Point / Counterpoint: CaneSport staff weighs in on Jacurri Brown’s role … regardless of Tyler Van Dyke starting at QB

A year ago then-coordinator Josh Gattis came up with a package of plays for true freshman Jacurri Brown that allowed him to utilize his ability as a runner behind center. Brown started to take on that role even when starting Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke was healthy… starting with Game 5 against Virginia Tech when the then-freshman Brown rushed twice for 22 yards. He rushed twice more in the Duke game, which is when Van Dyke was hurt. By then it was evident that former coordinator Josh Gattis felt he had found something with Brown behind center in short yardage situations. Brown had a knack for finding a little wiggle room and then pushing behind a suspect offensive line for yards.

Brown, of course, wound up splitting time with Jake Garcia after Van Dyke’s injury and neither was particularly effective. Brown finished hitting on 27 of 43 passes for 230 yards with three TDs and three INTs. He added 223 rush yards with a long of 40 yards (4.1 YPC) … but Pro Football Focus also noted 75 yards lost on sacks so that would move his rushing total up to 298 when he was a runner (and that would mean 5.5 yards per carry).

So now the question is if new coordinator Shannon Dawson will find a role for Brown regardless of Van Dyke starting. Dawson, after all, had a guy at QB who was able to pick up yards with his legs at Houston, Clayton Tune. Tune ran for 546 yards last season with five TDs, had 199 yards (2 TDs) in 2021, 253 yards (5 TDs) in 2020 and 244 yards (2 TDs) in 2019.

So Dawson knows the kind of damage a running QB can do.

Van Dyke has some mobility, but certainly is not considered a dual-threat QB.

Brown is.

So will we again see certain packages put in for Brown, likely in short yardage situations?

That is the subject CaneSport tackles today.

Also of note: Per Pro Football Focus Brown graded out at 72.4 overall last year in 158 reps … and had a really solid 79.9 grade as a runner. Per PFF Brown had 10 runs of 10+ yards on the season and an impressive 3.35 yards after contact.

For comparison, starting RB Henry Parrish had 16 runs of 10+ yards but had almost three times as many carries. Parrish averaged 2.63 yards after contact.

Without further ado, here is the take of each CaneSport staff member on whether he thinks Jacurri Brown should … and will … have a role on this offense regardless of Van Dyke being the healthy starting QB:

GARY FERMAN

This has been a real hot-button topic for me. I watched Jacurri go through his first spring practice as a true freshman, erratically spraying passes all over the yard, and my immediate thought was that he had a long road ahead of him. The best quarterback coaches I have known through the years have taught me that you can’t coach release and accuracy. You can coach a quarterback to execute a system. But the ones who struggle getting the ball from Point A to Point B, like Tate Martell for example, very rarely are able to develop out of that. When I watched this pattern continue in fall practice last year, and I saw how challenged Miami was at receiver at the time, I posted on the CaneSport.com message board that I would love to see Jacurri take some reps at receiver to see what that looked like. My thought was that Jacurri is an elite athlete who could help the team in other ways than playing quarterback while he continued to see if developing at that position was reality for him. I touched a nerve even though my opinion absolutely had nothing to do with the fact that Jacurri is a Black quarterback. It was all based on the notion that this kid is too special as an athlete to just sit on the sidelines for three years trying to be a quarterback if it is never going to play out well that way. I felt he could make a major contribution to the team now. As Miami prepares to begin Jacurri’s second fall practice, my opinion has not changed. But the Miami receiver position has become more crowded. Jacurri will unquestionably remain at quarterback and the honest assessment that must be made by September is whether he is the No. 2 quarterback on the team. Believe it or not, Emory Williams, a true freshman, might already be a better option if Tyler Van Dyke is banged up again. If Jacurri is not No. 2, he absolutely needs to redshirt. He could appear in four games and still maintain a redshirt. That would be in his best interests. Then he could compete as a quarterback in the spring of 2024 and at that point be able to make a sensible decision on his future. I have had talent experts tell me they think he could be a top 10 NFL first-round pick based on his athletic ability. So we will see where this goes. As it pertains to this season, the first question will be whether the goal is to redshirt. If it is, then I would question creating a package for him that requires unique plays that are not part of the regular offense. That can be too disruptive to everybody else on offense. If he is going to be available every week, that is a strategical decision that Shannon Dawson and Mario Cristobal will need to make. And more than anything, those that support Jacurri need to let the process play out without injecting noise or racial issues into it.

MATT SHODELL

Jacurri Brown is an elite athlete who just happens to also be able to throw the ball. Yes, he’s the definition of a dual-threat quarterback. But his passing skills still are questionable, as we saw accuracy issues last year and those popped up again in the spring game. So it’s quite the conundrum if you want to take an accurate, potential NFL high draft pick QB in Van Dyke off the field at any point for Brown. My own personal opinion? Well, it’s skewed by the big picture. I just personally don’t think the roster Miami has in 2023 is playoff caliber. I want to see it get to that point – that’s the ultimate goal, right? With that in mind I really want to know if Brown can be the answer as a franchise type QB when Van Dyke’s time here is up. In year 1 you’d expect some of the struggles you saw from Brown. Entering year 2 you’d expect improvement. That means better accuracy, quicker decision-making, etc. The Shannon Dawson offense favors a guy like Brown, as you saw at Houston his QB Clayton Tune threw for 40 TDs with 4,074 yards and added five more rushing scores and 546 yards running the ball. I also think that, unless Van Dyke looks like a Heisman guy, Brown can help Miami win games in 2023. We’ve seen the struggles in short yardage on offense in recent years. A guy like this can help UM convert a high percentage, especially if he shows he can hurt you with some passes here and there in those situations at different points. That will keep a defense honest, and that unit will have to not just worry about the receivers and running back but also Brown sneaking into a gap, breaking a tackle and he’s gone. So yes, I think Brown should have a role and will have a role. And I think he’ll help the Miami Hurricanes win a game here or there that otherwise could go either way.

IZUBEE CHARLES

When you look at a guy like Jacurri Brown, who stands at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds and is one of the fastest and most athletic guys on your team, it’s hard to keep someone like that off the field. While during his true freshman year, we saw struggles and growing pains, you rarely see someone a couple of months removed from high school in the situation he was placed in succeed at the highest level from the get-go in college football. I believe that as a coordinator, your job is to get the best out of what your players’ skillset can allow you to do, and I believe Shannon Dawson will be able to do so with Brown and his skillset, which is his athleticism. Now I’m not saying that is the only thing he can do, but until he shows much more improvement with his arm (which he showed a bit during the spring), I don’t think it would be fair to ask him to sling the rock across the field. I also think that you can’t simply use him for short-yardage runs and pound him up the middle when everyone on the field, in the stadium, and at home knows what’s about to happen. To sum it all up, I think Dawson will indeed find a way to get Brown more involved in this offense in one way or another this upcoming season, and I’m excited to see how things unfold.

STEPHEN WAGNER

I’ve been higher on Brown as a quarterback than others, and I thought his biggest problem was simply making his reads late during the spring game. It felt to me he still has potential as a quarterback if he could make his reads half a second quicker, but I still think he has good value as a backup to Van Dyke if he goes down like he did last season. If you’re a Miami fan, there are far worse places for Brown to be than sitting behind Van Dyke as a backup, and I think he can be a very serviceable backup. Emory Williams is behind him at quarterback, and I’ve always preferred to bring experience off the bench over youth if it’s possible. Yes, he could theoretically be a great receiver, but if I was a Miami fan, I’d hope for him to stay at quarterback to add depth to the position.

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