Elijah Arroyo is back. The 6’4, 245-pound redshirt junior has fully recovered from his 2022 knee injury and is showing off his speed on Greentree. He spoke with the CanesInSight Podcast about football, fishing and his relationship with Canes Connection.
A summary of Arroyo’s interview with Pete and I is below:
On his recovery from ACL surgery: It's been a long time coming. I've always felt like I was a pretty good player, but I've had these injuries holding me back. With injuries, the biggest thing is just staying mentally strong throughout that process. I've had a good group of guys with me. The coaches and the training staff were all together with me and helped me throughout. Just telling me that they believe in me, so I don't lose that confidence and I can come back feeling like me.
On being a veteran TE in the room: It's cool. I'm an older brother. I got two younger siblings. I naturally take that role. Just trying to teach the younger guys how to be a professional, how to take care of their bodies. If they have a goal, I’ve got to hold them accountable to be the best they can be.
On growing up in different places: My parents are from Miami. I was born here. When I was about seven years old, we moved to (Cancun) Mexico because my dad was working over there selling timeshares. We lived over there for about five, six years. It was cool growing up there. It’s different, but it was a fun time. I enjoyed it. I feel like it's cool for somebody to live in a different culture and experience how other people live.
When I hit seventh grade, I moved to Texas and then I finished high school over there (Independence, Dallas Metro) because it had better academics and better football.
On speaking Spanish: When I moved to Texas, I started losing my Spanish a little bit. I'll bust it out. If I'm at a restaurant or if I'm talking to somebody who doesn't speak English, it helps me then. But I'm not really fluent anymore.
On his athletic background: I played a lot of different sports growing up. The GM that's here for baseball (Robert “GM” McDaniel, Director of Baseball Ops for the Canes), he was here back then at the camps. It's crazy how things work. When I was playing football, though, I played running back. I feel like all good players, you gotta play the quarterback or running back when you're in little league. Then I played linebacker on defense.
On his blocking: That's the thing that not a lot of tight ends have. I need to work on anything I can just to maximize my potential and maximize my draft stock. I want to be the best player I can be for this team, for myself and for the future.
On the tight ends he studies: I always watch a lot of old Jimmy Graham film. I watch some of Greg Olson. I was watching some Shannon Sharpe the other day. Tony Gonzalez and even the guys now like George Kittle, Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews. I like evaluating all their films.
I've been talking to Will Mallory a little bit because he's in the offseason. It's been a great experience having that guidance. Just because it's somebody I'm close with and we're able to talk ball and talk about the next level, what I need to do and how it is.
On fishing: I'm from Texas in the Dallas area. There's no ocean, so I'm used to freshwater. That’s what I do here. I feel like deep sea is cool, too. I don't really like doing like shoreline fishing or anything. If I'm fishing in the ocean, I want to go out on a boat and be deep out there.
On whether he fishes for peacock bass in Miami: All the time. That's that's what we go for. I can’t give you [the spots.] I go down in South Miami, the canals out there. It's cool seeing a fish that size with that type of color and everything.
On the impact of Canes Connection on his life: It’s been a great experience. They've been able to help me set my stuff up with networking.
On what he wants to do after football: When I'm done playing, I don't even want to get away from football. I'm probably going into coaching. I might just start off at the high school level. I feel like I'll be better at developing kids. There’s a lot more to coaching than just teaching them plays and football.
On Cam Ward: Shoot, he can do it all. He's a very smart player. He can just adjust things on the fly. Anything he doesn't like, we can switch it up. You never know what's gonna happen with him.
On the tight end room: The whole room's pretty close. We enjoy working hard together, working for each other. When you're doing something for somebody else, working for your brothers, it's so much better. It means a lot more. It's been a good experience being with them. Our potential is through the roof. I'm ready to see what those boys can do.
On living in Miami: Man, I love it. I missed it here during my time gone. Texas is a cool place to grow up and everything. But I definitely love it here.
On attending the University of Miami: I got family down here, so I can see them whenever. I can get a home cooked meal if I need it. Holidays, we can't really go home for Thanksgiving because it's during the season. As long as we don't have a game, I can still go to my auntie's house and get some food. Some ribs and mac and cheese, some collard greens, things like that.
There’s always something to do. I always lived close to the water, other than when I was in Texas. Being able to go to the beach and just go see the water whenever I want. That’s good, too.
