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Miami Hurricanes Football Preview: Quarterback

By Juan Toribio

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Coming into the 2014 season, quarterback was the big question heading into Miami Hurricanes training camp. Was it going to be the senior Jake Heaps or the true freshman Brad Kaaya? Well, we all know what the answer was and now there is absolutely no quarterback controversy.

Brad Kaaya is the quarterback for the Hurricanes and he’ll be until he graduates or declares for the draft. The kid is special and Miami is certainly lucky to have him. Despite the starting quarterback position not being questioned this fall, Miami did lose two veteran quarterbacks in Jake Heaps and Ryan Williams, and they’ll have to find a way to replace them.

It’s Kaaya and everybody else, but let’s just take a look at all the signal callers that Miami has on their roster this season.

Brad Kaaya – Sophomore – 6’4 209 lbs

Brad Kaaya went from the unknown last season, to the hope of the team this season. That’s how good he played as a true freshman. Kaaya is the leader of this team now and with a full year of learning the playbook and a lot of game experience, Kaaya will have to deal with the expectations that come with being a Hurricanes quarterback.

Kaaya threw for 26 touchdowns last season while throwing 12 interceptions, which is unreal for a true freshman. Now, as a sophomore, the offense will revolve around Kaaya and he’ll have to be ready for the challenge and there is nothing that shows that he’s not 100 percent ready for this opportunity.

Malik Rosier – Redshirt Freshman – 6’1 212 lbs

Coming into Canes Camp, Malik Rosier will be the backup quarterback for Miami. The dual-sport athlete has a lot of talent, but unfortunately for him, he came on campus at the same time as Kaaya. It’s been reported, however, that the Canes plan on using Rosier in some packages this season, which would create a nice little wrinkle to the Miami offense.

As much as I hate using multiple quarterbacks, especially when you have one as good as number 15, Rosier is talented enough that I don’t completely hate it.

He’s obviously not thrown a pass in college, so let’s see what the dude was able to do in high school:

Evan Shirreffs – Freshman – 6’5 195 lbs

Offensive coordinator James Coley was the first coach to offer Brad Kaaya and we all know how that turned out. Coley, who has a knack at finding underrated quarterbacks, is trying his luck again with Evan Shirreffs. The quarterback out of Georgia has unreal accuracy on his throws. His arm strength isn’t the best out there, but he puts the ball where the receivers need to get it and let’s them make plays.

Shirreffs had no other division-1 offers besides Miami so becoming a Hurricane was a pretty easy choice for him. His recruitment dragged on past National Signing Day but Miami is glad they landed him.

While it remains to be seen what Shirreffs can do on a collegiate level, he’ll have the opportunity to compete for the backup job in camp. Ideally, Miami redshirts Shirreffs and get him stronger for when he’s ready to compete for the starting job. In other words, when Kaaya is no longer on campus.

Gray Crow – Junior – 6’3 224 lbs

You read that right. Gray Crow is a quarterback again! The junior has been flipped around from quarterback and tight end, but he’s back under center this season.

Crow is one of the coolest dudes on the team so rooting for him is really easy. He’ll have a chance to compete for a backup spot this season, but it’ll be interesting to see how well he throws the ball after being lined up as a tight end last season.

The one advantage that Crow has over the other backup quarterback candidates is that he’s probably the one that knows the playbook the most. And he has a tight end perspective to add on to. We’ll see how this goes, but I’m rooting for you, Gray.

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