Miami Hurricanes 50-1 Countdown: Ranking the top 50 post-spring players … No. 39 Emory Williams
No. 50 Miami DT Thomas Gore … No. 49 Malik Curtis … No. 48 Kaleb Spencer … No. 47 Ahmad Moten … No. 46 Jaden Harris … No. 45 Logan Sagapolu … No. 44 Markeith Williams … No. 43 Frank Ladson … No. 42 Chris Graves … No. 41 Keontra Smith … No. 40 Robby Washington
CaneSport is breaking down the top 50 post-spring players on the roster, a list that doesn’t include any post-spring roster additions. Today we break down No. 39, Emory Williams.
NO. 39 MIAMI QB EMORY WILLIAMS
Why he’s No. 39
Williams really looked this spring like he has a very bright future, picking up the offense quickly for a true freshman and throwing on-target passes for the most part. That included a highlight 79-yard TD deep toss to Ray Ray Joseph that ended the Spring Game (Williams also was 4-4 for 42 yards on his first drive of the game). Williams was perhaps a bit under-recruited out of high school given his ability level, landing 15 offers and picking Miami over USF. Don’t let that fool you. Renowned QB coach David Morris has worked with him (he’s also worked with the likes of Eli Manning, Daniel Jones, Davis Mills, Mac Jones, Sam Howell and Bo Nix, among others). Morris’ take on Williams? He said that “He’s Joe Flacco to me in that he’s a big, strong, underappreciated athlete. He’s a good athlete, can do some RPO, but that’s not where he’ll be the ACC Player of the Year. He was underrated, didn’t start every game as a sophomore (due to a hamstring injury), had a good junior year but they weren’t the best team.” And QB Tyler Van Dyke said of Williams this spring that “Emory – he’s going to be a great player. Very smart, very accurate. He has a lot to learn still, still should be in high school. But he’s going to be a good player and is picking up everything fast.” Williams finished his senior year of high school with 2,102 passing yards, 21 TD passes, 4 INTs and 302 rushing yards with two scores on the ground despite his team’s 3-7 record. He completed 63 percent of his passes with analytics that showed 40 dropped passes. And his season included 290 passing yards in the team’s opening game against Andalusia (Ala.) High School, a team that went on to finish 14-1 and win the 4A state title.
What he needs to do to move up this list
The 6-5, 220-pounder will look to compete with Jacurri Brown this fall for the backup job to Tyler Van Dyke. And the door is open with Brown struggling last year as a freshman and having issues in the spring game after looking better with his accuracy prior to that. The big thing for Williams is what faces every true freshman: Showing the coordinator he can rely on you to not be confused by what opposing defenses may do, with quick reads and accurate passes. Williams will be tested more and more in the fall as he was clearly used as the No. 3 QB in the spring. But don’t rule out him pushing past Brown if the latter doesn’t clearly show his accuracy issues are in the past.
Realistic season objective
If Van Dyke is healthy this season will be an opportunity for Williams to learn and progress in the Shannon Dawson offense with an eye toward trying to win the starting job when Van Dyke’s time is over at Miami. Williams can, of course, play in four games and still redshirt. So we expect he’ll get some action, and it will be interesting to see what he does with his reps. From what we saw this spring he’s a calm, steady performer, but it would be good to see that when the lights are on in the stadium as well.
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