Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 3 games
| Wk | Opp | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 45-6@ Stanford | 12 | 234 | 19.5 | 3 | 48 | Season-high 234 yds |
| Wk 2 | W 77-7vs Florida A&M | 4 | 96 | 24.0 | 1 | 52 | |
| Wk 3 | W 33-20@ Wake Forest | 12 | 114 | 9.5 | 1 | 28 | |
| Total | 28 | 444 | 17.7 | 5 | 52 |
#1
Malachi Toney
As a true freshman, Malachi Toney led the entire country in receptions. He set Miami's freshman receiving record, won ACC Rookie of the Year -- and he can't enter the NFL until 2028. Miami has him for years.
5′11″ · 188 lb · Miami, FL
CFB Index 94 · #2 of 485 WRsHigh confidenceNational watch
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
How he plays
Wins underneath on volume and route precision.
Catch rate: 99th percentile.
The full scouting readThe numbers
444
receiving yards · 2026 · through week 3
3 games into 2026 so far
Career night12 rec · 234 yds · 3 TDat Stanford (FBS) · W 45-6
Top 0.1% receiving yards game since 2021.
toney gonna have 2k yards this yearr/CFB game thread · ▲ 3His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
As a true freshman, Malachi Toney led the entire country in receptions. He set Miami's freshman receiving record, won ACC Rookie of the Year -- and he can't enter the NFL until 2028. Miami has him for years.
- Signed as a 4-star recruit to Miami in 2025.
- Named All-America (PFF) in 2025.
- Named Preseason All-America in 2026.
Buzz vs Tape
Fans warmer than rivals
His own fans are far more bullish than the rival fanbase.
32own fans
15rival fans
Miami Hurricanes football roster grows bigger, stronger, and deeper each year under Mario Cristobal—could this be their most complete team yet? Alex Donno breaks down the Hurricanes’ spring game, highlighting Darian Mensah’s standout…
Also worth knowing:
In Their Words
1,333 windows · 2026 fan posts
malachi×87.5miami×18.9mensah×32.2hurricanes×30.8barkate×59.6stanford×26.4receiver×9.7darian×14.7
“Miami has best player in NCAA Malachi Toney”
youtube/Locked On Canes · fan post, verbatim
The story
A Miami freshman receiving record, ACC Rookie of the Year, first-team All-ACC, and a Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year finalist. On3 ranked him the No. 5 player in college football entering 2026; Bleacher Report called him the most explosive player in the sport. And here's the part that should scare the ACC: he won't be NFL-draft-eligible until 2028, so Miami gets two more years of him. He's the centerpiece of a Miami offense rebuilding around him -- a slot-and-space weapon who already commands the attention reserved for veterans. The forward question isn't whether he's good; the freshman record settled that. It's how high the ceiling goes: whether the sophomore leap turns the nation's leading receiver into its best, and whether Miami's offense rises with him. Players this productive this young don't come along often -- the runway is the story.
His career
He was winning awards before he was old enough to be a story.
The week the volume broke through — put up 146 yds at Virginia Tech.Virginia Tech · W 34-172025
Toney is a volume machine with juice. He caught 84% of his targets -- 96th percentile -- as a true freshman, the reliability that makes him a quarterback's security blanket, with the after-the-catch burst (72nd-percentile explosive-play rate) to turn a five-yard hitch into a chunk gain. He lives in the slot and in space, where his quickness and vision do the damage; it's why he led the country in catches and why the highlight folder is full of broken tackles. The growth edge is the vertical game -- his yards-per-catch sat mid-pack, so the next tier is stretching the field, not just carving up the underneath. But a true freshman who led the nation in receptions has a floor most receivers never reach.
Written by our staff.
202516 games
- Signed with Miami4-star out of American Heritage
- All-ACCfirst
- All-America
20263 games
- Preseason All-AmericaFirst Team
Career arc
HS
Recruit
★★★★
CFB
College
Miami
NFL
NFL Draft
—
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
🥇
ALL-AMERICA
Named All-American (2026)
1 selectors honored him
🥈
ALL-ACC · 1ST TEAM
All-ACC 1st team (2025)
Badges
- Honors Badge
- Program Benchmark
Career stats
Game log
Game by game
Malachi Toney's 2026 production
Point color shows the opponent's defensive strength that week (red = weaker defense, blue = stronger) — dashed line is this player's own season average.
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 3 · 2026
W 33–20
at Wake Forest
Signature plays
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
- Week 1 · Stanford · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +3.61Malachi Toney 47 Yd pass from Darian Mensah (Jake Weinberg Kick)
- Week 1 · Stanford · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.42(13:46) No Huddle-Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete short left to #1 M.Toney caught at MIA41, for 48 yards to the STA29 (#9 B.Nicholson), 1ST DOWN
- Week 2 · Florida A&M · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.17(00:30) Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete deep right to #1 M.Toney caught at FAMU23, for 52 yards to the FAMU19 (#10 F.Callum), 1ST DOWN
- Week 1 · Stanford · 3&4 · Q1 · EPA +3.14Malachi Toney 23 Yd pass from Darian Mensah (Jake Weinberg Kick)
- Week 3 · Wake Forest · 3&4 · Q2 · EPA +3.14(02:00) Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete short left to #1 M.Toney caught at WFU44, for 27 yards to the WFU32 (#6 R.Tongue), 1ST DOWN
- Week 3 · Wake Forest · 2&6 · Q1 · EPA +2.79(00:39) No Huddle-Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete short middle to #1 M.Toney caught at MIA42, for 28 yards to the WFU48 (#5 D.Patterson), 1ST DOWN
- Week 2 · Florida A&M · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.60(14:59) Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete short left to #1 M.Toney caught at FAMU00, for 19 yards to the FAMU00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 14:54, 1ST DOWN #22 J.Weinberg kick attempt good (H: #94 D.Joyce, LS: #46 A.Booker)
- Week 1 · Stanford · 3&5 · Q2 · EPA +2.56(04:26) Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete short left to #1 M.Toney caught at STA30, for 28 yards to the STA20 (#5 J.Green), 1ST DOWN
- Week 1 · Stanford · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +1.55(09:00) No Huddle-Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete deep left to #1 M.Toney caught at STA28, for 39 yards to the STA14 (#39 C.Eckhardt), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
- Week 3 · Wake Forest · 2&6 · Q2 · EPA +1.47(10:55) No Huddle-Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete short left to #1 M.Toney caught at MIA50, for 10 yards to the MIA50 (#43 F.Cusano; #23 V.Firenze), 1ST DOWN
2026 snapshot
Since week 2: +114 receiving yards, +12 catches, +1 receiving TD.
