Jackson Carver

The story in Coral Gables this offseason isn't Carver specifically — it's the room he's in. Miami's tight ends combined for just 45 catches, 445 yards and four touchdowns across 16 games in 2025, one of the program's least productive groups in 25 years, and Elijah Arroyo took the position's ceiling with him to Seattle as a second-round pick. New tight ends coach Mike Viti inherited an open job, and the beat consensus has Elija Lofton penciled in as TE1 with sophomore Luka Gilbert and incoming pieces all auditioning behind him.

Carver is the wildcard in that audition — the bet-on-the-body name. A Minnesota kid who grew up on hockey and lacrosse and barely played football until Culver Academy, he arrived as a project with a rare frame, an extended catch radius and defensive-line nastiness as a blocker. But the snaps haven't followed: action in a handful of games as a redshirt freshman, and a 2025 that left him outside the production. That's the tension the watch lists won't say out loud — he keeps landing on aspirational Mackey radar while his stat line stays close to blank.

Which makes 2026 the year the projection either cashes or expires. A new coach, a thin depth chart, and a program that publicly needs more from this spot all point the same direction: opportunity. The question the boards keep circling back to is simple and a little uncomfortable — is Jackson Carver finally the answer, or just the most athletic version of 'maybe next year' on a unit Miami can't afford to keep waiting on?