Tight end has been a focal point in the Mark Richt offense his first two years with the Miami Hurricanes. Freshmen tight ends Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory should benefit from that and be one of the best tight ends in the country this season.
In the two years under Mark Richt, Miami Hurricanes tight ends have averaged 61 receptions for 809.5 yards and seven touchdowns per season. There is no reason to believe that will change in 2018. Jordan is an athletic tight end similar to his predecessors David Njoku and Chris Herndon IV.
Herndon’s numbers would have been much better last season, but he missed the last two games. Herndon tore his MCL in the final regular season game against Pittsburgh. Michael Irvin II caught four passes for 22 yards in the two games without Herndon.
In 11 games in 2017, Herndon had only three performances with less than the 22 yards Irvin averaged in his absence. With Herndon moved on to the NFL it’s reasonable to believe that Jordan and Mallory put up very good numbers in their Freshmen seasons in Mark Richt’s offense.
Richt’s offense was also very tight end friendly during his tenure at Georgia. Two of the Bulldogs best tight ends in history played under Richt according to Dawgs247.
Richt and Miami Hurricanes Tight End Coach Todd Hartley are very excited about Jordan and Mallory’s arrivals in their program. Jordan in the top tight end in the Class of 2018 and Mallory eighth according to 247 Sports composite rankings.
The Miami Hurricanes were able to sign both players by showing Jordan and Mallory how they used Njoku and Herndon together in 2018. Without much depth and tight end last season, Miami wasn’t able to use two tight ends often.
Hartley spoke extensively to the Sun-Sentinel when Jordan and Mallory signed with the Hurricanes last December.
"“I think just seeing what we did in the past, actually showing them evidence, ‘Hey, look what we did with David and Chris. Look how we were able to do some things on offense we couldn’t do otherwise. Hey, this is the plan we have for you. This is the plan we have for you. And this is how you’re going to work together and help each other…We didn’t hide anything from the get-go. ‘Brevin, we’re offering you this, this is what we want you to do. We’re offering Will, this is what we want him to do. We want you guys to come in together.’ And that was the story from day one. They bought in. They saw the vision and they committed and stayed loyal and here we are now. It’s awesome.”"
Jordan’s skills seem similar to Njoku who was a first-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2017. Hartley discussed what Jordan can bring to the Miami Hurricanes offense.
"“He has unbelievable ball skills, just the ability to track a football and make the catch, body control in the air. Once he makes the catch, he’s such an athlete that he makes plays in space that most big men can’t make. And then he has the size and the girth to be able to break an arm tackle or run through a DB trying to tackle him.Then he has the ability to get on the line of scrimmage and be able to block anything that anybody throws at him, a defensive end, a linebacker, a safety, whatever it is…You don’t want to say he’s ready-made, but he’s as close to ready-made as you’ll find throughout the high school ranks. He’s a good kid, too. He’s a competitor, he’s a leader. He’s been a leader of this class, so he kind of checks all the boxes.”"
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Hartley is the one that compared Mallory to Njoku. Jordan seems to be the more athletic player and the modern tight end that is more athletic. Mallory, the more traditional tight end. Hartley also discussed Malloy’s strengths.
"“He can run, he’s got great length. He really reminds you of a young David [Njoku]. He’s a track star like David was, he has unbelievable hands, a great kid, highly intelligent, just a matchup nightmare on the perimeter,”You kind of see him – we play our tight ends two different ways, we have one that’s – both of them can be flexed out, both of them can be attached, but I’d say Will will probably be a little more flexed out than Brevin would be, kind of like David was a little more than Chris [Herndon].He’s an unbelievable route-runner…He came here and nobody could cover the dude. He catches everything thrown his way, he’s very intelligent, very smart and he’s a competitor as well. I mean, it really doesn’t get much better than the two kids we got this year.”"
Athlon Sports recently ranked their top 15 tight ends in the country for 2018. Neither Jordan or Mallory was on the list. Even if we split the average numbers for the Miami tight ends from the last two seasons in half, that comes out to 30.5 receptions for 404.75 yards and 3.5 touchdowns per season.
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Those numbers are better than several of the tight ends Athlon has in the top 15. Athlon did acknowledge that the list could change by August. There is no reason to believe that Tight End U doesn’t continue to roll in 2018.