Miami wants to give Their Star Player the Ball, But Everyone Knows That too
In this story:
CORAL GABLES — The Miami Hurricanes are working on getting the offense together, and it starts with getting their star player the ball.
Malach Toney has been one of the star players this season. He is going to be a staple of the Hurricanes' offense for the future. Quarterback Carson Beck has been feeding him the ball, but that also comes with some issues.
Head coach Mario Cristobal knows that they want to give the ball to him as often and as creatively as possible, but that also comes with the scouting report for teams knowing they need to account for Toney. Moreover, it gives other opportunities for other players to go off.
"Well, I think what you saw on Saturday was that attempt," Cristobal said. "But you also saw what teams will start doing: bracket coverage, right, trail coverage, right, making sure that everything is kept in front. And therefore, you see guys like Keelan Marion come up with the type of day that he had. He had a really, really good day. You see Jojo Trader get himself a couple of big catches.
"You see the ball being sprayed around a little bit more, but Malachi attracted a lot of attention on Saturday. So I think when we go into a game, we always think players over plays. I think we have to also acknowledge that defenses are going to think, 'Stop certain players over certain plays.'"
Cristobal knows that stopping in is going to get hard. That is why they are trying to figure out more ways to get him the ball.
"So if you watch this offensive, yeah, there's left and right receivers, but there's also receivers lining up in the slot. There's guys lining up in the backfield. We move guys around in order to just try to create eyewash, a different look, a different presentation, create a different matchup, you know? And so we have been doing that with the guys that have been really, really productive.
"Malachi is one of them, but he's he is attracting a lot of attention, and we expect that to keep happening. So it's a great opportunity for the run game to get better, for the other guys at receiver to keep just having some productive day so that that coverage has to be a little bit more evened out, and give ourselves more opportunity to just push the ball up the field."
Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University and is the site lead for the Miami Hurricanes on SI. He can be reached at Twitter @Justice_News5.
Follow all social media platforms to stay up to date with everything Miami Hurricanes-related: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and BlueSky.
Read More Miami Hurricanes News:
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.