Early Look At Miami’s Quarterback Room For 2020

For over 15 years, the Miami Hurricanes have been searching endlessly for the next great quarterback to come through the program and lead UM back to glory. Unfortunately, the search has been unsuccessful.

In 2019, Jarren Williams has shown promise at various times throughout the year, but inconsistency plagued him the final two weeks of the regular season. N’Kosi Perry also had his chance to secure the starting role and be the guy for Miami, but his struggles ultimately wound up in him being benched for Williams.

Just a week ago, I declared Williams as the Hurricanes starting quarterback for 2020 and the year after, and I still think that. However, it’s still good to take an early preview at next seasons QB competition.

Starting off with Williams, the redshirt freshman who won the starting job in fall camp, and was very up and down throughout the season. One week he’d throw six touchdowns against Louisville, then throw three interceptions the next week against FIU.

Though his stats were pretty solid, considering he didn't play all of Miami’s games, his inconsistency against FIU and Duke the past two weeks made people rethink Williams as the QB for the future. Though at times, he does look like he could become an All-American, the talent and potential is clearly there.

If Dan Enos returns to Miami in 2020 as offensive coordinator, I still say Williams is the best quarterback to run his offense, and that was pretty clear in 2019. He’s by far the most accurate (62% completion) passer the Hurricanes have, and should be improved coming in as a sophomore in 2020. So yes, Williams gets my vote as the starter for next year.

Moving on to Kosi, his Miami career has been so emotional and that of a rollercoaster, it’s hard to believe he’ll only be a junior in 2020. He started three games this season, and definitely had his moments where it looked like he was the guy for the Canes moving forward. In fact, I even wrote a piece in mid-October saying Perry was the guy for Miami for the rest of 2019.

When Williams went down against Virginia Tech, Perry came in and nearly completed one of the greatest comebacks in Miami history, throwing for over 400 yards in three quarters. Then the next week, Perry led the Canes to an upset win over previously ranked Virginia.

However, like Williams, Perry wasn’t consistent enough as the games went on, and Miami’s offense simply wasn’t scoring enough points. Kosi also wasn’t nearly as accurate (55% completion) as Jarren was, misfiring on way too many throws.

In terms of arm strength, Perry has the strongest of all Miami’s QB’s, and if the Canes were running more of a spread offense, you could make the argument that Kosi would be the best man for the job. Though, in Enos’ offense, Perry isn’t as effective under center.

Kosi has shown so many flashes of the quarterback he could become, if this upcoming offseason he can improve on his accuracy, he could make a serious run at becoming the starter once again for Miami.

Moving on, we have Tate Martell, who hopefully will still be with the Hurricanes next season. The transfer from Ohio State was supposed to be the QB that Miami has been waiting all these years for, but lost out the starting job to Williams in the fall, as he wasn’t the best fit for Enos’ offense. Sadly, the talented Martell saw barely any playing time in 2019.

Similar to Perry, Martell works a lot better when working in the spread offense, and being under center isn’t his strong point. I still believe however, that Martell can work for Miami if the offense is fit around him. He really is that talented, just not the prototypical drop back passer Enos is looking for right now. It would be a shame if Martell left Miami not being able to prove his playmaking skills during a game.

Finally, we’ll have incoming true freshman, Tyler Van Dyke, who plans on early enrolling and arriving in Coral Gables in January. Coming out of Connecticut and achieving much success in high school, Van Dyke is one of the top pro-style quarterbacks in the 2020 recruiting class.

Van Dyke completed 64% of his passes, and when you watch his highlights he throws a beautiful deep ball, plus he was 9-0 his senior year and captured a state championship. Tyler fits what Enos is trying to do with the Miami offense, but he can also work from out of the shotgun and has decent mobility. While I don't think he’ll start in 2020, he’s definitely someone the Canes can count on for the next several years.

As we look to 2020, the question of the quarterback will be the main one to be asked for the Hurricanes. Can Williams become the consistent performer and leader that Miami needs him to be? Will N’Kosi finally take that next step? Does Martell finally get his big break, or can the true freshman Van Dyke shock everyone and begin his UM legacy early? Whatever the answer is, hopefully someone can step up and lead Miami to a brighter future.