Miami Hurricanes wide receiver Malachi Toney burst onto the scene with a touchdown against Notre Dame in Week 1. Since that game, Toney has continued to excel, emerging as one of the top freshmen in the nation.
“From the first time I met him, (I thought) there’s just something different about the kid,” Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck said.
But where Toney really excels is in the days between Miami’s games, UM coach Mario Cristobal said.
“If you watch Malachi on his (daily practice film), it wouldn’t surprise you,” Cristobal said. “And I don’t like handing out praise — especially for young guys like that — but man, if everybody did what Malachi does, their performance levels would go through the roof. He is an early, early, early guy. He is a try-to-correct-it-before-he-even-gets-to-the-sideline kind of guy.”
Toney’s hard work in practice shows up on the field. Against Florida State — his fifth career game — Toney, a former American Heritage star and Sun Sentinel Super 11 pick, led Miami with 107 receiving yards and scored a pair of touchdowns. He had a third touchdown taken off the board due to a pre-snap penalty on UM. During the game, his mother posted on social media that Tallahassee should be renamed “Malihassee.”
“I think it starts in practice,” fellow UM wide receiver CJ Daniels said. “We do a lot during the week that a lot of people don’t see. We’re grinding really hard in the week to give our quarterback trust and just let them know that we’re going to make those plays for him. So I think it starts during the week, Monday through Friday. And it leads up to this. So we’ve already seen it before from him. I think he’s going to continue to make plays. And I couldn’t be more proud of that dude.”
Toney said he gets his inspiration to work hard from his family. His mother, Toni Toney, works for the US Postal Service, and he has uncles who work for UPS.
“Watching my mom get up early for work — if she can do it, why can’t I?” Toney said. “Watching my uncles work a job and actually get up early, staying there late in the hot sun … So if they could do it, why can’t I?”
Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said one of Toney’s key traits is how humble he is. Dawson said Toney does not have “good days and bad days.” He acts the same regardless of how things are going.
That attitude is helping Toney stay humble, even as he starts getting local and national attention for his performance.
“It’s starting to come around the school,” Toney said. “I do my part … to try not to feed into it because when you feed into it, that’s when complacency sets in. So I just want to stay even keeled and humble through it all.”
After the win against Florida State, a reporter asked Cristobal his thoughts on Toney. Cristobal, in turn, asked the reporter what he thought about the freshman receiver, and the reporter said he believed Toney is the best freshman in the nation.
Cristobal said because of that, he would have to work Toney even harder in practice to make sure he keeps that humble mindset.
“Since you praise him, I’ve got to push him that much harder all week long,” Cristobal said. “So he’ll send you a thank you.”
