Miami Hurricanes Football: Acquiring Tyree Jackson must be a priority for the 2019 season

Earlier this week, Buffalo quarterback Tyree Jackson placed himself in the transfer portal with the intention of playing his final college football season at a different university, according to Allen Trieu of 247Sport. While no official suitors have been released, the Miami Hurricanes must throw the kitchen sink at Jackson.

For the Miami Hurricanes, acquiring someone like Jackson should become a priority because the other options for the 2019 football season is lacking experience and - in some cases - the maturity to be a consistent college quarterback.

Going into the 2019 season, the quarterback options currently on the roster will have thrown a total of 192 passes in college football games with 186 of those passes coming from N’Kosi Perry. While Perry has some college football experience, the redshirt freshman quarterback has off the field concerns, especially following an inappropriate video that surfaced before the Pinstripe Bowl.

In stark contrast of the current Hurricanes situation, Tyree Jackson has loads of college football experience. Now a 4-year Junior, Tyree Jackson has played a total of 24 games and has thrown 955 passes since 2016.

Simply put, Tyree Jackson is a talented quarterback who should be playing at a Power 5 school.

This season, Jackson led the MAC in passing yards (3,313), passing touchdowns (28) and interceptions (12). His quarterback ranking of 137 ranked second in the conference behind Ohio’s Nathan Rourke. His season earned Jackson the conference’s offensive player of the year honors.

On the film, Jackson has the talents that should make most people salivate. Listed at an astounding 6’7” and 245, Jackson not only posses a world-class arm that should make Mark Richt happy but he also posses sneaky speed that makes him more like Cam Newton than Brock Osweiler in terms of potential talent. While there are concerns with Jackson’s ability to stay healthy and his accuracy (55% completion percentage in 2018), the positives definitely outweigh the negatives for Jackson.

On this play, Jackson shows off both of the positives that get most people excited about his talents.

Facing a 4-man blitz from Rutgers, the Buffalo interior offensive line is beat with no trouble. As a result, Jackson is forced to use his feet to avoid the pressure. After evading the pressure, Jackson fires a perfect pass to Anthony Johnson who is 59 yards down the field.

In this game, Jackson showed his overall talents against Power 5 talent, finishing the game with 263 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in a 42-13 win for Buffalo.

The ability to deliver throws on the run would be a beneficial thing to the Hurricanes as the offensive line is still a major work in progress. The Hurricanes offensive line - which loses its two arguable best players in Tyree St. Louis and Tyler Gauthier - allowed 26 sacks to opposing defenses. With Jackson, the number could go down with his ability to avoid sacks and improvise with pressure around him.

Jackson’s strong arm could mean wonders for the Hurricanes if they remain with a similar offense from this season. Often times, Richt would call vertical concept routes, forcing both Rosier and Perry to attempt throws that maybe are not advantageous to the quarterback’s strengths. In a stark contrast, Jackson would be able to hit a majority of throws on a vertical concept with his strong arm.

In a simple view, Jackson could elevate the Hurricanes to the next level. At Buffalo, Jackson did more with very few strong weapons. At Miami, Jackson would be throwing to the likes of Brian Hightower, Mark Pope, Mike Harley and Brevin Jordan, all of who are strong receivers who have shown the ability to create separation against opposing secondaries and linebackers.

While saying that Jackson would immediately elevate the Hurricanes to a National Championship is insane, Jackson would elevate the Hurricanes to the next level. Even in the current scheme with its flaws, Jackson would likely be the second best quarterback in the ACC next season and would likely get the Hurricanes back in the ACC Championship with a chance to win it.