As we continue our look back at the Miami Hurricanes’ 2016 season, we turn our attention to the spotlight position on any team: Quarterback.

For Miami, just as had been the case for each of the previous 2 seasons, this story starts and ends with QB Brad Kaaya. The Junior QB had arguably his best season as a Cane, and led the team to 9 wins. Let’s take a look at the cumulative stats for the Canes’ QBs:

For the 2016 season, Kaaya threw 98.8% of the passes for Miami. For his career, Kaaya threw 93.8% of all passes attempted in his 3 years in Coral Gables, a number which was slightly depressed due to the fact that Kaaya missed the majority of the Clemson loss in 2015 due to concussion, and the entirety of the Duke win in 2015 with the same injury.

Basically, as Brad Kaaya went, so the Canes’ QBs went. Simple.

Now that you know the landscape, let’s take a look at the individual players:

Brad Kaaya

Like I said, this position for this year was like the last 2 years: all about Brad Kaaya. He holds most of the Miami Hurricanes’ Passing Records, and he’s off to the NFL. Here’s my look back at his 2016 season from last week:

Here’s an extra look at Brad Kaaya’s full season passing chart, by Ian Wharton of Bleacher Report

I mean, what else is there to say? While Kaaya isn’t a perfect player, he’s damn good, played his best football in 2016, and will be moving on to the NFL. Thanks, Brad!

Malik Rosier

The only other QB to play a snap this year, RS Sophomore Malik Rosier barely made a dent on the stat sheet, going 2/4 for 32 yards on the year. The Alabama-native beat out several other contenders to be the backup QB this year, but wasn’t able to supplant Kaaya for any real playing time.

While he didn’t play in games much with Kaaya here, Rosier will certainly be an integral figure in the upcoming QB battle for 2017. He’s the longest tenured player on the roster at this position, and hopefully the tutelage he received from Jon and Mark Richt this season will pay dividends in the future.

Others

Miami has other QBs on the roster, but none of them took even a single snap this season. Evan Shirreffs was the 3rd stringer, Vincent Testaverde — yes, son of 1986 Heisman Trophy winner Vinny — was 4th string, and freshman Jack Allison was scout team QB while he redshirted.

Mark Richt recently stated that rocket-armed freshman Jack Allison was “afforded every opportunity” to win the back up QB job, but was unable to do so in 2016. But, don’t let that discourage you: Allison was best served by taking a redshirt. He hopefully used this redshirt year to hone his skills in preparation to push for the starting QB job in 2017.

Overall Thoughts

Were there times where Kaaya and the passing game were frustrating? Yes.

Were there times where Kaaya and the passing game flourished? Yes.

All in all, I’d give the QB position, really Brad Kaaya because he’s the only player who did anything that mattered at this position this year, a solid B for the year. Not great, but good.

Agree with me? Disagree? Let me know in the comments below.

Go Canes