Mike Harley has to raise play another level on Biletnikoff watch list

Mike Harley will have to raise his play another level in 2021 after being named to the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award honoring the best receiver in college. Harley improved significantly in 2020, but to earn the Biletnikoff Award, Harley has to produce numbers similar to how he played in the last six games last season.

Mike Harley had 17 receptions for 174 yards and one touchdown through the first five games of 2020. Harley led Miami with 57 receptions from 799 yards and tied for the team lead with seven TDs last season. That was 19 more receptions, for 314 more yards receiving and four more TDs in one less game than 2019.

The Miami career receptions and receiving yardage records are within reach for Harley in 2021. Reggie Wayne holds the Miami career receptions record with 173. Santana Moss with 2,543 receding yards is the Hurricanes record. Harley needs 48 receptions to tie Wayne and 932 receiving yards to match Moss.

If Harley is going to be a serious candidate for the Biletnikoff Award, he will need to significantly exceed those numbers. DaVonta Smith won the 2020 Biletnikoff as well as being the first WR since Desmond Howard in 1991 to win the Heisman Trophy. Smith had 117 receptions for 1,856 yards and 23 TDs in 2020.

Those numbers would all shatter single-season Miami receiving records. Michael Irvin holds the career Miami receiving TD record with 26. Recent Biletnikoff Award winners are among the best WRs currently in the NFL plus 2021 high draft picks Smith and Ja’Marr Chase. Miami should have better WR development in the future.

The hiring of Rob Likens from Arizona State during the 2020 offseason helped Harley improve tremendously. A similar leap in production from Harley in 2021 could make him a sleeper for the Biletnikoff Award. With Harley and quarterback D’Eriq King returning and the addition of Charleston Rambo, the Miami pass should be improved.