OPINION: Who else is buying TVD stock?
In case you were wondering, Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke was invited to participate in the esteemed Manning Passing Academy in late June, the summit for the nation’s best signal callers that Peyton and Eli throw each year at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
Somebody outside Coral Gables still sees his value, though you would never know it based on the disappearance of TVD buzz heading into the 2023 football season.
He has been left off lists of the Top 25 passers in college football and top NFL prospects for April 2024. There is no mention of the Tyler Van Dimes clothing collection. When people talk about the top pocket passers in college football, they bring up USC’s Caleb Williams or North Carolina’s Drake Maye or Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. Sporting News named Van Dyke the sixth-best quarterback – in the ACC. Imagine that.
A lot changed over the past 12 months as Van Dyke struggled to get on the same page last year with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and quarterback coach Frank Ponce, suffered an injured shoulder just as things were starting to click and limped home with markedly lower production than he had in the 2021 season under Rhett Lashlee.
Van Dyke played in just nine games and finished with more than 1,000 less passing yards (2,931 to 1,835) and 15 less touchdowns (25 to 10) as Miami went from 7-5 in 2021 to 5-7 in 2022 during Mario Cristobal’s first season.
The quarterback was not the problem, not by far, but people on the outside don’t always have the necessary perspective before they form their opinions.
So while a year ago Van Dyke was being discussed as a possible first-round pick, this summer he is not really being discussed at all. If the draft were today, one NFL source told me Van Dyke would probably be a third-round pick.
But Van Dyke does begin this new year with a clean slate and the new offensive system of coordinator Shannon Dawson in his corner. The reviews from spring practice and off-season workouts have been increasingly positive. Miami’s receiver corps has been enhanced through the transfer portal and the carryover guys are said to be performing better. Mario Cristobal is hoping that he is building one of the best offensive lines in Miami history, one fortified by Alabama transfer Javion Cohen and UCF center Matt Lee. The running backs room is deeper and better.
Miami might be a surprise team if Van Dyke can show up in 2023 looking like the Van Dyke of 2021, reminding everybody who he really is. In his career, he has thrown for 4,766 yards and 35 TDs with a lot less positive stuff going on around him as there is right now.
“Last year, we didn’t have a great year as a team,” Van Dyke said. “We are just working hard as a team, coming to work every day. Got some good players in, got some good players coming back. So, we expect to have a good year. Just have to take it game by game and keep working hard.”
Van Dyke appreciated the Manning Camp experience for the second consecutive year.
“It’s a pretty cool experience, you know, (to) work with the Manning brothers and meet all the other great college quarterbacks around the country,” Van Dyke said. “Work with them, learn from them. And then, also, work with all these young kids and just help them to get better.”
Alabama tried to exploit the decline in TVD stock by stealing him from Miami in an overnight heist earlier this summer. Nick Saban and his new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees were looking to add Van Dyke to their quarterback competition. But Van Dyke’s representatives used the overture to sweeten his deal with Miami’s NIL representatives. That relationship with Canes Connection was announced in June.
Despite the indifference of the football world outside Miami, that TVD stock still has great value in Coral Gables. The fact is that Miami would be in a world of trouble right now without Van Dyke and will be in a similar state if he doesn’t play well and stay healthy this year.
Jacurri Brown has yet to prove he is ready to be a starter and Emory Williams, despite an encouraging spring, is still a true freshman. Recruit Judd Anderson will arrive in December and another transfer or high school quarterback also could be added by the next spring practice depending on whether Van Dyke has a quality season and chooses to enter the NFL Draft. But right now Miami has what it has as it enters a critical season to begin showing progress under Cristobal, and Van Dyke is solidly the major player in that.
There is quiet optimism about improved play from the receivers in Dawson’s system. Most have shown flashes at times – Xavier Restrepo, Colbie Young, Jacolby George, Brashard Smith. Now Miami needs a little more than flashes. It needs consistent week-to-week reliability. New faces in freshmen Nathaniel Joseph and Robby Washington and transfers Tyler Harrell and Shemar Kirk will add to the competitive spirit of the receivers room and hopefully make everybody better.
In an ideal world, transfer tight end Cam McCormick can make a passing game contribution on top of his proven abilities as a blocker from Oregon. Elijah Arroyo should be back healthy at tight end too, increasing pressure on Jaleel Skinner to develop. Freshmen Riley Williams and Jackson Carver will be applying pressure from the other side.
The running back room is looking more dangerous with freshman Mark Fletcher coming in to challenge Henry Parrish and Don Chaney and the injection of Ajay Allen from Nebraska via the portal.
And the first team offensive line at least should be markedly improved with Cohen and Lee and five-star freshmen Francis Mauigoa and Samson Okunlola.
“Nobody’s career is going to be (always going up), there’s always ups and downs, I think I’m going to grow from last year,” Van Dyke said. “Maybe it was not what I needed, but just something that helps me grow in many ways, not only in football, but off the field in dealing with that. This year is going to be the year.”
Van Dyke is walking around with that kind of confidence because he sees and knows that things will be better. Maybe the ACC alone is deep at quarterback this year with Maye and FSU’s Jordan Travis getting a ton of hype and Brennan Armstrong transferring from Virginia to NC State.
But armed with a schedule that includes Texas A&M, Clemson, FSU and road trips to North Carolina and NC State, Van Dyke knows that he will have ample opportunities to redeem himself this season.
“I know the guys are bought in, guys are tired of losing and being 5-7. I think this is going to be a big step for us,” Van Dyke said. “Coach Dawson brings a lot of energy. We go fast, we huddle up, it’s a well-balanced offense up and down the field and we also will run the ball well. So I’m excited for it. Coach Dawson is going to let us play, let us be free and let us be playmakers.”
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