The Miami Hurricanes will keep their top tight end for another year starting in the 2023 season. This will be his ninth season of college football. He moved to Miami in 2023 to reunite with Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal.
McCormick has had to battle serious injuries throughout his career. In 2023, he started 11 games at tight end for Miami. McCormick remains in Miami’s crowded tight end room. Miami tight end Cam McCormick announced Thursday that he will return for his ninth season of college football.
McCormick’s career was derailed several times by season-ending injuries, including one in which he was awarded a medical redshirt by the NCAA, but due to the pandemic, all athletes who participated in college athletics in 2020 was given an additional year of eligibility.
McCormick spent his first seven college seasons at Oregon State, transferring to Miami for the 2023 season and will continue playing in 2024. East Tennessee State University announced that former linebacker Jared Foulkes will play for the Bucs in 2021, becoming the first eighth-year player in the NCAA.
Several athletes had seven years of college eligibility, including basketball player Isis Young, who played seven seasons at Florida, Fordham, Syracuse and Siena, but chose not to play an eighth year. But McCormick, who has undergone at least six surgeries for football-related injuries, appears to be number one with nine surgeries and certainly number one at the major level of college football.
He missed most of his senior season due to injury in 2015, but redshirted after enrolling at the University of Oregon in 2016 and appeared in all 13 games for the University of Oregon in 2017. Over the next four years, he appeared in exactly three games. But he survived the 2022 season at Oregon, the 2023 season at Miami, and now plans to try one more year.
He played for five different head coaches during his college career and caught passes from six different quarterbacks. The first pass he caught was from Justin Herbert, who has been in the NFL for four seasons. Miami tight end Cam McCormick confirmed Thursday that he will return to the Hurricanes in 2024 for his ninth season of college football.
McCormick, who began his career at Oregon State in 2016, has missed four different seasons due to injuries, in addition to missing his 2020 redshirt year due to injury and the amount he could claim from the NCAA Ninth year fighting for position amid COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier Thursday, McCormick announced his return on Twitter.
McCormick redshirted in 2016, then appeared in 13 games as a reserve in 2017. In 2019, he earned his sixth year of eligibility and in 2020, he earned another year when the NCAA gave all FBS players an extra season. . In 2022, McCormick could have played a full season and won the Capital One Orange Bowl FWAA Courage Award for his perseverance, playing in 13 games and making six starts. He received the eighth and ninth years of enrollment in 2023 before transferring to Miami, where he met with Coach Mario Cristobal.
He had eight catches for 62 yards last season for the Hurricanes but will have to apply for ACC waivers again this season for the ninth straight year. It’s a ninth year accede to the ACC, and McCormick said the return was easy, noting his goal is to play in the NFL,
“I’d say I’ve been given the best opportunity and the best place.”
McCormick accepted the naysayers’ suggestion that he should not continue playing, but said he “doesn’t mind what people are saying” and hopes his story will inspire other players who are fighting back.
Miami tight end Cam McCormick announced he will return for his ninth and final season of college football on Thursday. McCormick was a three-star recruit who committed to Oregon State prior to the start of the 2016 season. In 2017, he redshirted his freshman season and appeared in all 13 games with six catches for 89 yards and one touchdown.
Miami tight end Cam McCormick announces he will return for his NINTH season of college football. He was in the same HS recruiting class as Rashan Gary, Nick Bosa and Jalen Hurts. McCormick battled thru season-ending injuries in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. https://t.co/8XDKz5kRou
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 18, 2024
Unexpectedly, McCormick returned for 2022 and played in all 13 games, finishing with 10 catches for 66 yards and three touchdowns. McCormick’s move to Miami comes a year after former Oregon State coach Mario Cristobal left for the Hurricanes. He played in 13 games in 2023 (eight catches, 62 yards). McCormick was awarded the NCAA for the ninth straight year after injuring his Achilles at Ohio State. In a rare move, Miami tight end Cam McCormick has decided to extend his college football career into a ninth year, putting his professional aspirations on hold for another year.
Legend 🫡 pic.twitter.com/BLVLXwxfx9
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 18, 2024
Although a highly anticipated standout from Bend, Ore. and Mesa, Ariz., McCormick suffered his first major setback with a leg injury during his senior year of high school. Thus began a series of challenges that characterized his university career. But that changed in 2018 with another season-ending foot injury.
Injuries continued to plague McCormick, causing him to miss the entire 2019 season. The 2020 season, interrupted by COVID-19, did not count toward player eligibility, but McCormick was again sidelined. His tenure at Oregon, which ran from 2016 to 2022, coincided with some of college football’s most significant changes, including the transfer portal, the NIL era and the four-game redshirt rule.
After moving to Miami in 2023, McCormick saw limited action but remained consistent. His decision to return for a ninth season is unprecedented in college football history. “I love my teammates, my coaches and the University of Miami,” McCormick said in a press release. Cam McCormick’s Miami collegiate career is entering its ninth season.
