Most training camps are over and the start of the college football season is just over a week away. For many schools including the Miami Hurricanes, starting quarterback was a question mark throughout August.
With training camp battles mostly over prognosticators are able to more clearly make projections. They can better forecast teams based on their personnel groupings for the upcoming season with training camp over.
The question that has dogged Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Mark Richt throughout camp has been the quarterback battle. Junior Malik Rosier, Sophomore Evan Sheriffs and Freshmen N’Kosi Perry and Cade Weldon were all in the running early in camp.
It became apparent pretty quickly that the Freshmen were not ready to start. Once that occurred it was clear it was Rosier’s job to lose. Richt wasn’t likely to go with Sheriffs. The starting quarterback race, in reality, seemed to be Rosier’s experience against Perry’s exceptional skills.
Now that the decision has been made to go with Rosier there has been an abundance of analysis about the man who was the Miami Hurricanes backup quarterback the last two seasons. He is the only quarterback on the Miami Hurricanes roster that has started a game in college, thrown a pass or even played in a game.
Athlon Sports has been publishing lists all summer relating to college football. The latest one ranks the starting quarterbacks in the Football Bowl Subdivision for all 130 teams. Rosier is much ranked much lower than expected or than he should be based on his talent, experience and the talent around him.
He should team well with wide receiver Ahmmon Richards, running back Mark Walton and tight end Chris Herndon. The Hurricanes also have a stellar group of talented but inexperienced receivers to team with Richards for Rosier to work with the Miami Offense could be better than expected.
The offense could come down to how well Rosier takes care of the ball. Miami tied for second in the country last season with just ten turnovers. Richt has repeatedly stressed throughout training camp he wants a quarterback who is making the right decisions and who takes care of the ball.
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After being ranked 82nd as a unit in the spring, Rosier moved the Hurricanes up 12 spots in the quarterback rankings this fall. On a team with the talent and speed that the Miami Hurricanes receivers have 70th seems too low.
For the 2017 season to be successful for the Miami Hurricanes they are going to need their play at quarterback to be better than the 70th ranked signal caller in the country.
"70. Malik Rosier, MiamiThe Hurricanes opened fall practice with N’Kosi Perry, Malik Rosier, Evan Shirreffs and Cade Weldon competing for the starting job. Rosier entered with the edge in experience with 13 career appearances and one previous start (2015). Over his two seasons of snaps, Rosier has completed 31 of 61 passes for 370 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 63 yards. While Perry is arguably the team’s most talented signal-caller, Rosier was named the starter in mid-August."
The fans have been clamoring for Perry throughout the entire offseason and during training camp. Rosier has continued to show that he is much more equipped to be the starting quarterback now than Perry is.
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Rosier has been more accurate and taken far better care of the ball than Perry has throughout training camp. As long as he continues to do both he will remain Miami’s starter. He should also be able to move up much higher on the list of the best quarterbacks in FBS.