To say the Miami Hurricanes are having difficulty moving the ball and scoring points is an understatement. Tyler Van Dyke is obviously a key figure in the situation. While arguing against Van Dyke’s struggles is illogical, changing quarterbacks is highly debatable. This article will explain why in more detail below.
To start the debate and establish a baseline, consider Van Dyke’s passing numbers from his four previous starts:
Of course, those are excellent figures until one considers the final two statistics, touchdowns and interceptions. However, there are more moving parts to a quarterback change than many people realize or want to hear, especially this late in the college football season. Here are three of many points that Miami residents should be aware of.
The time it takes to prepare either Emory Williams or Jacurri Brown to play, let alone start, at Florida State, the College Football Playoff’s current fourth-ranked team.
Even for Van Dyke, having an entire offseason to prepare the timing with wide receivers like Xavier Restrepo and Colbie Young, among others, is difficult. While Williams and Brown do get reps with the best pass catchers, it’s nowhere near as often as Van Dyke does.
That’s just how the quarterback position works in college football because the volume of reps must be high in order for chemistry to develop and peak performance to be achieved. There’s only so much time you can spend working with the No. 1 unit.
Off the record, quarterback coaches across the college football landscape frequently discuss it as well. In a nutshell, there is a clear pecking order, and you stick with the quarterback to ensure that there is no confusion.
One common concern is that a lack of reps and chemistry will result in a total disaster with a new signal caller in the lineup.
Because it takes a long time to prepare a quarterback, that trend is as unlikely to change as one can find in college football. Second, and most importantly, how the Hurricanes’ other players would react if Van Dyke was benched.
The reaction of a team to a quarterback change can and will differ from locker room to locker room. Mario Cristobal, Shannon Dawson, and the rest of the Miami coaching staff can only speculate on how a quarterback change will affect the Canes. Simply put, there are no guarantees.
Yes, fans will say things like, “But we’ve already lost three games!” It’s time to start planning for the future!” However, that is not how it usually works within a football program. In fact, it is the polar opposite of how college coaches like Cristobal view a potential quarterback switch.
Cristobal making a sudden change that sees Williams or Brown take over for Van Dyke will probably not excite upperclassmen who aren’t playing quarterback, because that decision primarily looks beyond the 2023 season (or so the perception is).
Those seniors want the best chance to win right now. Finally, Van Dyke was not required to play for Miami this season.
Whether you like him or not, Van Dyke is still wearing a Miami jersey despite offers from multiple other college football programs to join their squads via the Transfer Portal.
There is very little loyalty in college football. So, despite the fact that he’s been abysmal with 10 interceptions in the previous four starts, Cristobal and his staff are likely to have respect for Van Dyke.
Will Miami change its starting quarterback this week? It’s unlikely, and the three reasons listed above are just a few of the reasons why. Could a switch occur if Van Dyke struggles during the FSU game? Absolutely.
That’s another topic Alex Donno and I will cover on his Locked On Canes podcast today, as well as in a later article on AllHurricanes.com.
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