Josh Gattis says Miami football plans to keep Jacurri Brown at QB

The Miami football program has no plans to switch quarterback Jacurri Brown to another position according to offensive coordinator Josh Gattis during his weekly Monday meeting with reporters. Brown has primarily been used as a runner in short-yardage packages this season. Brown has 10 carries for 54 yards.

In the 14-12 win over Virginia on Saturday Brown had five carries for 28 yards and the first three pass attempts of his collegiate career. Brown is still raw as a passer. During his high school career, Brown completed 53.7 percent of his pass attempts but had 17 100-yard games rushing and 54 touchdowns on the ground.

Brown is the most dynamic athlete at QB for Miami. Tyler Van Dyke and Jake Garcia who are ahead of Brown on the depth chart do not offer the same ability as runners. During his press conference on Monday, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal said that the Miami football team is preparing three QBs for Florida State on Saturday.

Garcia is likely to start with Brown continuing to be utilized in short-yardage packages. Cristobal said Van Dyke was improving after suffering a shoulder injury against Duke a week ago Saturday. The initial prognosis for Van Dyke per reports is he would be out for two weeks and then reevaluated. Gattis discussed Brown.

"“Well, I think it’s evident right now if you watch our team right Jacurri is probably one of our top playmakers on our team…Just positive plays continue to happen with him, he’s probably one of the most dynamic runners we have. I don’t know maybe he’s maybe our fastest player on offense right now at this point…So you know you got to find as many creative ways to use someone like that, that has the ability to keep the chains moving, bring positive plays…He brings positive energy to our sideline. When you see Jaccuri go in the game and you see him make plays you see the energy, the excitement of our team increasing.So we need that you know we need that desperately right now as a team, we need that desperately as an offense and so he gives us an opportunity there and obviously we’ll continue to grow its package. You know obviously, teams are going to look at them a lot of different ways.But the more they see him, but he’s a quarterback for us, he’s always been a quarterback he’s a quarterback and he will always remain a quarterback and we’ve got to continue to use him in that fashion.”"

With an offense that ranks 101st nationally averaging 21.3 points per game versus FBS opponents, the Miami football team needs to find a spark. Even with Van Dyke throwing for 847 yards in the first two games this month, Miami only scored 44 points versus North Carolina and Virginia Tech. Brown gives Miami a dual-threat QB.

The comments from Gattis during his press conference today seem to indicate that the role of Brown will be increased. Gattis stated the package will grow and his steadfast comment that Brown will remain a QB implies that Brown is likely to have an increased role as a passer. Miami desperately needs a spark on offense.