Miami Hurricanes 50-1 Countdown: Ranking the top 50 post-spring players … No. 2 Tyler Van Dyke
CaneSport is breaking down the top 50 post-spring players on the Miami roster, a list that doesn’t include any post-spring roster additions. Today we break down No. 2, Tyler Van Dyke.
NO. 2 MIAMI QB TYLER VAN DYKE
Why he’s No. 2
Van Dyke has all the talent you want in your quarterback, and the leadership to go with it. He’s got that prototypical NFL drop-back passer build and also has a bit of agility to go with it. His arm checks the NFL box, and so does his accuracy. This spring he acclimated well to new coordinator Shannon Dawson’s system, and it’s a very QB friendly attack. So the sky is the limit for what Van Dyke can accomplish … if the other pieces of the offense also take a step forward. A quick refresher on Van Dyke: He was a backup behind D’Eriq King as a true freshman in 2020 (playing off bench in 2 games), then in 2021 was again expected to be behind King. But he was thrust into a starting role after King’s season-ending injury and wound up starring as a starter in the final 9 games of the season. He earned ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year honors after completing 62.3 percent of his passes for 2,931 yards with 25 TD passes and just six INTs. Then last year Van Dyke was slow out of the gate in Josh Gattis’ new offense. In the first four games, including a trio of perceived overmatched opponents Bethune-Cookman, Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee, he totaled just four TD passes with three interceptions. And he threw for under 200 yards in two of those games and didn’t surpass 261 yards in any. Then he came alive vs. UNC (496 passing yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) and Virginia Tech (342 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs) before suffering what was essentially a season-ending injury in the first half vs. Duke. He tried to come back vs. FSU and Pitt but was quickly reinjured. He ended with 1,835 passing yards, 10 TDs and five INTs. As for his Pro Football Focus grades the last two years? In 2021 he had a solid 75.5 grade (70 is considered good) including a 73.9 passing mark, but last year that dropped to 66.8 percent overall (67.7 passing). His NFL passer rating dropped from a 108.9 in 2021 to 89.8. You get the idea. He has plenty of potential but needs offensive players to step up … and an offensive system that fits. This year he should have both.
What he needs to do to move up this list
Just make sure he looks like the QB we saw two years ago and not the one that struggled in Josh Gattis’ stagnant offense a year ago. In 2022 Miami’s offense was ranked toward the bottom of the nation – No. 85 out of 130 teams in total offense (367.1 yards) and No. 96 in scoring offense (23.6 points). That can’t happen again, and it’s on the talented Van Dyke to make sure that’s the case. He has a reshaped offensive line in front of him. His receiving corps gets back Xavier Restrepo healthy (he was injured in game 2 last year and was never the same afterward) and added speedsters Ray Ray Joseph and Robby Washington in recruiting without losing any of the WR talent from last year. There’s a new offense with a hybrid Air Raid that is extremely QB friendly. It all points to Van Dyke having an outstanding season. This spring he showed he’s fully back off the shoulder injury of last year, and he has an NFL arm and accuracy. So it really just comes down to guys getting open and execution of the offense. Van Dyke’s got all the requisite skills to be not just a top college QB, but a stellar pro passer as well.
Realistic season objective
Van Dyke showed after the first few games last year that he was getting back in the swing of things, and if not for that injury he might have closed the year on a really high note. We believe in what he can do based on his first year as starter and what we saw when he got in a groove last year. So there’s no reason he won’t be an outstanding QB who can take care of the ball and throw 30+ TDs. With what should be a much better OL, new RB and WR pieces in addition to returners, the stars are aligned for a huge season. We’ll give the last word here to Van Dyke, talking about Dawson’s offense: “I feel very comfortable with it,” Van Dyke said during the spring. “Just seeing what the defense is coming with, changing the play, changing some routes, understanding what (Dawson) is trying to do. (Dawson) just lets the quarterback play with freedom, you just have fun out there with each other, it’s not just hardcore all the time. Sometimes they get on you, but it’s just about having fun out there. He gives me the freedom for me to go play, just go play ball without really thinking.”
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