McCormick said Thursday that his bid for a ninth season of college football has been approved and he will return with the Hurricanes in 2024. No college football player has ever been eligible for nine seasons; McCormick committed to the ACC in September with hopes of playing two seasons with the Hurricanes.
“Cam is an amazing young man, a great athlete, a hard worker and a natural leader,”
Miami coach Mario Cristobal said in a statement announcing McCormick’s return. McCormick spent the first seven seasons of his career at Oregon before transferring to Miami before the 2023 season. After redshirting in 2016 and playing in all of Oregon’s games in 2017, McCormick suffered a season-ending left ankle in the first game of the 2018 season. The injury required multiple surgeries and caused him to miss the 2019 season and the 2020 season.
McCormick was able to return for the 2021 season but suffered another injury to his right Achilles two games into the season. He was eligible to return in 2022 and appeared in all 13 games for the Ducks. In his first season in Miami, McCormick had eight catches for 62 yards. McCormick was able to play nine seasons of college football thanks to injuries that effectively forced him to miss four seasons of football and the NCAA granting additional eligibility to athletes as part of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To put into perspective how long McCormick has been in college, he was a member of the same freshman class at Oregon State as Los Angeles Chargers QB Justin Herbert. Cam McCormick announced that he will be returning for his ninth season of college football, a feat he has never accomplished before. McCormick was granted two additional years of eligibility by the NCAA in December 2022. He loves being “part of a team,” McCormick said last spring when asked why he continued to play despite the injury.
Appreciate all of the support! #84Resilient #GoCanes pic.twitter.com/KKYlI2jO8P
— Cam (@McCormick_Cam) January 18, 2024
McCormick started college at the University of Oregon in 2016 under Coach Mario Cristobal. Tore the ACL in his left knee during his senior year of high school and was one of three Ducks hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis after a practice in January 2017. McCormick sprained his left ankle in the 2018 season opener and will miss 2018 and 2019. 2020 due to complications after surgery. He tore his Achilles tendon in his opposite leg two games into 2021 and started six games for the Ducks in 2022.
McCormick transferred to Miami last year, starting 11 games for the Hurricanes and catching 8 passes for 62 yards. McCormick said he earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising and a master’s degree in advertising/responsibility from Oregon. “Cam is a young man with an incredible work ethic, a great athlete, hard worker and a natural leader,” Coach Mario Cristobal said.
Fans had a lot to say:
How many times will Cam McCormick be on a college football team?! He's a righteous dude! pic.twitter.com/6uVcDQvPyv
— John Buhler (@buhler118) January 18, 2024
Nice! He’ll be at his peak once he enters the league. TE1 2025. 🔒
— Colton Williams (@_ColtWilliams) January 19, 2024
— John Chapman (@JL_Chapman) January 18, 2024
This due has been a college senior since 2020 somehow. 😂
— Financial Pilgrimage (@Financialplgrm) January 18, 2024
former college teammate of Pharaoh Brown still in college!
— Andy Behrens (@andybehrens) January 18, 2024
What just happened? Did this guy take a gap decade instead of a gap year?
— Vanilla Ling (@justvanillaling) January 18, 2024
Is he still trying to find his way to graduation?
— Rickidick (@Rickidick1) January 18, 2024
No way people are praising this🤣 feel terrible for any Miami TE who is actually in their 4 years of college who doesn’t get to play because of a damn 26 year old, bro needs to get a job
— Griffin Tunison (@GTunison) January 18, 2024
In the locker room, other players are probably wondering why he has grey pubes and he’s collecting SSN bennys.
— Terry M Young (@TerryMYoung1) January 18, 2024
We are so proud of you for your perseverance all these years and fighting thru obstacles that would cripple most people! Your tenacity and grit are to be admired! We love you!! 🧡 #GoCanes #84Resilient
— Debra McCormick (@dmccormick84) January 18, 2024
Those hashtags are the definition of you! I can’t wait to continue to cheer you on!!
— Megan (@megducks) January 18, 2024
🫡Much respect, My family is excited and very supportive, that is just a mirror of who you are. Let’s go #84 🙌🏽
— Antwain Williams (@Antwil78) January 18, 2024
Bro needs social security not NIL.
— Rick Junior (@mrrickjunior) January 18, 2024
First player to get a Metamucil NIL deal
— Nicoh (@nicohchen) January 18, 2024
Should see a nice raise on the vet minimum if he can make it to year 10.
— The Main Line Podcast (@TheMainLinePod) January 18, 2024
5-6 years I get maybe even a 7 depending on circumstances like the Covid Waiver year. But come on…….
— BeardedSquatch (@BeardedSquatch_) January 18, 2024
No excuse this should be allowed, sometimes life throws you curves, insane he gets another year
— Dan Ruiz (@danruiz09) January 18, 2024
https://twitter.com/coachvelasco11/status/1748047052028969297
