Miami Hurricanes Quarterback Room: Best Case Scenarios For Brown And Van Dyke Now And Later
The rapid development of Miami Hurricanes true freshman quarterback Jacurri Brown has been a pleasant and welcomed surprise. He's always had a cannon for an arm and athleticism through the roof, but now we're seeing his reads and his timing coming along nicely. He's got the intelligence, confidence, and swagger Hurricanes fans look for in a starting signal caller. Once he adds some touch on his deep throws, the sky's the limit!
Brown just had a rock solid performance against Georgia Tech in his first career start. He's got many Hurricanes fans believing he's ready to become the full time starter in 2023. This might very well be the case. However, I will caution everyone not to be prisoners of the moment.
IF Miami decides Brown is the way forward for the immediate future, Tyler Van Dyke might gravitate to the transfer portal. Jake Garcia would likely depart no matter what (that's my hunch, not a report.)
I present to you three scenarios for the Miami Hurricanes quarterback room next season.
Best case scenario: Van Dyke returns in 2023, Brown & TVD compete, Emory Williams arrives and redshirts.
Brown might be ready to take over and dominate in 2023. However, my best case scenario involves Tyler Van Dyke returning for his junior season. Van Dyke likely starts, and gets the majority of the reps, with Brown playing situationally while getting more time to learn behind Tyler. Meanwhile, 3-star commit Emory Williams gets to redshirt as the emergency QB3 and learn from them both.
The key-word for this scenario is DEPTH. Plus, the competition in spring and fall camp between TVD and Brown will push both of them to be better.
I also think Van Dyke can really look elite again next year as a junior with a stabilized offensive line. Part of the reason he struggled at times this year was because the O-line has been decimated by injuries. Next season the unit will be significantly deeper.
Worst Case Scenario: Everyone says "peace out" and Donno runs for cover!
While every scenario we do involves Jake Garcia transferring, because it's just hard to believe he could see opportunity here, the absolute worst case scenario involves a mass exodus.
I'm on social media every day, I frequent numerous Miami message board and I read my Locked On Canes Youtube comments. I see that some of you feel Cristobal is a quarterback killer (why wasn't Justin Herbert even better at Oregon?) and that no QB in their right could possibly want to play in Josh Gattis' vanilla offense.
If you Negative Nancies are correct, we could see Van Dyke hit the portal (numerous teams have interest) and Emory Williams, an ascending high school senior, could decide to flip somewhere else for the sake of his own development. Some of you even think Jacurri Brown could enter the portal if some big-time NIL offers arrive elsewhere.
In that case, Miami would have to scramble to find lower-ranked high school quarterbacks to offer before national signing day and they would have to heavily work the transfer portal for a veteran.
For the record, I am not worried whatsoever about this scenario. Brown is improving weekly and meshing well with quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce. Unlike the players who carried over from last season, Brown signed up to play for these coaches. Emory Williams will stay locked in and has an excellent relationship with Ponce, too.
That brings us to...
Medium case scenario: Turnover, but stability with Jacurri Brown and a veteran transfer added.
I still think Tyler Van Dyke has NFL caliber talent and I do not want to lose him yet. He's unlikely to enter the NFL draft after this season because he did not raise his stock enough this year. So, in this medium scenario, he decides he might fit someone else's offense better than this one and perhaps he finds a national contender to raise his draft stock for 2024.
Van Dyke leaves through the portal, Emory Williams stays committed, and Brown is the favorite to start in 2023. We assume Garcia departs, too.
In this case, Brown could go through some growing pains as a true sophomore with opponents having more tape on him to prepare for. His upside is so tremendous that the Canes likely win a game or two that they shouldn't, due to Brown's playmaking abilities. On the flip side, they'll likely lose a couple tough games from the mistakes that come with a young QB.
If Van Dyke leaves Miami would almost certainly need to add a veteran quarterback in the portal to serve as Brown's backup or compete with him in camp to start.
The Bottom Line
I threw out the worst case scenario just to entertain the trolls, but it'll definitely be either the best or medium case. In the short term, I hope Miami does not rush Tyler Van Dyke back this season if there are any real concerns for his throwing shoulder.
If Brown starts against Clemson, and I think he will, it will show us so much about how he handles tough situations on the road. Can he make plays against that defense? We won't be judging Brown this week based on the scoreboard but on his poise and progress.
Let us know how you expect the starting quarterback situation to play out for the remainder of this year and into 2023.
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