C Tyler Gauthier | Junior | 6’5 315 Lbs.

Recruiting Story

Gauthier was a lightly recruited 3-star guard from Venice High School in Florida in the Class of 2015. As a raw prospect that was the #1,041 overall recruit in the nation, he didn’t get many looks from big-time schools, but Al Golden and his staff saw something special in Gauthier. With their only competition being Arizona, UCF, and USF, Miami was considered the favorite to land Gauthier from the moment they offered him back in February of 2014.

After attending a camp held on the University of Miami campus in June of 2014, Gauthier saw no reason to wait any longer. The next day he called up Golden and made it official: he wanted to be a Miami Hurricane.

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So far at Miami

Being labeled a project coming into Miami, many expected the young Gauthier to redshirt and spend a year on the scout team before he was ready to compete for playing time on the O-Line. Also, Miami had taken 6 offensive lineman in the Class of 2015 and Gauthier was the lowest rated of all of them.

However, while 4 of his classmates on the line ended up sitting and redshirting, Gauthier would surprise, teaming with fellow true freshman OL Tyree St. Louis to earn the coaches trust and early playing time. Gauthier backed up KC McDermott and Danny Isidora at guard in 2015, seeing action in 4 games as a reserve offensive lineman.

Gauthier maintained his rapid improvement during his sophomore year in 2016, starting the year as the top backup at guard. He bided his time, and when Nick Linder went down, Gauthier took advantage and started the last 4 games of the season at left guard. Miami went 4-0 in those games.

2017 and Beyond

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Gauthier comes into 2017 as the Hurricanes starter at center. What began as him being a placeholder for 3 year starter Nick Linder at center during spring ball while Linder rehabbed a shoulder injury, turned into Gauthier becoming so impressive that Linder transferred mid-way through fall camp.

People in and around the Miami program are excited about the development of Gauthier and think he can become an NFL center. Gauthier will be an upgrade for an inconsistent Linder at center and will only get better as he finds more cohesion with his fellow lineman.

“We’ve definitely matured. We got better in those weeks [during spring practice],” said Gauthier. “Whenever you work with a group of guys that hard for that many days, you’re going to become more like one unit. When you go out there and you all do that, it definitely helps out a lot.”

Gauthier is also known for his swingman-like versatility, now having played both center and guard. He derives value from offering coach Searels some positional flexibility if someone goes down.

“Tyler has really come on in the last year or so and played well for us," Searels said about Gauthier. "He can play center and he can play guard and he’s going to help us win this year."

If Gauthier can continue his momentum from the end of 2016 and the off-season, he will provide a sorely needed steady hand in the middle of the Miami line and set up an inexperienced Miami QB for success in the 2017 season.