Dave Hyde: For Malachi Toney and mom, the good story is just beginning

That’s what he’s always done. He’s the first to show up early for Hurricanes practices — even after his stellar freshman season for the 6 a.m. practices this spring.

“Watching my mom get up early for work — if she can do it, why can’t I?” Malachi told reporters when asked.

That brought tears from mom, a postal worker who starts each day at 5 a.m. She didn’t know he thought anything of her early hours until that comment. But her navigating his football youth in big and small ways is part of their story.

They have a word for the map she’s drawn up: The Blueprint. “Follow the blueprint,” she’ll tell him.

She had her role in that. It included mom not just being the organizing mother for youth teams but getting involve in the park. She became an official, overseeing the park’s meetings and representing it before the city commission.

The Blueprint included picking the right high school. She learned from the process of Malachi’s older brother, Monroe, who just joined the Hurricanes this winter as a defensive back.

“Monroe wanted to go to the high school of a coach he knew,” Toni said. “I let him play there. Then, the coach left and it wasn’t the same.”

Two years later, when Malachi was ready for high school, mom researched private schools, academics, coaches and football programs. Malachi attended Plantation American Heritage. But that wasn’t the only football conversation they had. He’d been a quarterback all his youth but now decided to play receiver.

“OK, let’s talk about it,” she said.

It came down to size. How tall did he need to be? Who was the tallest NFL quarterback? Malachi, now 5 foot 11, wasn’t the prototype quarterback but fit at receiver. His mother ran track in high school, but Malachi’s speed and athleticism came from his father, Antonio Brown, a receiver and return specialist who played in the Canadian Football League and three years in the NFL (the other Antonio Brown from Miami played for 12 NFL seasons with Pittsburgh, New England and Tampa Bay.)

Next came the decision to leave high school a year early, at 17.

“It just made sense to us,” mom said.

They discussed three ideas about college: Opportunity to play, exposure of his name and development. Miami checked all boxes. She gave him the same advice in sending him to college that she did at Washington Park: Go take someone’s job.

“I went to every practice that first (training camp),” she said. “Why? Because I needed to see what he’s doing with my own eyes. I don’t need to hear what anyone said. I needed to see because that’s my son and so I’ll go every day.

“I was in my car on my way to the last fall practice, and he texted me. ‘Congratulations, you have earned a starting position as slot receiver at the University of Miami.’ That was my last practice. I cried. I told him, ‘Congratulations, you keep your head down and keep the same work ethic.’ ”

They’ve kept the same mindset, too, in the NIL era. Toney’s agent, Justin Giangrande, helped organize the Washington Park clinic. They also had a turkey giveaway last Thanksgiving at the park.

“It takes a community,” Toni said. “And this park is part of our community.”

He’s 18. Just 18. The best part of that is the good story mom helped script is just starting.