Miami TE Elija Lofton Drops 10 Pounds Ahead of Junior Season

Trinton Breeze

Jul 24, 2026 2 min read

During the offseason, you will see many players try to rebuild their body and get into the weight room to add muscle. We have seen many Miami Hurricanes players bulk up including Bryce Fitzgerald, OJ Frederique, Malachi Toney, Armando Blount, among many other players on the team. On the other hand, Hurricanes starting tight end Elija Lofton has been doing the opposite.

On yesterday's CanesInSight podcast, DMoney stated that Lofton has shed 10 pounds off his body and now weights 243 as he continues his diet.

"We have a little taste test thing we do for Ibis Media, where people eat desserts and all these different things. Everybody was slamming the desserts. Ethan O'Connor, Marquise Lightfoot, all these guys. Lofton said, no thank you, I'm on a diet. He's down to 243. I heard his readings on the miles per hour and all that stuff were all good," said DMoney.

Lofton has been named among many media outlets to breakout this season. This past season with the Hurricanes, he recorded 23 receptions for 218 receiving yards, and three touchdowns. The year prior, he totaled for nine receptions for 150 yards.

With Lofton dropping 10 pounds off of his body, it now makes him more of a receiving threat as he will move quicker with his acceleration and agility. This is good news for both Lofton and the Hurricanes.

Check out his sophomore highlights down below:

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Comments (98)

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Garnacho

Jul 24, 2026

This reminds me of that time I lost 10 lbs after covid. Sure, I gained 50 lbs first but I still lost 10 lbs after that.

dycane

Jul 24, 2026

I can lose 10 pounds in 48 hours. He could get on keto and lose that in water weight immediately.

L
lurker

Jul 24, 2026

dycane said:
I can lose 10 pounds in 48 hours. He could get on keto and lose that in water weight immediately.

And that would be stupid for an athlete to do.

Cookie917

Jul 24, 2026

dycane said:
I can lose 10 pounds in 48 hours. He could get on keto and lose that in water weight immediately.

I think the hope is he likewise gained some muscle. I am no rugby trainer so take this with a grain of salt but to me it looked like he got hurt, picked up bad eating habits, gained bad weight which led to more injuries and thus had a lackluster year. For what we are asking him to do I think the 240 range at 6'3 ish to start the season is likely best (knowing people usually lose some weight during the season). But a good 240, not what we saw last year and then hopefully with good weight we dont have all the injuries.

R
rascon

Jul 24, 2026

Moar 4 wide please.

Garnacho

Jul 24, 2026

Cookie917 said:
I think the hope is he likewise gained some muscle. I am no rugby trainer so take this with a grain of salt but to me it looked like he got hurt, picked up bad eating habits, gained bad weight which led to more injuries and thus had a lackluster year. For what we are asking him to do I think the 240 range at 6'3 ish to start the season is likely best (knowing people usually lose some weight during the season). But a good 240, not what we saw last year and then hopefully with good weight we dont have all the injuries.

I really miss that rugby trainer

JG13

Jul 24, 2026

Easy peasy these days

DamienCane86

Jul 24, 2026

dycane said:
I can lose 10 pounds in 48 hours. He could get on keto and lose that in water weight immediately.

Thats not the type of weight he needs to lose. A legit 10 pounds of fat is only type of weight loss that will help his speed/quickness

BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati

Jul 24, 2026

Garnacho said:
This reminds me of that time I lost 10 lbs after covid. Sure, I gained 50 lbs first but I still lost 10 lbs after that.

#metoo

Brooklyndee

Jul 24, 2026

You know I'm one to critique allot of people's takes on the players they speak on and plenty just amuse me. @DMoney some of your takes I'll just say I disagree with but I keep it to myself cause why not. Elijah on the other hand people REALLY have no clue how good he is. I don't know if your take is based off things you've seen or what you've heard. Elijah has been dealing with allot of nagging injuries & honestly his skill set hasn't been showcased yet. I think getting a lil learner will do miracles for him because he had been carrying more weight then necessary. My only concern is with the loss of weight will he still get the snaps cause we all know the main role in this scheme for the tight end is blocking and diversion. Really hope Dawson finally is able to utilize him properly and mensah looks to him often enough.

BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati

Jul 24, 2026

Lofton @ 6'3" or SJ @ 6'2".......which is the bigger lie?

C
Combo

Jul 24, 2026

Cookie917 said:
I think the hope is he likewise gained some muscle. I am no rugby trainer so take this with a grain of salt but to me it looked like he got hurt, picked up bad eating habits, gained bad weight which led to more injuries and thus had a lackluster year. For what we are asking him to do I think the 240 range at 6'3 ish to start the season is likely best (knowing people usually lose some weight during the season). But a good 240, not what we saw last year and then hopefully with good weight we dont have all the injuries.

From all reports, his listed height is exaggerated by at least a couple inches. That said, if he's 6'1 240, that's fine for what we ask him to do. He has good hands and he's big/strong enough to block. Key with him is health. He obviously wasn't 100% last year.

With all the WR weapons Mensah will have, it will be a challenge to get him many targets. Mali, Barkate, Moore, Vaughn, Jacobs, et al. Lofton or whatever TE we play is going to have to be really good to steal targets from those guys.

rsa coral gables

Jul 24, 2026

BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati said:
Lofton @ 6'3" or SJ @ 6'2".......which is the bigger lie?

or

(a) BigDik
(b) Daddy
(c) From Cincinnati
(d) all of the above

Shooter McGavin

Jul 24, 2026

bdub2284

Jul 24, 2026

If he's healthy & in shape, I hope that Lofton gets utilized more like a Kyle Juszczyk type player.

Cookie917

Jul 24, 2026

Combo said:
From all reports, his listed height is exaggerated by at least a couple inches. That said, if he's 6'1 240, that's fine for what we ask him to do. He has good hands and he's big/strong enough to block. Key with him is health. He obviously wasn't 100% last year.

With all the WR weapons Mensah will have, it will be a challenge to get him many targets. Mali, Barkate, Moore, Vaughn, Jacobs, et al. Lofton or whatever TE we play is going to have to be really good to steal targets from those guys.

yeah that is why I put "ish" at the end because I agree, even at 6'1 240 is prob the max, if he was 6'1 250 thats just overweight.

He oddly gives me deejay dallas vibes. jack of all trades, fluid runner, and looks slightly overweight but deceptively fast at that size. I also agree with all the WR weapons he may not have a 700 yard season but if he is enough of a threat to account for I think that will do wonders. I see him having a few plays where he is just wide open due to the other weapons as you mentioned.

L
lurker

Jul 24, 2026

Cookie917 said:
I think the hope is he likewise gained some muscle. I am no rugby trainer so take this with a grain of salt but to me it looked like he got hurt, picked up bad eating habits, gained bad weight which led to more injuries and thus had a lackluster year. For what we are asking him to do I think the 240 range at 6'3 ish to start the season is likely best (knowing people usually lose some weight during the season). But a good 240, not what we saw last year and then hopefully with good weight we dont have all the injuries.

It is not really possible to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time unless you're a genetic freak, a beginner, obese, or taking steroids.

What you hope is that despite losing 10 pounds (which isn't a ton of weight for someone his size) that he minimized muscle loss and retained or possibly even gained strength despite dropping weight (gaining strength is not necessarily the same thing as gaining muscle). I am not the Rugby Trainer either so someone can correct me if I am wrong.

For the record, I think Lofton is going to have a bounce back season.

Alex_Dynamix

Jul 24, 2026

Hasnt quite lived up to the greentree hype but I believe that If he can stay healthy for us this year he will be a factor & will make plays for us im not sleeping on him. Book it.

rsa coral gables

Jul 24, 2026

the criticism of Dawson is that his TEs only block, as remarkably and repeatedly demonstrated last year by Alex Baumann both at the beginning of the year with his very successful wham blocks and at the end of the year in punt formation, but IIRC Arroyo had 38 catches his final year after producing NADA the prior two years because of injuries. I think Lofton could get near that ceiling this year.