Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Levias' highlight snag catches attention, but making plays is nothing new
10/10/2019 11:35:00 AM | Football, Word on the Herd
Senior tight end leads the team in receiving yards through five games
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The 2,500-mile journey from Pittsburg, California to Huntington, West Virginia, is a long one. The path from high school quarterback to a 255-pound tight end making one-handed tip receptions on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays is longer.
Armani Levias, Marshall's leader in receiving yards through five games this season, has arrived. Levias already believed in himself. So, too, did his coaches and teammates. Now, the nation is aware of the junior college transfer who is in full breakout mode as a senior with the Thundering Herd.
"He's a special athlete," Marshall offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey said. "You saw it on Saturday."
Levias tipped the ball with his hands six times before finally corralling the ball, and after a spin move away from the sideline, the 6-foot-4 tight end had nothing standing in his way as he clutched the ball with one hand and hurried toward the end zone. The end result: a 75-yard touchdown that not only made ESPN's top plays of the day, but now ranks as the team's longest play from scrimmage this season and the second-longest reception by a tight end in Marshall history.
Cody Slate had an 80-yard reception from Bernard Morris against New Hampshire in 2007, and the Morris-to-Slate connection had a 75-yarder against Memphis in 2006.
Levias shrugged off the hoopla surrounding his acrobatic catch and national recognition.
"It would've meant something if we would've come out with the victory," he said.
Still, after five games Levias is second on the team with 13 receptions and first with 164 receiving yards. Fellow tight end Xavier Gaines leads the team with 14 catches.
"'X' is obviously more athletic, but it isn't like Armani isn't athletic," Cramsey said. "When you put the ball in his hands, he's arguably our most elusive guy … making guys miss or using his 255-, 260-pound frame to go forward and have six or seven people tackle him … He's a guy who we have to continue to move around and get him the ball because his target success rate is, if not the highest, right there next to it."
Levias had 25 receptions for 327 yards and three touchdowns last season, and this season tied his career-high for receptions in a game against Ohio (five) and last week set a career-high for receiving yards in a game with 94. This is what he envisioned when he switched from quarterback to tight end after his junior year of high school and started his march to becoming big target with sure hands.
"When I first got on campus, I was like a lost kid," Levias said. "I was far from home and had never really taken to the weight room. Compared to now from when I first came, it's a big difference. I was glad I was able to stick with the journey."
Levias was discovered by former assistant coach Dave Dunn, and signed with the Herd in December of 2016. He sat out the 2017 season as a redshirt, simultaneously slimming down while becoming a well-rounded tight end with blocking and catch skills. The former needed work after his transition from QB, but the latter was always there.
"I've always had the skill, it's just that me being a bigger guy, they don't expect me to be able to catch and run," Levias said. "I want people to keep thinking what they believe because I know what I'm capable of doing."
That potential is showing through five games this season. Levias is the senior member of a tight end room that is putting up monster numbers. The team's two leading receivers are tight ends, and Levias, Gaines, Devin Miller and Garet Morrell each have a touchdown reception. That quartet has combined for 35 catches for 358 yards and five of the team's eight touchdown receptions.
"I call them tight ends," Cramsey said, "but they are guys who play football for us right now. Line up everywhere on the field and do that for us. Everything we've asked them to do, they've done."
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a seven-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
