Miami Hurricanes not alone with potential quarterback change

N’Kosi Perry’s sizzling performance for the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday has the fan base buzzing.

Perry came in during the third drive of the game and led the Miami Hurricanes on scoring drives on four of their next five possessions. That included touchdown drives on his first two possessions in the game.

Perry completed his first ten passes and finished 17 of 25 for 224 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He also ran nine times for 32 yards. Perry forced Head Coach Mark Richt’s hand with his exceptional performance.

The Miami Hurricanes aren’t the only team with competition at quarterback. Several other big-name schools also have younger quarterbacks pushing the more experienced incumbents for their starting jobs. This postgame discussion from the Head Coach of one of the Hurricanes fiercest rivals should sound familiar.

"“I didn’t sleep great last night, because that’s a pretty big decision to make when you’re 3-0 and your quarterback that was leading your football team was 13-3 as a starter…But I had a lot of confidence in Ian and I thought our offense played to the level that it was capable of. That certainly showed itself today.”"

That was Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly after the Fighting Irish dismantled Wake Forest 56-27 following a quarterback change. Notre Dame had a lot of the same issues playing their Senior starter Brandon Wimbush over Junior Ian Book.

You could basically take out Wimbush and Book’s names and insert Rosier and Perry and you would have nearly identical situations. Kelly also felt like the inconsistency of the offense was weighing on other parts of the team.

"“We have a good football team, and the residual effect of, it was wearing on our defense…The end in mind is that we needed to win, but we weren’t winning at a level that was going to allow us to continue to win. We were putting too much stress on other parts of the operation, in particular the defense.It was going to break…So it needed to get fixed now. And it had nothing to do with Brandon in particular, as much as how the offense needed to be much more effective. And that’s it.”"

The quote sounds identical to what Richt said about Malik Rosier and that it was nothing the Redshirt Senior did wrong. Similar to Wimbush, Rosier had a stellar 14-4 record as a starter. No matter how big or little of a role Rosier played he did enough to lead Miami to victory.

"“Malik did nothing wrong,..Just the young guys kept maturing and getting better and it got to the point where it was time to see what they can do and N’Kosi got that opportunity.”"

In discussing Book NBCSports.Com writer Douglas Farmer could have been talking about the Miami Hurricanes when he alluded to why Kelly made the quarterback change for Notre Dame.

"“The pros of playing Book rely on his ability and accuracy in the playbook and scheme, something he may not have fully grasped in 2017.”"

Kelly went on to add that like Perry is was also a case of Book growing up.

"“Another year in the system has sharpened his progression reads and things of that nature,”"

Notre Dame and Miami are still trying to fight their way back to be considered among the nation’s elite programs. Clemson is already there. The Tigers appeared in the National Championship Game following the 2015 and 16 seasons and were in the Semifinals last year.

Clemson announced on Monday that Freshman Trevor Lawrence was taking over as the starting quarterback for Senior Kelly Bryant. Bryant and Lawrence had mostly split the playing time this season. Tigers coach Dabo Swinney would not discuss how the playing time would break down going forward.

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Lawrence has completed 39  passes in 61 attempts for a 63.9  percentage for 600 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions. Bryant is 35 of 53 for a 66.0 percent completion percentage for 456 yards two touchdowns and one interception.

Clemson Co-Offensive Coordinator Tony Elliott said a lot of similar things to what Richt said following the Hurricanes quarterback change this week.

"“It just came down to, you’ve got to reward productivity…If you look at (Lawrence’s) opportunities, he’s taken advantage of them. Kelly didn’t do anything wrong. Kelly has done a lot for this team,. Again, this is just this week.”"

Miami doesn’t face Notre Dame this year after splitting a home and home the last two seasons. They don’t face Clemson in the regular season but the Tigers and Hurricanes are both favored to repeat as ACC Division Champs and get back to the ACC Championship game.

Clemson and Notre Dame are worth keeping an eye on. It will be interesting to see how all three quarterback battles progress as the season goes on.