He had 32 returns for 691 yards for 21.6 yards per kickoff return. None went for touchdowns. Thomas finished eighth in the ACC in kickoff returns.
Dallas showed his versatility by running out of the Wildcat and in a more traditional offense. He finished the season with 217 rushing yards and three touchdowns. He is likely going to stay at running back. Dallas will likely line up a variety of different positions in 2018.
Mike Harley was another highly touted Freshman in the Miami 2017 class. Harley was unable to make much of an impact. He caught nine passes for 91 yards without a touchdown.
Lawrence Cager and Darrell Langham came up with some big catches during the season but were unable to perform with a lot of consistency. Both provide Miami with big targets in the passing game.
Cager finished 2017 with 16 receptions for 237 yards and three touchdowns. Langham had Miami’s two biggest receptions of the season.
He caught the game-winning touchdown with six seconds remaining against Florida State. Langham then followed that up with a key catch on fourth and 11 to keep the game-winning drive alive against Georgia Tech.
The rising Senior finished the season with 11 receptions for 209 yards and two touchdowns. No one has ever made the most of their receptions like Langham did this season. Both he and Cager are going to have to become more productive in 2018 if they want to continue to get on the field.
Miami brings in three potential stars in the Storm ’18 Class at wide receiver. Mark Pope, Brian Hightower and Daquris Wiggins could all see playing time this fall. Hightower and Wiggins have enrolled in school already, while Pope signed a letter of intent during the early signing period last month.
Pope and Hightower are four-star recruits, while Wiggins is a three-star whom many think is a sleeper. Pope is one of the highest ranked players at wide receiver in the Class of 2018.
He is the nations 64th ranked player overall, 10th best wide receiver 12th ranked player in Florida. Hightower is 156, 28 and 26 and Wiggins 454th and 78th at both wide receiver and in Florida.
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There is too much talent for Miami not to get a lot of production from there receiver core. In 2017 it was mostly Berrios. Richards injuries certainly hampered him. If he struggles with injuries again in 2018 there are plenty of talented wide receivers to step up. Miami needs someone to do that.