Malachi Toney became a star for Miami before he could legally vote.
Two weeks before his 18th birthday, Toney burst onto the national scene in the Hurricanes’ 2025 season-opener vs. Notre Dame, hauling in six receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown. The further his freshman campaign continued, the more ingrained he became in Miami’s offense.
Now – just as Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith did in 2024 – Toney enters the College Football Playoff as his team’s most dynamic weapon despite his status as a first-year player.
“He's a pretty good playmaker,” Buckeye defensive end Kenyatta Jackson Jr. said on Monday. “He's their gadget guy. He can do everything. I mean, just coming in as a freshman, he's supposed to be in high school right now. But him coming in at a young age, and he's doing the things that he's doing, it's pretty impressive.”
The Buckeyes will need to ID Toney on every down. Eliminating him from Miami’s attack would spell a likely victory to welcome the New Year with the continuation of Ohio State’s repeat national championship hopes.
“A lot of the offense is going to go through him,” nickel Lorenzo Styles Jr. said. “He's a go-to guy for them. He's quick, he's fast, he has a good skill set. And I'm excited for that matchup, for me being in the slot, and then our secondary as a whole and the defense to go do our thing.”
In 13 games, Toney’s collected 89 receptions for 992 yards and eight touchdowns, all team-highs and all freshman records at Miami. He’s added 20 carries for 98 yards and a score on the ground, but that doesn’t even factor in his common usage as a horizontal rushing weapon on jet sweeps, which count toward his receiving stats thanks to the slight pitch forward modern offenses use on the play.
Toney is equally dynamic in the punt return game, with 17 returns for 269 yards this season, an average of 15.8 yards per return. He nearly made a house call on a punt return vs. Texas A&M during the Hurricanes’ 10-3 victory in the first round of the CFP.
A shoe string tackle saves a Malachi Toney punt return touchdown
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) December 20, 2025
This kid is ELECTRIC pic.twitter.com/6zOVxHPWf0
While he’s mostly played the slot, Toney can line up out wide or in the backfield for Miami, too. Despite the different looks he can give, Styles feels the 11 days Ohio State will have had to prepare for the Hurricanes since they beat the Aggies will allow the Silver Bullets to not only form the best game plan possible, but also know what curveballs to expect.
“I think our coaches are going to put us in a good position so the game will slow down for us,” Styles said. “And that's one thing about having this time off. We have extra preparation. We get to see some of those plays on film. There are going to be some unscouted plays, but with that, we're going to know our rules really well and how we want to line up and how we want to attack their offense. And what their attack is going to be against us as well.”
Defending Toney might come with complexities, but few defenses in the country have been more complex for offenses to deal with this season than Ohio State’s. Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia has made full use of the talented tools at his disposal and weaponized the game knowledge of his back seven. There’s constant disguise and changing pictures for opposing quarterbacks and receivers.
“Give the credit to the players,” Patricia said. “They're the ones that have really just embraced all of it, studied, learned, understood some of the moving parts. And then, the more moving parts that we have with it, then the more different ways you can put the pieces together, which has been a lot of fun. So I think they've done a phenomenal job.”
The Buckeyes possess the nation’s No. 1 pass defense in passing yards allowed per game (129.1) and No. 2 in yards allowed per pass attempt (5.3). Safety Caleb Downs is a unanimous first-team All-American and the Thorpe Award winner as the nation’s best defensive back. Cornerback Davison Igbinosun took home first-team All-Big Ten honors from the conference’s media.
Of course, the defensive line will be involved in stopping Toney, too. Pressuring Miami quarterback Carson Beck will be key. Beck has had a strong sixth-year senior season for the Hurricanes, completing a career-high 74.5% of his passes for 3,175 yards and 26 touchdowns with 10 interceptions. Beck is second nationally in completion percentage behind only Julian Sayin’s 78.4%, and tied for 20th in yards per attempt at 8.5.
“He's going to try to get the ball out of his hands fast,” Styles said. “Seeing downfield, being able to make the checks, the protections, you wouldn't really see that from a younger quarterback. So his experience shows up on film. But on our end, we just have to do our job, try to make him feel uncomfortable and make him make those bad decisions.”
There are weapons elsewhere for Miami, too. Running back Mark Fletcher Jr. is coming off a career day with 172 rushing yards at Texas A&M. No. 2 wide receiver Keelan Marion has 44 receptions for 590 yards and seven touchdowns this season. But if Toney is tempered, Miami’s offense will likely be the latest attack to struggle against the incredible 2025 Silver Bullets.
“This is a really talented team,” Ryan Day said Monday. “I mean, really talented. They've got players all over the field. And so I think our guys knew that. I think they knew that both teams playing were good teams. But once you get done with the game, you finally know who you're playing so that you kind of get focused and targeted, and there's a lot of carryover. Some of the guys on our team know some of the guys on their team and grew up around them, so they're excited. There was just an energy yesterday in the building as we got to work, and so these guys are excited to get back in here today for practice.”
