MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — For the first half of Miami’s hour-long media day at the Miami Beach Convention Center, ‘Baby Jesus’ didn’t have his own podium, so he assimilated with the rest of the team, sitting on the aluminum bleachers.

Miami was wearing white jumpsuits that didn’t feature their numbers anywhere on the top, so you’d think his smaller stature would have made it easier to blend in. Nope. Malachi Toney was immediately surrounded by reporters, engulfed by microphones eager to get to know the true freshman receiver who has helped push the Hurricanes all the way to the national title game.

One by one, reporters asked him questions about how he’d caught on so quickly and how he’d become a star despite not being all that big or buried on the depth chart behind players like CJ Daniels and Keelan Marion. He answered them, brief and to the point.

Where did his nickname — Baby Jesus – come from?

“I was given that nickname by somebody on Facebook when I was eight years old,” he said.

Playing football?

“Yeah.”

Where were you playing?

“Washington Park. I was playing quarterback.”

Do you like the name?

“I don’t feed into it.”

You’d understand why Toney wouldn’t want to play up that nickname, especially since it’s offensive to some religious people. But when you watch him play this game — so naturally, so explosively — you realize why people arrived at it. He’s not big, loud or pompous. What he does, though, is attack the game with relentless effort and change outcomes. One tunnel screen and a step, and he’s to the house. Some people are great, and it doesn’t take long to see it.

In Toney’s case, people on Facebook did when he was eight. In the college football world, it was the first half of his true freshman season at a program dying to get back to national relevance.

Which is why it’s so important he’s a Hurricane.

A few weeks ago, former five-star receiver and South Florida native Jeremiah Smith was in a similar setting at the Cotton Bowl. I asked the Ohio State star — who helped the Buckeyes win the national title last year — if he would have stayed home at Miami had Mario Cristobal‘s team already shown this upside. Smith said, “Most likely, yeah.”

Toney wasn’t a five-star prospect, but there were times it felt like he was going to make a similar decision. A three-star recruit who ranked the No. 420 overall player and the No. 61 receiver in the Rivals Industry rankings, Toney still had plenty of opportunity to leave. He had offers from Florida State, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Penn State, Oklahoma and others. 

During his recruitment, Toney initially committed to Miami but decommitted in October of his senior season, following a visit to Alabama. It felt like the Hurricanes were going to lose another area star, as Toney played at Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage. But Toney eventually signed with Cristobal.

“What made me stay home is me trusting the process, trusting what Coach Cristobal was telling me that he was going to make happen with this program, how he was going to turn it around,” Toney said. “Coach Kevin Beard and Coach (Shannon) Dawson told me I’d have an opportunity to come in and showcase my talent early as long as I do what I have to do. I came in, kept my head down, and kept grinding and executed.”

Toney has had 99 receptions for 1,089 yards and nine touchdowns this season. He has rushed for a touchdown and even has thrown for two. But it’s the moments, like when he caught a screen pass and broke a 36-yard touchdown in Miami’s win over Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff semifinal. He turns nothing into something.

So back to the nickname.

“When he first came in, it was kind of hard to notice him because he is a very quiet guy, a very humble guy,” Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa told On3. “But when we were in practice, he started making plays, and I was like, ‘Who is that?’ And they were like, ‘They call him Baby Jesus.’ And I’m a pretty religious guy, so you better be him to be called Baby Jesus. Sooner or later, he keeps proving to me that he is Baby Jesus.”

Toney could have been on another team. He could have gone another route.

But he’s at Miami — playing in Miami in the national title game against Indiana in Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night — and you better believe Cristobal and the Hurricanes are counting their blessings that Baby Jesus is on their sideline.