Miami football needs Freshmen tight ends to step up

The Miami football team learned earlier this week that Sophomore tight end Brian Polendey was lost for the season following a knee injury. It’s time for Freshman tight ends Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory to step up.

Through the first three games, Jordan and Mallory have only made an impact in the 77-0 victory over Savannah State. The Tigers are currently an FCS program. They will move down Divison II for beginning with the 2019-20 school year. They have been shut out in the Miami football games versus FBS teams LSU and Toledo.

On Hurricane hotline earlier this week the tight ends and special teams coach for the Miami football team Todd Hartley mentioned the team being figuratively cursed after essentially losing three tight ends with season-ending knee injuries over essentially a six-game span.

Miami lost tight end Chris Herndon last year with a knee injury in the loss to Pittsburgh in the regular season finale. Junior Michael Irvin II was hurt during training camp last month with an MCL tear that will sideline him for four months. Now Polendey is out for the season with a knee injury.

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Jordan had a big game against Savannah State. That has led to his misleading place among the leaders in the Hurricanes receiving stats. We illustrated the tight ends in our earlier article about the five things to watch in the game against FIU.

“Jordan is tied for second on the team with seven receptions, he’s fourth with 52 receiving yards and tied for first with two touchdown receptions. All of that came in the game against Savannah State. Mallory had one reception for two yards and a touchdown against the SSU Tigers.”

Jordan and Mallory are the only two healthy scholarship tight ends remaining on the Miami football roster. The Hurricanes had two immediate solutions for the lack of depth at tight end.

We took a look at that earlier this week when it was announced that Polendey was out for the season.

“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.” 

Miami should have a good day through the air today. We also took a look at FIU’s pass defense and the Hurricanes passing offense in the five things to watch in Miami versus FIU.

“The Panthers are 100th in the country in passing yards against per game. They allow 259.7 yards per game through the air. The Hurricanes are 67th nationally in passing offense averaging 239.7 yards per game.”

Without Herndon, last season the Miami offense struggled. It’s time for Jordan and Herndon to assert themselves and become the players they were hyped to be coming out of high school. It’s a lot to ask of true Freshmen, but Miami needs them to grow up quickly.