Miami's Superstar Receiver Enters His Sophomore Season, 'As if Nobody Knew Me.'
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CORAL GABLES — The Miami Hurricanes return one of the best players in the country after his all-time freshman season.
Records that had been held for years had been broken in an instant, and a superstar was born and able to shine in front of everyone's eyes.
Now, Malachi Toney prepares for his sophomore season as a new man with the same mentality.
“Just be the best version of Malachi Toney for the University of Miami,” Toney said after Tuesday's spring practice. “Just keep going, keep maturing, and be a leader to the younger guys.”
Toney finished last season as one of the best wide receivers in the country. He was Miami's "little secret" before the first snap of the season, and after, history was being paved by the 5-foot-10-inch monster.
Moreover, that was a season when everyone didn't know who he was. Now, with the national attention on him as one of the best players in the country, it's hard to say that he doesn't notice the attention.
Still, Toney remains the soft-spoken, confident player that everyone in South Florida saw rise from their ranks to put on for his hometown. He remains the same as he prepares for this upcoming season.
“I’ll take it the same way like I took it last year,” Toney said. “As if nobody knew me.”
Furthermore, he is doing it with one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney have spent plenty of time together on and off the field to build up their chemistry.
“That’s my dog,” Toney said. “I call him ‘D Dog.’ We just grew closer ever since he got here day one, since he got down. We just gonna keep building up on that relationship.”
Mensah wants Toney and the rest of the program to know that he is here to win, and doing that with one of the best offenses in the country will show how serious Miami can be again after their appearance in the National Championship game.
“Miami is getting a winner with me, I’ve got a big chip on my shoulder,” Mensah said. “I’ve been under-recruited my whole life, always an underdog. So, just going out there and proving everybody wrong and prove myself right.”
"Miami is getting a winner out of me" -Darian Mensah pic.twitter.com/6lwl2TtI7Y
— Grant Reacts (@GrantReacts1) March 29, 2026
The Hurricanes still have two more weeks of spring practice before the Spring Game on April 18 at 10:15 a.m. Both Toney and Mensah's chemistry will continue to grow while Toney prepares for another record breaking season in the orange and green.
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.
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