The Dynamics of Miami ‘Potentially’ Changing Quarterbacks

Why Miami making a quarterback move is much different than what fans want to hear

Author:
Brian Smith
Publish date:
Nov 8, 2023 8:11 AM EST

In this story:

To say that the Miami Hurricanes are struggling to move the football and score points is an understatement. Tyler Van Dyke is obviously a prime part of the dilemma. While debating against Van Dyke struggling is not logical, making a quarterback change is very debatable. This article will define why below.

To begin the debate and gain a baseline, let's view Van Dyke's passing numbers from his four prior starts:

Of course, those are really good numbers until a person sees the final two statistics, touchdowns and interceptions. There are more moving parts to a quarterback change than many know and want to hear, however, especially this late in a college football season. Here are three points, among many, that Miami fans should know about.

First up, it’s the time it takes to prep either Emory Williams or Jacurri Brown to play, let alone make a start at Florida State, the College Football Playoff’s current #4 team.

Having an entire off-season to prepare the timing with wide receivers like Xavier Restrepo and Colbie Young, among others, is arduous just for Van Dyke. While Williams and Brown do receive reps with the top pass catchers, it’s not any place near the same as how often Van Dyke does.

That’s just how the quarterback position works at the college football level because the volume of reps has to be high for chemistry to be developed and reach peak performance. There’s only so much time to work with the No. 1 unit.

It's something that quarterback coaches across the college football landscape often discuss off the record, too. In a nutshell, there's a clear pecking order and you stick with the quarterback so that there's chemistry. A common fear is that a lack of reps and chemistry leads to a complete disaster with a new signal caller in the lineup.

That trend is as close to a lock never to change as one will find with college football because it takes an abundance of time to prepare a quarterback. Second, and this is a big one, how the other members of the Hurricanes would react to Van Dyke being benched.

How a team reacts to a quarterback change can and will vary from locker room to locker room. Mario Cristobal, Shannon Dawson, and the entire Miami staff can only project how a quarterback change will go for the Canes. Ther are simply no guarantees.

Yes, fans are going to say things like “But we’ve lost three games already! Time to build for the future!” That’s not how it usually works inside a football program, however. In fact, it is quite the opposite of how college coaches like Cristobal generally view a possible quarterback switch.

Especially for upperclassmen not playing quarterback, they will probably not be excited about Cristobal making a sudden change that sees Williams or Brown take over for Van Dyke, and that's because that decision primarily looks beyond the 2023 season (or at least that's likely to be the perception).

Those upperclassmen want the best chance to win now. Finally, Van Dyke did not have to be a Miami player this season.

Happy with him or not, Van Dyke is in a Miami uniform despite overtures from multiple other college football programs to join their rosters via the Transfer Portal.

In college football, there’s very little loyalty. So while he’s been dreadful with the 10 interceptions from the prior four times he’s been the starting quarterback, Cristobal and his staff likely feel a sense of respect for Van Dyke.

Will Miami make a starting quarterback change this week? It’s unlikely, and the three reasons above are a few of the points as to why it will not happen. Now, could a switch take place if Van Dyke struggles during the FSU game? Absolutely.

That’s another topic that Alex Donno and I will discuss on his Locked On Canes podcast today, as well as another article later this week at AllHurricanes.