Season context · Team result + system
2 seasons under Mario Cristobal, all balanced offenses — 16-3 over that span.
2025Miami13-3HC: Mario Cristobal · Balanced
2026Miami3-0HC: Mario Cristobal · Balanced
Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort
Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles
High confidence
Elite: catch rate (99th percentile). Strength: epa / target (98th percentile).
Real play-by-play efficiency
Box-score rates (5)
Season trend
Last seasonThis season
EPA / target
54th → 98th percentile
Explosive rate
41st → 94th percentile
Catch rate
85th → 99th percentile
TD rate
49th → 50th percentile
Yards / catch
39th → 81st percentile
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).
Receiving profile
Receiver profile · Targets, catch rate, and throw depth
How often he's targeted, and how well it works
28 of 28 receptions matched to play-by-play
25 of 29 targets charted for true throw depth
Targets
2930% of team targetsCatch rate
97%28 of 29 targetsBehind LOS · Negative air yds
20% of targets (5)
100%catch rate
Air -2.4 · YAC 5.6 avg
Short · 0–9 air yds
36% of targets (9)
100%catch rate
Air 3.9 · YAC 4.9 avg
Middle · 10–19 air yds
36% of targets (9)
89%catch rate
Air 15.7 · YAC 7.8 avg
Deep · 20+ air yds
8% of targets (2)
100%catch rate
Air 36.5 · YAC 9.0 avg
97% catch rate on 29 targets · 30% of the team's targets.
Splits & context
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 3 games
Home vs Road
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home1g | 4.0 | 96.0 | 24.0 | 1.0 |
| Road2g | 12.0 | 174 | 14.5 | 2.0 |
First half vs Second half
| REC/g | YDS/g | YPR | TD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-73g | 9.3 | 148 | 17.7 | 1.7 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Mario Cristobal
Pass share
48.3%
98 pass / 105 run
Plays / game
67.7
3 games
Team sack rate
1.0%
101 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Awards
Player standing · 2026
National watch / fringe AA
In the All-America conversation, short of a selector's first team.
Recognition
Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex
2026 outlook
Heisman market4.4%full market ›
In the mix to repeat All-ACC
Based on 2025: #1 of 64 ACC WRs
How the All-ACC estimate is computed
49% estimated, 95% confidence interval 43–54%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.
One of 52 players who were elite at two different things in 2025. See the others ›
Selector Grid · 2026
AP—
FWAA—
AFCA—
WCFF—
SN—
SI—
How he plays
Play style
Toney is a volume machine with juice. He caught 84% of his targets -- 96th percentile -- as a true freshman, the reliability that makes him a quarterback's security blanket, with the after-the-catch burst (72nd-percentile explosive-play rate) to turn a five-yard hitch into a chunk gain. He lives in the slot and in space, where his quickness and vision do the damage; it's why he led the country in catches and why the highlight folder is full of broken tackles. The growth edge is the vertical game -- his yards-per-catch sat mid-pack, so the next tier is stretching the field, not just carving up the underneath. But a true freshman who led the nation in receptions has a floor most receivers never reach.
Our classifier reads him the same way: wins underneath on volume and route precision.
DNA match
Player DNA
Slot Technician
Runs precise routes in tight quarters. Volume player who keeps chains moving.
WR
His 2026 production profile sits closest to Anthony Miller’s 2016 season.
90%match
NFL Rd 2 · Pk 19
Matches Anthony on
Yards / reception
TD rate
Height
Through 2 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to DJ Epps’s path through West Virginia.
Matches DJ on
Height
Weight
Yards per reception
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Tyler Scott's sophomore season at Cincinnati (2021).
83%match
All-AACNFL Rd 4
Matches Tyler on
Weight
TD rate
Total EPA (college ability)
Differs from Tyler on
Class year (lower)
EPA / play (adj) (higher)
Heisman trajectory
Heisman futures · sportsbook market
#5 in market ▲ from #16 · 6 books
Heisman Trajectory · 2026
Peak #60
Peaked at #60 this season.
The receiver room · Miami
- #1Malachi Toney1,211 receiving yards · 2025
- #18Cooper Barkate1,106 receiving yards · 2025
- #8Vandrevious Jacobs548 receiving yards · 2025
- #17Cam Vaughn540 receiving yards · 2025
- #3Joshua Moore210 receiving yards · 2025
10 more on the roster · Miami team page
Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology