Charleston Rambo sets Miami’s single-season receiving yards, catches records vs. Duke

If this is in fact Charleston Rambo’s only season with the Miami Hurricanes, the wide receiver will go down as one of the great one-year wonders in program history.

The redshirt junior has spent the season rewriting Miami’s record book and now he stands all alone at the top of one of the Hurricanes’ most prestigious all-time lists. With a one-handed 14-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter Saturday against the Duke Blue Devils, Rambo passed Allen Hurns for the most receiving yards in a single season in Miami history.

“It feels good, just a lot of hard work put in,” Rambo said.

The touchdown was his seventh catch of the game — and second touchdown — and gave him 92 yards on the game and 1,163 on the season. Hurns set the previous record with 1,162 yards in 2013.

Rambo also set the Hurricanes’ single-season receptions record with his second catch of the game Saturday, passing Leonard Hankerson, who had 72 receptions in 2010. The wideout finished with eight catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns Saturday and now has 79 catches for 1,172 yards this year.

It adds to an already historic season for the receiver. In just his third game with Miami, Rambo tied the Hurricanes’ single-game catches record by hauling in 12 in a September loss to the Michigan State Spartans, then he went off for 210 receiving yards — the second most in a single game in team history — in a win against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Nov. 6. Last Saturday, Rambo had seven catches for 116 yards in a win against the Virginia Tech Hokies to become only the fifth player in program history to top 1,000 yards in a single season. He entered Saturday with 1,071 receiving yards — fifth most in a single season in school history — and chased down Hurns, Hankerson, Eddie Brown and Andre Johnson in Durham, North Carolina.

“He’s All-ACC, if not All-American,” coach Manny Diaz said. “What a year he’s had.”

Rambo began his career with the Oklahoma Sooners and played three up-and-down seasons in Oklahoma before transferring to Miami in January. As a redshirt sophomore in 2019, he piled up 743 receiving yards for the Sooners before his production plummeted to 312 yards in 2020, leaving him to seek a fresh start in Coral Gables.

For both parties, it has worked out. Rambo has had one of the Hurricanes’ best seasons ever and become the favorite target of freshman quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, while Rambo has thrust himself onto the 2022 NFL Draft radar.

With the record now sewed up, Rambo said he’s not sure whether he’ll play in the bowl game. He also said he’s not sure whether he’ll enter the NFL Draft.

“We’re still thinking about it,” Rambo said.