Miami's Malachi Toney Earns His First National Honor of the Season

The week has finally ended for the college football world, and now national honors are starting to roll out for star players.

Malachi Toney earns his first honor of the season, being named ACC Wide Receiver of the Week after his Heisman-worthy performance in the Miami Hurricanes' 45-6 victory against Stanford.

Toney finished with 12 receptions for a program-record 234 receiving yards and three touchdowns, averaging 19.5 yards per catch in Miami’s season-opening victory.

This broke a 42-year-old school record previously held by Eddie Brown, who recorded 220 receiving yards against Boston College in 1984. Toney is proving that he is one of the best players in the country with his performances.

⭐️ ACC Wide Receiver of the Week! ⭐️@CanesFootball | @MALACHITONEY2 pic.twitter.com/1qXjLLOPk0
— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) September 8, 2026

Moreover, it was more than the pass-catching that kept the eyes on him. His blocking and physicality are what stand out to Mario Cristobal and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson.

"Besides his excellent receiving skills and route running, a big reason why he's such a great fit out there, where he's at in the NFL with the Rams, is the fact that he knows how to hunt him up, how to fit, how to run his feet through contact, use his hands, play low to high," Cristobal said. "Great technician in the run game, understanding throws on the perimeter versus getting in the box, getting involved, chipping on the big guys at the line of scrimmage when you have to. It is part of the position, you know. Here you have to be able to block and get physical to be able to play."

It also helps that the first possession the Canes hand, Malachi Toney got the ball each time. It wasn't planned but it doesn't matter when you can't stop him.

"No. If the ball is put in play down the field, then he's one of the few guys that can get it. It just so happened that if he's the first read on things and he gets open, he gets it," Dawson said in review. "And so, there's four other guys that— well, in that play, there's three other guys that could have got the ball. Four, yes, four other guys that could have got the ball if it would have laid out a certain way. But in that certain defense they were playing, the first read was not Mali, but they took it away by alignment.

"And so then by default, Mali became the first read, and he was open. So they got it. And so I forget what play two was, but then the other play was all about— the play to him after that was more about the coverage. If it was another coverage, the ball would have went somewhere else. So a lot of it has to do with how they're playing and where the quarterback gets to in his progression."

Toney will return with the Canes as they face off against Florida A&M on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. ET on ACC Network+.

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