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:

 

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.

Or he had bad eating habits, already had bad weight, got dinged up (was he actually hurt-hurt?), got fatter, was soft, got softer? I mean he played all season until the natty so how 'injured' was he?

 

I have children....

You have children like every "kid" on the team is one of @Coach Macho kids or actual kids?

 

good enough

not sure he's good enough for ECU

 

Best shape of his life SZN is back!

Every time Lex Luger came back from injury

 

Not giving up on him by a longshot.

The play he made in the comeback win against Cal doesn’t grow on trees. That talent is in there somewhere. He just needs to figure out how to get consistent. I don’t mind losing 10 pounds to try to maximize the talent he does have. My main concern is I don’t know what he’s really above average at. Blocking? No. He’s not fast for a TE. He doesn’t have that arroyo catch radius. He’s not overly shifty. And I’ll admit I’m worried he gets lost in the shuffle with all the pass-catchers. IMO our best package this year is 11 or 10. But we know Mario and Dawson aren’t gonna showcase that entirely, so there is a spot for a TE to get on the field. A good coordinator shapes their offense to a player’s skills, but honestly there are so many good players on this offense I don’t know if it makes sense to try to tailor what you do to showcase Elijah. We just have an absurd amount of skill talent. Again, IMO, just spread the entire field with Barkate, Mali, Moore, **** put Jacobs at X and let him fly down the field, and if you wanna drop safeties, run these backs into a light box.

I still think Lofton is a good football player I just don’t know if trying to force anything to him makes sense when you have this embarrassment of riches at your disposal.

 

I have children....

You have children like every "kid" on the team is one of @Coach Macho kids or actual kids?

Biological. Failed pull outs.

 

I have children....

You have children like every "kid" on the team is one of @Coach Macho kids or actual kids?

Biological. Failed pull outs.

Should’ve done it in a hot tub

 

I have children....

You have children like every "kid" on the team is one of @Coach Macho kids or actual kids?

Biological. Failed pull outs.

Should’ve done it in a hot tub

I was thinking I should’ve done it in the butt.

 

I think we’ll see plenty of that this year. But if Lofton has regained his athleticism and quickness, you’ll see him out there wide too because he can route you up when he’s right.

people seem to forget he made some key plays in 2024 in limited duties. They make it sound like he's only made plays in practice out on Greentree and he was coming on the last third of the season before he took that hit in the Fiesta Bowl

 

Rooting for the kid. Hope he has a breakthrough year

 

not sure he's good enough for ECU

There's a good chance he won't be good enough for ECU. A quarterback's job is to put the ball into playmakers hands that can go and win the games for them. What playmakers does ECU have? 9 out of 10 quarterbacks aren't doing that on their own or with a little help. Someone like Emory who doesn't have the pinpoint accuracy who doesn't have a cannon for an arm needs to be surrounded by facilitators. You guys can talk all you want about Carson Beck or anyone else but That's what Emery is a game manager you put people around him that can elevate his game because his game on its own doesn't stand for much it's just safe. Safe isn't for everybody but it's most definitely for us. For anyone that knows the history of the game most of the quarterbacks that people really speak about that's what they were they were safety nets not gunslingers. Those are rare and that's why people like marini, like favre, like mahomes, like Aaron Rodgers, they'll be talked about forever. Cause they could consistently do it on their own. They ciuld go out and make a play that had you say what the **** did I just witness. That's not what this game is anymore.

 

Not giving up on him by a longshot.

The play he made in the comeback win against Cal doesn’t grow on trees. That talent is in there somewhere. He just needs to figure out how to get consistent. I don’t mind losing 10 pounds to try to maximize the talent he does have. My main concern is I don’t know what he’s really above average at. Blocking? No. He’s not fast for a TE. He doesn’t have that arroyo catch radius. He’s not overly shifty. And I’ll admit I’m worried he gets lost in the shuffle with all the pass-catchers. IMO our best package this year is 11 or 10. But we know Mario and Dawson aren’t gonna showcase that entirely, so there is a spot for a TE to get on the field. A good coordinator shapes their offense to a player’s skills, but honestly there are so many good players on this offense I don’t know if it makes sense to try to tailor what you do to showcase Elijah. We just have an absurd amount of skill talent. Again, IMO, just spread the entire field with Barkate, Mali, Moore, **** put Jacobs at X and let him fly down the field, and if you wanna drop safeties, run these backs into a light box.

I still think Lofton is a good football player I just don’t know if trying to force anything to him makes sense when you have this embarrassment of riches at your disposal.

Im not giving up either but that cal catch was regular

And when you guys say we’re running against a light box with 10p..Safety’s move back its still will h 5 be 6, without a dual threat Qb to occupy the free defender. Thats advantage defense numbers wise, there isn’t really a way around needing a blocking te unless on majority of your plays unless we plan to be veer and shoot uptempo gimmicky offense

I think we should use him as like a full back with how we were using those insert blocking plays in pistol 11 personnel but it will basically be 22 personnel. Mark could fill in that role too to mix it up. That way lofton could be matched up with linebackers from a better leverage point. Could be a new extra layer

He may not be high value as a te but his versatility could be turned into an advantage

 

There's a good chance he won't be good enough for ECU. A quarterback's job is to put the ball into playmakers hands that can go and win the games for them. What playmakers does ECU have? 9 out of 10 quarterbacks aren't doing that on their own or with a little help. Someone like Emory who doesn't have the pinpoint accuracy who doesn't have a cannon for an arm needs to be surrounded by facilitators. You guys can talk all you want about Carson Beck or anyone else but That's what Emery is a game manager you put people around him that can elevate his game because his game on its own doesn't stand for much it's just safe. Safe isn't for everybody but it's most definitely for us. For anyone that knows the history of the game most of the quarterbacks that people really speak about that's what they were they were safety nets not gunslingers. Those are rare and that's why people like marini, like favre, like mahomes, like Aaron Rodgers, they'll be talked about forever. Cause they could consistently do it on their own. They could go out and make a play that had you say what the **** did I just witness. That's not what this game is anymore.

