Tyrie Cleveland enrolled at Florida with a buzz and hype surrounding him typically reserved for a quarterback. The four-star receiver shined at Westfield High School in Houston, Texas and torched the nation’s best cornerbacks at the Under Armour All-American game. His combination of size and speed had Florida Gators fans, starving for offense, drooling at the potential.
Then he hit a speed bump. First, a hamstring injury limited his participation in practice and then an off the field incident put his name in headlines in the wrong way.
“Coming in I was expected to do a lot more,” Cleveland said Wednesday. “Like I said, my hamstring slowed me down. I ain’t making any excuses. I just had to stick with the process when I got in.”
Cleveland didn’t play in the first game, a consequence of his off field incident, and didn’t record his first catch until the fourth game of the season against Tennessee, a 36-yard reception in the first half. Florida would lose that game and Cleveland wouldn’t make much of an impact outside of the one reception but that game served as a turning point for the freshman.
“After the Tennessee game I started to get more comfortable, and the game started slowing down,” he recalled.
Without a true threat on the other side of Antonio Callaway, teams started doubling Florida’s standout sophomore receiver. Callaway commented last season that it was frustrating to never have one-on-one coverage, or line up without a safety shading his side of the field. Cleveland was supposed to play that role. He was supposed to be the threat on the opposite side of the field, daring you to double Callaway and leave him alone with a cornerback.
“That’s with any good receiver, like Antonio, who had a great freshman year. Coming here to sophomore year you’re going to get double-teamed,” Cleveland said of Callaway. “So it’s our job to get open, get open on routes and contribute to the team.”
Cleveland wasn’t, as many freshmen aren’t, ready to handle that. He had a breakout play against LSU, a 98-yard touchdown pass from Austin Appleby that gave the Gators a 10-3 lead. Cleveland posted a career-high 124 receiving yards that day. It’s still his proudest moment as a Gator.
SEE YA! 👋
Austin Appleby ➡️ Tyrie Cleveland = 98 yards TO THE HOUSE! @GatorsFB up 10-7. https://t.co/y8fJwl5vqV pic.twitter.com/3JUf7S6pfo
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 19, 2016
“It was very exciting,” he said. “Just being able to make that play and put my team ahead, it was great.”
This year, Cleveland will be asked to do more than his 14 catch, 298-yard, two-touchdown performance during his rookie campaign. He’s going to need to be the threat opposite Callaway that the coaching staff hoped he could be. He’s put in the work necessary this offseason, spending time outside of what is required working with Kyle Trask and Feleipe Franks. That extra work has led to him not thinking as much when he lines up. He’s familiar with the offense, the checks, option-routes and has developed timing with his quarterbacks. It’s all leading to a faster, if you can believe it, Tyrie Cleveland and, hopefully, an offense that will come out of the gates full speed.
“We’ve got a chip on our shoulder,” Cleveland said of the offense as a whole. “Back in the years they had Tebow the offense was explosive. We’re trying to get back to that offense, making plays and don’t have to rely on the defense as much.”