During his weekly press conference, head coach Mario Cristobal said the Miami football team is preparing three quarterbacks in practice this week for its game versus Florida State on Saturday. Cristobal said Tyler Van Dyke is improving from the shoulder injury that kept him out versus Virginia on Saturday.
Jake Garcia started against Virginia and completed 15 passes in 29 attempts for 125 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. Miami went with a very conservative game plan in a 14-12 quadruple overtime win. The Cavaliers and Hurricanes were tied at six at the end of regulation. No TDs were scored by Miami or Virginia.
Jacurri Brown continued to be utilized in short-yardage packages with five carries for 28 yards. Brown was incomplete on the first three pass attempts of his collegiate career. Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis stated that Brown is staying at QB. Brown has 10 carries for 54 yards for the Miami football team this season.
Before getting hurt versus Duke, Van Dyke completed 64.1 percent of his passes for 1,729 yards, 7.3 yards per attempt, 10 touchdowns, four interceptions, a 135.96 passer rating and 247.0 yards per game in 2022. Garcia has completed 60.3 percent for 595 yards two TDs, three INTs and a 125.11 passer rating.
"“Improving you know he’s looking better and better every single day. So we enter this week with preparing him to play, with preparing Jake to play and preparing Jacurri to play. You know in our minds all three have I know for sure that Jacurri is going to play some he gives us some things on offense and he keeps getting better and better.It’s a shame that one ball he threw wasn’t a good one because I think you’re going to be able to see how talented he is and how well he can throw the ball. But you know his TVD continues to improve. We’re very optimistic again. He looked great yesterday, looked great today so we’ll keep pushing that envelope and we’ll see where we’re at come Friday, Saturday.”"
The likelihood is that Garcia will start against Florida State with Brown continuing to receive playing time in the short-yardage packages. Van Dyke was expected to be out for two weeks and reevaluated after that according to reports. Florida State will be two weeks after the Van Dyke shoulder injury.
Cristobal has been conservative in disclosing injuries this season. The hope is probably for Van Dyke to be ready by Saturday but that seems extremely unlikely. Brown needs to improve his accuracy to earn more playing time. In high school, Brown completed 53.7 percent of his pass attempts as a four-year starter.
The Miami football improved offensively with Gattis opening up the passing game until Van Dyke suffered the injury versus Duke. In the last two full games he played this season, Van Dyke completed 68.9 percent of his pass attempts for 847 yards, five TDs and one INT. The start at Virginia was the first of Garcia’s career.