Tight ends, young receivers look promising early in Hurricanes spring camp

CORAL GABLES — Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson seems tired of answering questions about the tight-end production.
“Maybe y’all won’t be asking me this year about getting the ball to the tight ends,” Dawson said to reporters after answering questions about the tight ends.
The questions were there last year because Miami, a program known for sending tight ends to the NFL, had just 18 catches, 154 receiving yards and one touchdown from four tight ends.
But this year, a healthy Elijah Arroyo, a developed sophomore in Riley Williams and talented freshman Elija Lofton are some of the reasons for optimism for the position group.
“That tight end room is a lot like we talked about,” Dawson said. “It’s a lot of competition in that room. … That room’s pretty talented, so we’re excited about that room, for sure.”
Arroyo has missed most of the last two seasons with a knee injury, but he is healthy and participating in spring football. He had only one catch for 11 yards last season.
“Huge,” Dawson said when asked what kind of impact Arroyo could have, pausing for effect. “What else you want? If he’s healthy, he’s a dude.”
Williams led Miami’s tight ends with 72 receiving yards and scored the group’s only touchdown. A four-star prospect coming out of Bradenton’s IMG Academy, Williams has shown promise, making some quality catches in practice.
“Riley played a lot of football last year as a true freshman,” Dawson said. “That’s hard. Everybody can be critical of guys when they’re freshmen playing at this level. I thought he did a really good job last year, but his ceiling is very, very high. Having a guy like Elijah, that is an older guy that can kind of be the post of that group, is huge.”
Dawson said Lofton, a four-star prospect from Las Vegas powerhouse Bishop Gorman, is “pretty good,” and early reviews are positive.
“He’s a great kid. I see a lot of myself in him,” Arroyo said. “He comes in, he’s ready to work, ready to learn. He treats himself as a professional already. Anything I’m doing, he’s on my hip. … He’s a big guy, but just to be that young and that explosive and powerful, that’s a good thing.”
Young receivers fighting for roles
Miami has a group of talented first- and second-year receivers who are jockeying for their positions on the team in the spring.
Second-year receivers Ray Ray Joseph and Robby Washington are tasked with “playing hard and getting better,” Dawson said. Joseph played 69 offensive snaps last season, and Washington played nine.
“The spring and in the summer is where you earn reps,” Dawson said. “Look, this is the deal: They know that getting reps is not easy because we have a thousand-yard receiver that plays the position that they play. Now we can do other things to get people on the field with multiple guys at that position, but ultimately, they’ve got to raise their level.”
New to the team this spring are highly touted freshman Joshisa “JoJo” Trader and Ny Carr. Both freshmen were four-star prospects and are looking to get on the field quickly.
“They can run, and their body control is what you think,” Dawson said. “Now like everything, whenever you’re new, you’re not playing instinctive like you can play until you start learning things in a way that everything becomes second nature. But their skill set is what you want them to be.”