The excitement surrounding Miami Hurricanes Freshman Quarterback N’Kosi Perry has many fans calling for him to be in the starting lineup against Bethune-Cookman September 2. Head Coach Mark Richt is preaching patience.
Perry is one of three Miami Hurricanes quarterbacks in the race to become the starter. Junior Malik Rosier backed up Brad Kaaya the last two seasons and is the favorite heading into camp. Sophomore Evan Sheriffs has been lauded for knowing the playbook the best.
Perry originally committed to Miami under previous Head Coach Al Golden. When Golden was fired Perry decommitted and re-opened his recruitment. He eventually settled on staying with his commitment to attend Miami.
Perry is the nation’s number three duel threat quarterback in the class of 2017. He is shifty, has a strong arm and excellent height. He is still thin and needs to work on getting stronger and building muscle.
Richt did not recruit Perry while he was still at Georgia. He was let go by the Bulldogs following the 2015 regular season. Richt was hired by Miami A.D. Blake James to return to his Alma Mater. The Hurricanes boss was impressed the first time he saw Perry on film.
"“He’s a very dynamic playmaker — could run, could throw, seemed to have good touch, could throw it deep, could zip it if he needed to — just all the fundamental things you want to see…I knew he was tall and skinny and probably would have to get a little thicker. Other than that, I was like, ‘This guy has got a lot of ability.'”"
Richt knew in order to regain Perry’s commitment to the U he had to regain the dynamic signal caller’s trust:
"“We had to earn his trust…We had to get him on campus, help him understand how I feel about him as the head coach and play-caller and quarterbacks coach, along with [assistant Jon Richt]. I wanted him to know that this staff wanted you — not just Miami wanted you. I think that meant a lot to him.”"
Richt talked extensively with ESPN about the importance of balancing a playbook if he decides to go with his true freshman this season:
"“You can go simple enough [with the playbook] where he understands everything completely, but if the simplicity makes you too easy to defend, you’re not helping the quarterback or the run game or anybody else…You have to do what you do and hope that as he’s learning, there’s not too many losses along the way. You can make mistakes and still win games…“When you learn to play quarterback, you fall down, you make mistakes. And if you’re making the mistakes in front of millions of people on national TV it’s not as easy as making your mistakes in practice when no one’s watching or at least not the public, so there are going to be mistakes by young players or even inexperienced players. Hopefully you can limit those and play good enough defense and special teams.”"
It’s always hard to read between the lines of coach speak. Richt has said all along he is not ready to make a decision on who the starter will be at quarterback. He has also indicated they want to open up the playbook to run-pass options.
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Rosier doesn’t have the raw ability of Perry. He does have better athletic ability than Sheriffs. At the beginning of the season, all signs seem to point toward Rosier under center on September 2. If he fails, Perry then might be a possibility to bring in.