That was Cam Ward only the season before last.

Not getting in the middle of the Emory debate because I admire him and am rooting for him. Just saying the gunslinger still exists and I want one of those if available.

I think Mensah is a gunslinger. I hope and expect Dawson and Mario to let him sling.

 

That was Cam Ward only the season before last.

Not getting in the middle of the Emory debate because I admire him and am rooting for him. Just saying the gunslinger still exists and I want one of those if available.

I think Mensah is a gunslinger. I hope and expect Dawson and Mario to let him sling.

Of course the gunslinger still exists. Just like centers still exist in basketball point is the skill set isn't utilized the same anymore. You have exceptions here or there. But when you look throughout football be a college or NFL the gunslinger mentality has become a rarity just think you have hundreds of starting quarterbacks. How many of them can you legit say are asked to be gunslingers? More often than not the ones that are asked that is out of necessity. If you can win with a possession based offense(EXACTLY LIKE WE RAN LAST SEASON) opposed to what we ran the season before with Cam and taking all that risk, the vast majority will say hands down limit risk. That's the reason a prepared Emory wouldn't have been anywhere near the issue that people believe. He would run a slightly more complex offense than we saw out of him in the two games he started. Visually it would've been **** & not at all saying HE would've made us a playoff team or conference champion. But if the team would e stayed healthy and people step up around him to lift his game we would've been good enough. Football is often situational. That's what Emery would have been a situational possession-based quarterback. However there's no point in this conversation about somebody that's not here any further I wish him the best he is a great amazing kid and I hope he succeeds. To me it's a little wild that a quarterback that literally showed you he would do anything to help put us in a position to win including sacrifice his own physical form is somebody that this fan base chooses to **** on and pick apart. But it's important to remember 99 point whatever percent of yall are just fans and with that in mind the only thing relevant is wins and losses not what it takes to achieve them. Y'all have an amazing rest of your weekend.

 

Of course the gunslinger still exists. Just like centers still exist in basketball point is the skill set isn't utilized the same anymore. You have exceptions here or there. But when you look throughout football be a college or NFL the gunslinger mentality has become a rarity just think you have hundreds of starting quarterbacks. How many of them can you legit say are asked to be gunslingers? More often than not the ones that are asked that is out of necessity. If you can win with a possession based offense(EXACTLY LIKE WE RAN LAST SEASON) opposed to what we ran the season before with Cam and taking all that risk, the vast majority will say hands down limit risk. That's the reason a prepared Emory wouldn't have been anywhere near the issue that people believe. He would run a slightly more complex offense than we saw out of him in the two games he started. Visually it would've been **** & not at all saying HE would've made us a playoff team or conference champion. But if the team would e stayed healthy and people step up around him to lift his game we would've been good enough. Football is often situational. That's what Emery would have been a situational possession-based quarterback. However there's no point in this conversation about somebody that's not here any further I wish him the best he is a great amazing kid and I hope he succeeds. To me it's a little wild that a quarterback that literally showed you he would do anything to help put us in a position to win including sacrifice his own physical form is somebody that this fan base chooses to **** on and pick apart. But it's important to remember 99 point whatever percent of yall are just fans and with that in mind the only thing relevant is wins and losses not what it takes to achieve them. Y'all have an amazing rest of your weekend.

Respect I appreciate the explanation and was not dumping on him or you.

 

Elijah was one of my breakout pkayers last year preseason. The year he had was immensely underwhelming.

With that said, I still think he has the skill set to be an absolute weapon.

He needs to get down to 230 and be a 6'1 230 H-back and slot receiver. In that role, he can provide the run blocking required, as opposed to an inline TE.

Dude can be a weapon. Im glad hes losing weight. No need to force a circle into a square peg.

 

Biological. Failed pull outs.

Is it really considered “failed” if you never had any intention to pull out?

 

Biological. Failed pull outs.

Is it really considered “failed” if you never had any intention to pull out?

 

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

R. Rodriguez @ 6'4"

 

There's a good chance he won't be good enough for ECU. A quarterback's job is to put the ball into playmakers hands that can go and win the games for them. What playmakers does ECU have? 9 out of 10 quarterbacks aren't doing that on their own or with a little help. Someone like Emory who doesn't have the pinpoint accuracy who doesn't have a cannon for an arm needs to be surrounded by facilitators. You guys can talk all you want about Carson Beck or anyone else but That's what Emery is a game manager you put people around him that can elevate his game because his game on its own doesn't stand for much it's just safe. Safe isn't for everybody but it's most definitely for us. For anyone that knows the history of the game most of the quarterbacks that people really speak about that's what they were they were safety nets not gunslingers. Those are rare and that's why people like marini, like favre, like mahomes, like Aaron Rodgers, they'll be talked about forever. Cause they could consistently do it on their own. They ciuld go out and make a play that had you say what the **** did I just witness. That's not what this game is anymore.

I wouldn’t even call his game safe, I mean everything I’ve seen from him,He can’t even get the ball past the defensive line. I’ve never seen a quarterback, get as many passes batted down by the defensive line as him.