It didn't take long for Michael Irvin II to experience the highs and lows of college football.
During his first official practice as a Miami Hurricane, Irvin got past linebacker Jermaine Grace and managed to hang on to the ball after a few bobbles to make a pretty spectacular touchdown catch during a drill.
Instead of getting any kind of congratulations for his effort, though, Irvin got an earful from an assistant coach, who used some colorful language to describe the route Irvin ran on the play.
Quite the crash course for the tight end who just so happens to be the son of an NFL Hall of Famer.
There was no question Monday, during his first media session in Coral Gables, Fla., that Irvin wasn't going to escape the inevitable questions about not just his transition to college football, but what it's like to make that jump at the same school where his father is a still-revered legend.
Though his father _ Michael Irvin _ played a different position, there are expectations on the younger Irvin and the precocious tight end says he wouldn't have it any other way. He already has a little bit of experience with all that talk, last season playing his final year of high school football at powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas where his father also starred.
"It's pressure, just like it's supposed to be," Irvin said. "There's nothing I can do about it."
In the locker room at Miami there isn't much talk about his famous father. Instead, he says his teammates treat him like any other freshman. There are study sessions and meetings; workouts and practices. Irvin says he has found three solid mentors in veteran tight ends David Njoku, Chris Herndon and Stan Dobard, all of whom he says have helped him in way or another since his arrival on campus.
He confesses he's still struggling to learn the playbook, but he's made an impression on his teammates and coaches, including quarterback Brad Kaaya who has raved about his catch radius and said last month during the ACC's annual football kickoff event that he believes Irvin can, one day, be as good as his father was at Miami.
Irvin on Monday said he hadn't heard of his quarterback's comments until a reporter shared them with him. And while they brought a smile to his face, he said they weren't unexpected _ because his father, who he said will be on campus Wednesday to watch him practice, has said the same.
"That's great. It's amazing that [Kaaya] said that about me, but I wouldn't want him to say anything else," Irvin said. "I mean, I strive to be the best that I can be. I think I'm going to be way better than my father ever was. And that's how it has to be. My father tells me that. He says,'Son, if we work together, you'll be way better than I've ever been. You can surpass everything that I've ever done.' It's expected."
With that, let Michael Irvin II's Miami career begin.
