Miami's Malachi Toney launched his Heisman Trophy campaign Friday night by setting a school record with 234 receiving yards and tying a program record with three touchdowns grabs during No. 7 Miami's 45-6 drubbing of Stanford. The sophomore phenom reeled in 12 of his targets and totaled 95 yards after the catch during a head-turning performance. Toney struck the Heisman pose several times while running wild through the Cardinal secondary.
The 5-foot-11 speedster looked poised to build on a historic freshman season in which he amassed 1,211 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns while setting a school record with 109 receptions. Any questions over whether Toney's prolific production would continue following Miami's quarterback transition from Carson Beck to Darian Mensah dissipated almost immediately. The Mensah-Toney duo demonstrated nearly perfect chemistry from the jump.
Miami's first play from scrimmage was a 48-yard connection between the two. It never gets old 😮💨🔥📺: ESPN pic.twitter.com/4oV9lW8FzL In fact, Mensah found Toney with his first three passes. The third was a 23-yard touchdown strike less than three minutes into the game.
Mensah totaled five touchdowns and 412 yards passing in his Miami debut. The Duke transfer completed 27 of 30 passes and never had any trouble finding his new top target. Toney's final touchdown grab was emblematic of his night.
Lined up in the slot, he found himself matched up with a Stanford linebacker. Mensah detected the mismatch and lofted a perfectly thrown ball over the top. Toney ran under it and accelerated into the end zone as the Hurricanes put an exclamation mark on a dominant season-opening performance.
Welcome to Malifornia 🙌📺: ESPN pic.twitter.com/w3zz6ak8oU The Hurricanes averaged a pedestrian 3.8 yards per rush against Stanford, but their passing game looked virtually unstoppable. Sophomore returnee Daylyn Upshaw was also on the receiving end of a Mensah touchdown strike. So was fellow Duke transfer Cooper Barkate, who finished second behind Toney in ACC receiving yards last season.
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