MIAMI — Back then, they were both quarterbacks, Miami stud freshman receiver Malachi Toney and Indiana star junior cornerback D’Angelo Ponds.
This was years ago, in their youth football days with the Washington Park Buccaneers. They never played against each other — Ponds is three years older — but they were familiar with one another.
“We both were little league quarterbacks,” Ponds recalled Saturday at the Miami Beach Convention Center. “He probably looked up to me [for that reason]. But he definitely was always that guy, this kind of player.”
Monday night, the two Miami natives will share the same field for the first time, and could see a lot of each other.
They have both enjoyed terrific seasons.
Toney, the ACC Rookie of the Year, has been one of the keys to the Hurricanes’ surprising run to the national championship game, the team leader in receptions (99), receiving yards (1,089) and touchdown catches (nine) — all Miami freshman records.
Ponds was a stalwart in Indiana’s No. 2 scoring defense, notching two interceptions and seven passes defensed. His pick-six on the first offensive play of the Peach Bowl set the tone for the Hoosiers’ rout of Oregon in the semifinals.
“Definitely excited. He’s a talented guy, I have the utmost respect for him,” Ponds, a consensus All-American, said of facing Toney. “I’m always excited to go up against top-notch competition and I feel like that’s what it’s going to be.”
The 5-foot-9 Ponds said he stopped playing quarterback in high school because he liked defense more. For Toney, he enjoyed scoring touchdowns more than throwing them, so he went the receiver route. His background as a quarterback, however, is something that still helps him, Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck believes.
“Honestly, the two guys that I’ve been around that have played quarterback before, that’s Ladd McConkey, and Malachi Toney, those are two of the best that I’ve ever thrown to,” Beck said. “A lot of it is because they understand how I see the game.”
The quarterback added: “The way he handles himself, he’s very, very mature. He shows up. He works. That’s really all he does. It’s ball, ball, ball. You’ve got to kick him out of the facility from what I’ve seen.”
Of the two, the 5-foot-11 Toney was the bigger high school prospect, rated as a four-star recruit. Ponds went to James Madison first, before following coach Curt Cignetti to Indiana.
They took different paths to get to Monday night. Now, the two Miami kids are standing in each other’s way of a championship.
“I feel like I watched a lot of games get played in that stadium growing up,” Ponds said. “It’s a full circle moment to be in my hometown, the stadium I grew up five minutes away from. I drove past it every day going to school.”
