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Manny Diaz, Tate Martell, N’Kosi Perry, and Jarren Williams all stepped to the podium today to talk about the biggest question mark that this Hurricanes team has — who is going to be the starting quarterback.
“Were trying to get all of our guys reps” Diaz said of the quarterbacks, who had every quarterback working with the first through third team today at different points of practice.
“Were in a battle. If we sit there and try to make an assumption off of one good or throw one bad throw or one good day or one bad day, thats not the point...to me it’s about being consistently good.”
“There are all kinds of guys in college football who make good throws, or have a good quarter, or heck, even have a good game. This is the University of Miami. Our standards are so far beyond that. We need a guy that can bring it every week.”
When asked by Christy Chirinos about having a guy that feels like he needs to be the starting quarterback, Diaz responded, “You’re going to find that out when everybody’s mind starts to feel sorry for themselves. Right now it still feels good.”
He says when their arms and legs starting getting sore he’ll find out more about them.
Compared to the spring, Diaz feels like the entire offense is more on the same page. That goes for the running backs, tight ends, and wide receivers.
And naming co-starters is completely out of the question. Diaz and his offense will announce the quarterback when it is only down to one guy, which, based on his comments, doesn't sound like it will be any time soon.
Jarren Williams on QB competition
“I feel a lot more comfortable in the offense” Williams said to the media after practice today.
And he feels like he's in much better shape since being down to 11% body fat after being around 16% last year.
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His mechanics, specifically his back foot, has been something that offensive coordinator Dan Enos has emphasized with him following a mechanics evaluation done by all the quarterbacks.
“What he was talking about was mainly my back foot when I throw the ball to make sure I drive through. You would see on film I would drive through and my foot would go back a little bit.”
So Enos gave him some drills to help him fix that.
On Enos, Williams says “He pushes us hard every day. The thing about Coach Enos is that he expects perfection every day..I feel like I’m getting better every day because he pushes us so hard.”
And he believes that Enos’ expectations of the quarterbacks has helped push everybody through the competition.
“I love competition. Competition brings the best out of everybody. Im a competitor, that’s why I’m here.”
Williams feels as if he is firmly a part of this quarterback competition and believes he is showing Diaz every day that he needs to be the quarterback everyday, but knows that he has to keep working.
N’Kosi Perry on QB competition
Perry had a good day, arguably his best day, today while splitting reps with both Williams and Tate Martell.
“I feel great, but more importantly the team is doing a whole lot better than what we looked like in the spring. I’m very confident about where we're at.” Perry said following todays practice.
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Perry credits preparation to why he feels so great about what he's doing this camp.
Also that this quarterback job means everything to him. Perry says he's been “working for this for the longest time” for this job, which is wide open right now.
“I’m used to competing for the starting spot, but I love it this year. I think they're two great quarterbacks and it’s going to be a good one.”
And personally, Perry has grown a lot from the mistakes that got him in trouble last year. He made honor roll this semester and Perry said “that’s a part of being a quarterback. It’s on the field and off the field, with academics and the community — everything.”
“I felt like it was more important to me now” says Perry, who is up to 196 pounds after playing at 185 a year ago.
Enos’ mechanical evaluation of Perry was that his arm is a little too slow and he says that his coach gave him drills to improve that.
Tate Martell on QB competition
Martell’s biggest take away from the evaluation was shortening his stride a little bit and moving a finger up and another down a little bit, which he feels has helped him a lot.
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And what does he believe he has to do to win this job?
“Be perfect because thats what he expects out of us, or as close to it as we can be. I mean, I just transferred here I didn't come here to not play.”
Martell feels like he's doing what he needs to do so far, but knows there's roomful improvement.
“I feel like I have done pretty well, there's always going to be things you could be better at. Go watch film and fix the things you did wrong.”
Getting confident with the playbook really helped his game get better towards the end of spring practices. Martell says “Once you're confident in your decision making it helps with speeding up your feet. Different things like that.”
Martell says that he loves it here and that this is where he wants to be regarding his decision to come to Miami.
“We have great teams and we have great coaches. It’s going to be good for us and we’re going to do real well this year.”
Although it is uncertain who the quarterback will be, there is no denying that the three guys competing for the job are going to back one another up no matter what happens.
Martell says those are his boys, Williams calls them brothers, and Perry says that they're always helping each other out if any of them have questions out on the practice field.
This is just the beginning of a long and healthy competition that is already proving to bring the best out of the three of them.