CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The first three pass plays of Miami’s season essentially were the same, with quarterback Darian Mensah connecting with wide receiver Malachi Toney and making it look very easy in the process.
It’s exactly what Miami wanted — and exactly what Miami doesn’t want as well.
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To explain: The fifth-ranked Hurricanes (2-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) don’t want to overly rely upon their dart-throwing quarterback and explosive wide receiver. That’s why Miami has spent the first two games of the season trying to develop depth, and a pair of blowout wins have afforded the Hurricanes that luxury.
“We don’t want to be a throw-the-ball-to-Mali offense,” Hurricanes offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “I mean, he’s going to get his. We understand that. But we want the ball to be spread around. And a lot of times that is dictated by the defense, the enemy that 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.”
Miami goes to Wake Forest, a game that should be considerably tougher than the Hurricanes’ first two this season — a 45-6 win at Stanford and a 77-7 victory over Florida A&M. Toney barely played in the second halves of those games, yet Miami still leads the nation in yards per game, yards per play, completion percentage and first downs per game.
And this stat might be the most absurd: Miami has four more touchdown passes (11) than incompletions (seven). Since at least 2000, no FBS team has had anything close to such a ratio over the first two games of a season.
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Only three other teams had more TD throws than incompletions through two games — Temple (10 TDs, nine incompletions) in 2025, Army (three TDs, two incompletions) in 2021 and Georgia Tech (four TDs, three incompletions) in 2015.
“To be honest, my coach calls the play and I try to go out and execute it as best as possible,” said Mensah, who has completed 41 of his 45 passes for a 91% completion rate. “We’re in a progression-based offense and I really just go to where the defense is telling me to go.”
The system Dawson uses with the Hurricanes is not simple. The philosophy is.
In a nutshell, Dawson’s approach goes like this: Build instant rapport with Miami’s starting quarterback, let trust create itself naturally from there, then believe that guy — Cam Ward in 2024, Carson Beck in 2025 and Mensah this year — will make the right choice when plays get sent into the huddle.
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So far, so good. And this year, the numbers are better than ever. Miami has spent its first two outings rewriting the school record book, putting up numbers the likes of which are typically reserved for video games.
“The mother of all learning (is) the repetition,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “The repetitions have really taken their course where guys have really built a lot of confidence in each other. The relationships off the field have carried on onto the field and therefore more time is being invested around each other, with each other. And that in turn turns into more of the extra work and all that stuff adds up. And as more and more confidence is built, I think the appetite grows to be better.”
Miami has had 18 different players catch a pass already this season, had six different running backs — led by Mark Fletcher Jr. — involved and has three different quarterbacks with at least five completions.
There inevitably will be weeks when the rotation tightens considerably. But for now, Miami is showing off its depth.
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“When you see people play a lot, what that means is we trust them,” Dawson said. “Typically, coaches don’t play people they don’t trust. … There’s a lot of people that we trust to be in the game. And I think part of that is we’ve recruited at a high level and there’s competition at those positions and we want to keep that competition going.”
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