Frank Ladson, Jaleel Skinner and the other receivers Miami need to step up in ACC play
The Miami Hurricanes’ seasonlong quest to find some new go-to receivers for Tyler Van Dyke took them to a few new places in their final game before the bye week last month.
No wide receiver caught more passes and saw more targets than Frank Ladson Jr., and no player did more with fewer opportunities than Jaleel Skinner.
“Each one of our players,” offensive coordinator Josh Gattis said Monday, “has to prepare themselves as if they’re that guy.”
With wide receivers Xavier Restreo and Jacolby George both out for at least another month, Miami (2-2) needs more contributions like those two to salvage a stagnating offense when it opens Atlantic Coast Conference play Saturday against the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Both Ladson and Skinner are newcomers in South Florida — Ladson transferred from the Clemson Tigers in January and Skinner signed with the Hurricanes as one of their top-ranked recruits in the Class of 2022 — and the bye week, theoretically, provides the perfect opportunity for them to assert themselves more.
Ladson made his second start in Miami’s 45-31 loss to the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, and his six catches and 65 yards were more than he totaled in the Hurricanes’ first three games combined. Skinner’s 15 snaps were more than he had played in the first three games combined and his 17-yard catch in the fourth quarter was Miami’s fourth longest play of the game.
Skinner’s role is naturally set to increase with fellow tight end Elijah Arroyo battling an injury and unlikely to play this weekend at Hard Rock Stadium. It also is just about the time when Mario Cristobal expects freshmen to start feeling comfortable, with four games and a bye now under their belts.
“You also assess what those guys can do and how they can help you,” the coach said Monday. “He’ll continue to contribute more.”
In a group badly lacking playmakers, Ladson and Skinner share the distinction of being one-time elite recruits — the sort of players top programs try to build passing attacks around.
In Skinner’s case, Miami beat out the Alabama Crimson Tide for the 6-foot-5, 210-pound tight end, who was a top-100 prospect in the 247Sports rankings for the 2022 recruiting class.
Ladson, of course, was at Clemson — he signed with the Tigers as a top-100 player in the Class of 2019 — and has a 6-3, 205-pound frame conducive to winning jump balls and making contested catches. The Hurricanes finally saw it in the Middle Tennessee game, when he made most of his catches while tightly covered, using his body to ward of defenders.
Cristoball called it a “drastic improvement” for the junior.
“He took a big, big step,” he said. “It had been something — since Day 1, when we signed Frank Ladson — that we were hoping to see. It’s starting to come together and we expect another big week.”
If Ladson and Skinner can play up to their potential, Miami’s passing offense will be in a much better spot, especially with wide receiver Key’Shawn Smith stretching the field for deep balls a few times each game.
The Hurricanes also badly need tight end Will Mallory to get on track. The 6-5, 245-pound senior, who made the watch list for the John Mackey Award in the preseason, has just 12 catches for 127 yards and no touchdowns so far this year.
“I’m very hard on myself,” Mallory said Wednesday. “It’s not good enough, obviously.”
This is also a prime chance for the rest of the wide receivers in Miami’s Class of 2020 to emerge. Wide receivers Romello Brinson and Brashard Smith are now both regularly playing more than 30 snaps per game , and those snap counts mean a chance — and an expectation — to make more than just a highlight-worthy play every once in a while.
They both displayed flashes as freshmen last year — Brinson made one of the best catches of the season against the FCS Central Connecticut State Blue Demons and Smith had multiple 75-yard touchdowns — and now is the time for the former blue-chip prospects to prove those were just a taste what’s to come.
“Everyone has to continue to step up,” Cristobal said. “You can’t wish for answers to happen. You’ve got to work it into reality, work it into existence and it starts with making sure that everyone in the organization understands what that means.”
