Position Reviews: How Did The Canes Perform Compared to Last Year?

The off season of college football is a long one. Sure, recruiting helps fill the void, but nothing compares to game day and the excitement that Canes football brings. To help ease you into the post season, SOTU will be going through the position groups of this year's Hurricanes, and comparing them to the previous year's group. The purpose of this is to see how the team has changed, what improved, what didn't, and what to look forward to in 2013.

We'll start off with the head of the snake, the quarterback. No one position impacts the game as much as the QB, and Miami's quarterback situation, in my opinion, is improved over that of the 2011 squad. Here are the stats from 2011:

And here are the stats from 2012:

Now, you may look at those stats and think "How could you possibly think the QB situation improved?" Sure, Morris' completion percentage is down, but he also threw the ball 121 more times than Jacory did. His yards per attempt are down as well, but as we all know, Jacory lived and died by the deep ball. Morris was better with the ball as far as not giving it away, throwing for 2 less interceptions to go along with 1 more touchdown. This was also Morris' first full year as a starter, and all things considered, I think he did a pretty damn good job.

The backup situation also has more of a solid feeling. Ryan Williams is a very capable backup, and 2013 will feature at minimum 5 quarterbacks behind Morris, assuming nobody transfers. The depth at the position is finally back, which is something that the Canes have been missing the last few years. Knowing Golden, all quarterbacks will start training camp as equals, although it would take a miracle of Dorsey-like proportions to unseat Morris as the incumbent starter. The real fun will be watching the backup battle take place, as Ryan Williams, David Thompson (assuming he stay true to his word and joins the football team after baseball), Preston Dewey, Gray Crow, and Kevin Olsen will all be jostling for position.

If I had to pick who I thought would rise to the top out of that group, I would not be at all surprised to see David Thompson make his name known. Coming in as a recruit, his arm was highly praised, and some people said that he reminded them of a "right handed Tebow." If Thompson either doesn't pan out, or sticks full time with baseball, don't sleep on the rookie Kevin Olsen. He's about as pro-style a QB as you can get, and should fit very well in the system that Fisch and Golden want to run.

Thoughts on the quarterback play this year? What do you want to see next year?