⚡ CFB Dashboard

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The No. 5 Miami Hurricanes have one of the best receivers in the country in sophomore star Malachi Toney. Toney, coming off a 109-catch, record-breaking season, is off to a great start for the 2-0 Hurricanes who play at Wake Forest on Friday (7:30 p.m., ESPN) with 16 receptions, 330 yards and four touchdowns. He is a key focal point in the Miami offense, but coordinator Shannon Dawson does not want the passing game to rely solely on their dynamic playmaker, who ranks third nationally in receiving yards. "We don't want be a throw-the-ball-to-Malachi offense," Dawson said. "He's going to get his, we understand that, but we want the ball to be spread around. A lot of times that is dictated by the defense—it does have a choice in the matter. Are there specific things that we do to get him involved? Yeah, there is. But the ball is going to go to him. I don't have to worry about that." The Hurricanes are looking to continue to get production from their other receivers, notably Cooper Barkate, Joshua Moore and Daylyn Upshaw, who have each started at least once this season. Barkate, an 1,100-yard receiver at Duke last year, is the No. 2 option for Miami and he has six catches for 83 yards and touchdowns while Moore has four catches for 91 yards and a touchdown and Upshaw has four catches for 37 yards and a score. Junior Vandrevius Jacobs (2-38-1) and freshman Somourian Wingo (4-86-1) are looking to be consistent options in a top-six rotation. "It's really good to see other people making plays because that's when you're much harder to stop on offense when there's a number of people making plays, and the defense can't focus on one particular guy," Dawson said. "We run a system that I call a pass play, and it could go to a lot of different spots. It's truly a progression offense. Malachi just seems to get open a lot, which when you get open a lot, you typically get the ball. And obviously the quarterback looks for players that are high-level players. That's part of playing quarterback is know who your players are. You got to get the playmakers the ball. (Mensah) understands that, but the ball is getting spread around in a nice way. And I do pay attention to that and I do appreciate that." Junior tight end Elija Lofton (2-23-0) is also looking to be a factor in the passing game after catching 23 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns last season. Running backs Mark Fletcher (2-10-0), CharMar Brown (1-6-0), Girard Pringle Jr. (2-35-0) and Javian Mallory (1-6-0) have also caught passes this season a season after the backs combined to average 2.8 receptions and 22.1 yards per game last season. Even with Toney's high volume of targets, 17, being well higher than the next-highest in Barkate at seven, Mensah insists he is reading defenses as he has completed 41 of 45 passes to start the season. "To be honest, my coach calls the plays and I try to go out and execute it as best as possible," Mensah said. "We're in a progression-based offense and I really just go to where the defense is telling me to go. So, it doesn't really matter. Obviously, Mali runs great routes and he's open a lot, so he gets the ball. But it's not like he's the first read on this play—I'm just going out there and trying to execute the play as best as I can."  Wake Forest is 12th in the ACC in pass defense (242.5 yards per game), 15th in pass efficiency defense (147.5) and last in completion percentage (80.0), which could lead to another big passing day for Mensah and Toney, and possibly others. Christopher Stock has covered the Miami Hurricanes since 2003 and can be reached by e-mail at stock@insidetheu.com and on Twitter @InsideTheU.