Despite the loss to Georgia Tech, Mark Richt saw encouraging signs from N’Kosi Perry

For the first time since Mark Richt benched N’Kosi Perry for Malik Rosier in the Miami Hurricanes’ loss to the Virginia Cavaliers last month, Miami’s quarterback controversy seems to be dead.

Richt wasted no time this week making the decision on his starter for the upcoming game against the Virginia Tech Hokies. On his weekly postgame teleconference Sunday, the coach announced Perry will remain the Hurricanes’ starter when they head up to Blacksburg, Va., on Saturday.

“N’Kosi will be the starter next week,” Richt said. “I thought N’Kosi played well in a lot of ways.”

Despite Miami’s 27-21 loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday, Richt felt encouraged about Perry’s play after the quarterback’s first start since the loss in Virginia. The redshirt freshman started strong, completing 12 of his first 15 attempts, and finished 14 of 23 with 165 yards. The first-year starter also ran for 38 yards on six carries.

Perry was at his best at the bookends of the loss at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The quarterback opened the game by leading the Hurricanes (5-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) on an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, then guided a 15-play, 95-yard touchdown drive on Miami’s final possession.

Perry started the game with a 27-yard strike to Jeff Thomas on his first snap, then found the wide receiver again for a 19-yard completion for a third-down conversion. Perry went 3 for 3 for 60 yards on the first possession.

“Of course we had struggles in the last game, but I already knew what I was capable of, so that wasn’t nothing surprising to me,” Perry said at his postgame news conference Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. “I didn’t get down. I didn’t feel any type of weight. I knew we could do that and I felt like we were going to do that every time we touched the ball.”

Richt said Perry’s body language inspired confidence.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s just the look in his eye sometimes,” Richt said. “You can tell when a guy is very comfortable in his role and he certainly was on point with his reads and his progressions, and his throws.”

Against the Cavaliers, Perry lasted less than a half. He threw back-to-back interceptions in the second quarter, leading Richt to pull him in favor of Rosier.

On Saturday, Richt saw the return of Perry’s confidence, like he previously displayed while throwing four touchdowns and leading a fourth-quarter comeback against the Florida State Seminoles last month.

“I just think he threw the ball with a lot of confidence and was very much on point,” Richt said. “Last drive in the game, there were a couple balls that needed to be thrown away, and we took a shot here and there, but for the most part when there was somebody open he put it on them.”

Perry was once again effective on the final possession, although he only went 2 for 8. He converted Miami’s first third-down opportunity with a 13-yard scramble and completed and converted another third down with a 24-yard throw to wide receiver Dee Wiggins, which Richt called “an NFL-type ball.”

Perry converted two more third downs on the drive, once with a 15-yard scramble and again with a 14-yard pass to Travis Homer. A 2-yard touchdown run by the running back eventually cut the Yellow Jackets’ lead to six with 6:53 left, but the Hurricanes never got the ball back.

“He made some tremendous third-down conversion throws,” Richt said. “Throws that needed to be made at crucial times and he also used his wheels, too. He used his athleticism at times. Sometimes there were some designed quarterback draws and there was a couple times when he scrambled out of trouble when he thought people were covered and he didn’t throw the ball into traffic.

“He had a couple mistakes, but not many. I left that game very encouraged with how he played.”