Post-Spring Analysis: Miami Hurricanes QB position in good hands with Van Dyke, but question marks remain behind him

With Miami’s 15 spring practices in the rearview mirror, it’s worth taking a position by position look at where things stand, and that starts with the quarterback position:

PROJECTED MIAMI QB DEPTH CHART

Starter: Tyler Van Dyke

co-2nd team: Jacurri Brown

co-2nd team: Emory Williams

POST-SPRING ANALYSIS

Perhaps the best way to sum up the Miami Hurricanes’ quarterback position after spring ball is this way: Proven, yet unproven.

Yes, that might sound strange.

But Tyler Van Dyke had a great first year as a starter in 2021, then struggled with production and injury in Josh Gattis’ offense last year.

Jacurri Brown? He was a highly touted recruit who got opportunities as a true freshman last year but was far more effective as a runner than passer.

Emory Williams? A true freshman who arrived on camps less than four months ago.

So proven, yet unproven.

The good news here is that this spring Van Dyke looked a lot more like the guy who flourished in Rhett Lashlee’s wide open attack vs. the guy who seemed uncomfortable running Gattis’ more run-heavy scheme a year ago. New coordinator Shannon Dawson runs a hybrid Air-Raid attack, and Van Dyke seems to have seamlessly picked it up. He showed in the spring game that he knows the offense well, and he threw on target passes including an NFL precision over-the-shoulder toss for a TD to Jacolby George.

Brown was better with his accuracy this spring than he was a year ago, but he struggled in the spring game with decision-making and errant tosses. That was not a good sign. But Dawson had success last year with a dual threat QB at Houston, Clayton Tune (threw for 40 TDs, ran in 5 more), so Brown should have big upside in this attack.

Williams also flashed big play ability this spring and has outstanding accuracy on his throws. But like any true freshman he needs to learn the ins and outs of a college system and get used to the level of strength and speed in the college game.

A LOOK UNDER THE HOOD

Remember that as a first-time starter in the final 9 games of the 2021 season, Van Dyke 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. But in the first four games last year, 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 essentially was a season-ending injury in the first half vs. Duke. 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. Also of note: In 2022 he threw 11 percent of passes 20 or more yards from the line of scrimmage and 26 percent in the 10-19 yard range. In 2021 he was attacking downfield more – 19.9 percent were 20+ yards and 21.2% were in the 10-19 yard range.

As for Jacurri Brown? A four-star signee in the Class of 2022, Brown was rated one of the top dual-threat QBs before arriving at Miami last year. In both his junior and senior seasons at Lowndes High School in Georgia he passed for over 1,000 yards and threw for over 1,000 yards. But last year after Tyler Van Dyke was injured and with backup Jake Garcia struggling (Garcia entered the transfer portal before the spring and found a home at Missouri), Brown also struggled when he threw the ball. He was off target on many throws and it was run-heavy play calling when he was in the game due to that. Overall Brown threw for just 230 yards in eight games of action with three TDs and three INTs. His forte was running, and he had 223 rush yards including a long of 40 yards. Even when Van Dyke was healthy coaches would call on Brown to run Wildcat at times in short yardage situations, and more often than not he was successful with runs. His best game? That was vs. Georgia Tech when he hit on 14 of 19 passes for 136 yards with three scores. But all his other performances saw struggles (5-9, 37 yards, INT vs. FSU; 6-13, 53 yards, INT vs. Clemson and 2-3, 4 yards, INT against Pitt). Brown graded out fine at 72.4 percent per Pro Football Focus, but that was skewed to his running grade of 79.9. As a passer he was a subpar 49.5 percent (with 70 considered a good grade). He also didn’t complete a single pass of 20 or more yards through the air, going 0-5 and grading out at 27.8 percent in those situations. So there was a lot left to be desired there.

Which brings us to Emory Williams. The freshman early enrollee has used a private QB coach, David Morris, who worked with the likes of Eli Manning, Daniel Jones, Davis Mills, Mac Jones, Sam Howell and Bo Nix, among others. It showed this spring as he was poised and had good technique and on-target throws. As Morris told CaneSport, Williams “knows what it takes to play this position at a high level. And from a skillset standpoint he can throw with anyone in the country.” Morris compared Williams to a Joe Flacco type QB who is “a big, strong, underappreciated athlete.” Another of Williams’ private coaches, speed coach Dwayne Carter with C3 Elite, compares him to a Justin Herbert. “The thing with Justin is he can roll a little bit, run when he needs to. Out of all the guys I’ve seen, worked with in the NFL or college, Emory is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen. … From what I’ve seen his potential his through the roof. He has all the pieces you want in a college and, shoot, even an NFL quarterback. He’s 6-5, 220, can throw it a mile.” Williams wasn’t heavily recruited, although Florida State and Auburn were big-name programs that showed serious interest at different points (Williams landed 15 offers). Williams enjoyed a strong season 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 that was marked by some defensive issues. He completed 63 percent of his passes despite analytics that showed 40 dropped passes. 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. As a junior he threw for 2,168 yards, 16 touchdowns and 3 interceptions on 161 completions for a 63% completion percentage.

THE BOTTOM LINE

We really like what Miami has in Tyler Van Dyke and what he showed this spring. He is back in form and should flourish in this offense. But there are some warning signs with Jacurri Brown, and Emory Williams is a true freshman which means he’s automatically a question mark. So, in reality, this is a team that once again cannot afford to have Van Dyke banged up. Miami needs Van Dyke to be on point and running this offense all year for it to really be a high efficiency attack. Is Brown a guy with huge upside in the future? No doubt. But while his accuracy improved this spring you saw in the Spring Game that it’s nowhere near where you need for a highly efficient QB at this level. It’s also unclear right now who the No. 2 guy will be behind Van Dyke this season, and that’s going to be determined in the fall. When Van Dyke is done at UM, it will be a very interesting battle between Brown and Williams … and also new QB commit Judd Anderson will of course be in the conversation along with Miami perhaps adding a QB transfer to shore up depth this season. So we are happy with this position with Van Dyke leading the way … and then once he departs it’s a case of to-be-determined with some unproven talented guys waiting in the wings.

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