The Miami Hurricanes quarterback battle between Jarren Williams, N’Kosi Perry and Tate Martell is likely to endure into fall camp. Miami head coach Manny Diaz told reporters on Tuesday that a starter will be named when they are ready.
Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz and offensive coordinator Dan Enos have purposely put players on edge this spring. They want their players to feel uncomfortable and to get players out of their comfort zone.
The plan is to see how the players respond to adversity. That’s critical for quarterbacks. Turnover, three and outs and hard hits can all impact a QB’s psyche. Williams, Perry and Martell are all battling to be the Miami Hurricanes starting QB in 2019.
Perry is the only one with starting experience. All three have to learn Enos’ offense which is quite different than Mark Richt’s was. Martell is having to adjust to a lot after transferring from Ohio State in January.
All three have strengths and weaknesses they are working on this spring. Martell has struggled with accuracy this spring as Perry did last fall. Williams does not have nearly the experience playing that Perry and Martell have. There have also been issues with indecisiveness from the QBs.
When the game speeds up in a scrimmage and even more when the season commences in August whoever is under center is going to have to be decisive with the football. Not doing so is when turnovers usually happen. With an inexperienced offensive line, Miami’s QB is not going to have a lot of time to throw the football.
Diaz elaborated on the Miami quarterback play this spring and when they would name a starter to Sun Sentinel reporter Christy Chirinos.
"“To me, if you have a guy, you want that guy to be the starting quarterback because you want everybody in the locker room to know.If you don’t have a guy, if you’re not sure who the guy is, then you’ve got to battle it out. To me, it’s not craftiness of trying to hold it in. If we knew [a starter] today, we’d announce it today. But like I said, I like what we have going on right now.Again, one of the big themes of this spring is [get] out of your comfort zone, [have] everyone on edge, nobody comfortable with anything and let’s see who responds in the chaos.”"
Be able to respond in the midst of chaos will be critical for the Miami football team in 2019. The Hurricanes had three four-game losing streaks during the Richt era. Miami needs to get past a turnover and play well on the next series during a game and move forward the game after a loss. A lot of that comes from the leadership at QB.
Miami had uneven play at QB in 2018 that severely hindered the Hurricanes offense and derailed their season. Even in 2017 when Malik Rosier struggled at times, the Hurricanes were able to keep it together partially because of Rosier’s leadership. Williams, Martell or Perry has to be ready to step up and be the leader in 2019.