Elija Lofton's Ascension Is Exactly What No. 3 Miami Expected This Season

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Two seasons ago, the Miami Hurricanes had a star tight end, Elijah Arroyo, who lit up the scoreboard and was eventually drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

The man behind him was then freshman Elija Lofton; same name, different player.

Moreover, he showed flashes of star power in his first season with limited snaps. Last season, Lofton battled injuries, slowing down his progression, but worked his way back to the best shape of his life for his junior year.

Now he has bloomed into the star tight end that the Hurricanes factory consistently churns out.

This season, he has 12 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown. He continues to grow, and his relationship with his quarterback is helping him get the ball more.

Miami Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah (10), right, scores and celebrates with teammate Miami Hurricanes tight end Elija Lofton (9) playing Clemson during the third quarter at Memorial Stadium Saturday, October 3, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

"Darian is a good guy," Lofton said about his relationship with Mensah. "He's a great leader, great person to be around. It's just getting repetition and being in the right spot, doing my job and just being in the right place at the right time and having people that believe in me and trust in me to go make those plays."

Moreover, Mensah loves what he is seeing from his star tight end. Their relationship has grown on the field, with him praising what he has done and how well they get along.

"I feel like I would miss him on a lot of throws, and he's been open to just hearing me and the way I want to routes ran certain routes ran," Mensah said. "And I think it shows up on the field. You know, Everything starts at practice and and with reps, and so we've been rapping it before, after practice. And I think he's been doing an excellent job, and I think his role where it start to expand as well."

Lofton's role with the team was always meant to be a key contributor, but his time on the field doesn't revolve around catching passes from his superstar QB.

The junior has also grown as a blocker. It is the key thing that sticks out to offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson with improvement week in and week out. He will only get better as the season goes on and will be Miami's X-factor deep into the season.

"The guy's hard to tackle with the ball in his hand, and so trying to do some things to get the ball in his hand early is important, but ultimately too, there's a level of trust that Mensah is starting to develop with him in his downfield route running that's really good, and I just think he's improved," Dawson said.

"He keeps improving every week, watch him block. He's really doing a heck of a job blocking the C-gap and doing all the things we ask him to do in the run game, and his pass game is really coming along too. I thought the Clemson game, I thought he played really, really physical. I thought he played really, really good, and some of the things I'm seeing in practice with him is very, very encouraging as far as some down-the-field stuff. So that's just going to continue coming."

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