What is Miami Hurricanes next move at quarterback?

The abysmal play the Miami Hurricanes received at quarterback in 2018 was a big reason for a disappointing 7-6 season. December was full of QB controversies with Jarren Williams’ near transfer and N’Kosi Perry’s continued off-field troubles and on-field ineptitude.

Returning starter Perry and backup Cade Weldon will be Redshirt Sophomores in 2019 and  Williams will be a Redshirt Freshman. The Miami football team loses Redshirt Senior Malik Rosier. Rosier’s departure will make the majority of the Hurricanes fanbase happy. Losing his maturity in the QB room will be felt.

The abysmal quarterback play from Rosier and Perry this season was a huge reason for Miami’s extremely disappointing 7-6, 2018 season. The Hurricanes performance at quarterback in the final two games of 2018 should cement the need for an upgrade at the position in 2019 and beyond.

Rosier and Perry combined to complete 12 passes in 41 attempts for 100 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions in Miami’s last two games. The Hurricanes also lost three fumbles combined in the victory over Pittsburgh and loss to Wisconsin.

Rosier has been the constant scapegoat over the last two seasons. A sizeable portion of the Hurricanes fanbase had begged for Perry to get it in magically fix the offense. Perry proved to have many of the same accuracy issues that Rosier had. This was an issue that was easy to see coming.

Perry struggled with completion percentage during the spring. Those issues continued this fall. Perry completed 50.8 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 114.9 quarterback rating. Rosier was at 52.6, six, eight and 111.7. Perry is clearly not the player that many expected him to be.

Miami had one of the worst passing offenses nationally in 2018. In nearly every measurable passing statistic in 2018, the Hurricanes were ranked 90th or below nationally. Blame has to go all-around.

The Miami Hurricanes poor quarterback play, bad play calling and schemes by Mark Richt and Offensive Coordinator Thomas Brown and bad offensive line play all contributed to the ineptness of the UM passing game in 2018.

Miami Hurricanes Football

The Hurricanes quarterbacks have been written about ad nauseam this season. ESPNW’s Joel Anderson summarized the poor play Miami has received at quarterback after Richt’s own nephew Max Johnson committed to LSU this fall for 2020.

"“That’s a continuation of a troubling trend, as quarterback play has been an ongoing problem for the Hurricanes this season. Malik Rosier and then N’Kosi Perry have failed to establish themselves as consistent passing threats in Richt’s preferred pro-style offense.”"

Williams has had his own issues. Besides the near transfer during the height of the early signing period last week, he was also suspended for the win at Virginia Tech. It’s perplexing why Williams didn’t receive any playing time in the victory over Pittsburgh or the loss to Wisconsin.

Both games were blowouts that gave Richt ample opportunity to give Williams meaningful snaps. It’s understandable he didn’t get the start against Wisconsin without any experience, but inexcusable in a game that’s decided where Perry and Rosier clearly didn’t perform well to not play Williams.

The Miami Hurricanes will head into the 2019 offseason with an experienced quarterback who is clearly not the answer and two others that have never thrown a pass against an FBS team. Richt has a lot of work to do with his quarterbacks and working on the offense over the next eight months.

If Richt continues to call the same plays and use the same schemes he has been for the last 30 years he will continue to get the same results as the last 16 games. At Miami that is not good enough.