Will Mallory a veteran TE with renewed excitement under coordinator Josh Gattis: "Everyone’s done a great job of buying in"

In a new Miami Hurricanes offense under Josh Gattis, on a revamped roster with a lot of new faces, there’s still an old standby in the tight ends room.

Will Mallory, a fifth-year senior tight end, is working under his third head coach at Miami and also his fourth offensive coordinator.

Yes, he’s that old.

He began with Mark Richt as his head coach and Thomas Brown the coordinator as a freshman in 2018, and has seen other coordinators roll through – Dan Enos, Rhett Lashlee and now Josh Gattis.

Gattis, though, is a lot different for Mallory’s position compared to the prior three. He’s shown a propensity to use two and even three tight ends in games. He relies on the position to establish a strong run game and as a presence in the downfield passing attack.

That’s got this 6-6, 245-pound veteran excited.                                                          

“When they hired him I saw what they did at Michigan with their tight ends,” said Mallory, who is pursuing a masters in applied physiology this fall. “It’s exciting. … You look at this offense, and it’s `This is exactly why you want to play tight end, this offense.’ The opportunities we get in the pass game, run game – it’ll only make us better.

“They preached how much they want to use tight ends. With the talent level we have in the room there’s no reason we can’t use all of us. He can say it’s what he wants to use, we have to prove to him that. We have to give him confidence that `Hey, you should be using a lot of tight ends.’ Hopefully all of us get some action.”

Don’t bet against it. Seeing two and even three tight ends in for plays could be a regular occurrence.

“You have a room like that [including talented youngsters Jaleel Skinner and Elijah Arroyo] – it pushes everyone to be the best version of themselves,” Mallory said. “I ask (the tight ends) to push me every day. I have to come out and prove myself. Those guys could easily be a starting tight end. They’ll push me to be the best.”

Last season Mallory is quick to admit he wasn’t his best. Stepping out of Brevin Jordan’s shadow, he had a slow start to the season. Through the first seven games Mallory didn’t surpass 36 receiving yards in a game, and he ended with 30 catches for 347 yards and four scores.

“A big thing I focused on (this offseason) was my mental (approach),” Mallory said. “Last year I struggled with that, it affected my game. I want to feel confident, have fun. You come and put too much pressure on yourself, you’re not enjoying it. That’s something I worked on this summer, will keep working on it.”

Mallory has 28 career starts at Miami. As a freshman in 2018, he made one start and had five catches for 37 yards and a touchdown, in 2019, he started eight games and had 16 catches for 293 yards and two scores. Then in 2020 he made seven starts and had 22 catches for 329 yards and four TDs, which led to this past season.

He was held back this spring a bit, missing the latter half of drills with a shoulder injury. But he’s 100 percent now.

“A big thing was coming back from the shoulder and getting my body back, feeling good,” he says. “I was focusing on my craft, catching. I want to be confident in my game.”

This fall, Mallory knows he has to be at his best to hold off Skinner and Arroyo.

“Those guys are extremely talented, more talented than I was (at that age) for sure,” Mallry said. “So I hope for them I just lead them by showing them to do the right thing. There’s no shortcuts to anything. I hope I show them the way to work, treat people, be a good teammate. Those guys are already grinders, talented. Hopefully they remember me as a good teammate, good leader, someone they look up to.

“I’m in a talented group. Any of those guys can go out and take my spot. Everyone has to get to work. Everyone’s pushing like that, it’ll make everyone better.”

Mallory been all about team and competition at Miami since arriving as a 4-star prospect out of Jacksonville (Fla.) Providence School. At that time he probably never envisioned his path at UM would include three different head coaches and four different coordinators.

But he wouldn’t change a thing.

And he’s excited for what lies ahead.

“So far everyone’s done a great job of buying in,” Mallory said. “This last fall camp I want to soak up every moment, enjoy it. No matter how tough practice is, I want to enjoy it because this is it.”