Miami quarterback thought his career might be over after a heart-to-heart with Mark Richt
University of Miami’s new/old starting quarterback Malik Rosier thought his college football career might be over after confronting coach Mark Richt with a text the morning after the FIU game for a heart-to-heart conversation.
“I texted him Sunday morning and said, ‘Hey, we need to have a talk,’ said Rosier,” who will start Friday at Boston College after winning back the job from redshirt freshman N’Kosi Perry. “And he kind of broke it down to me that the guy’s been getting better [and] they think he can lead the team. ... It was one of those tough, real-life talks that we had to have.”
Rosier’s career — at least his starting career — might, indeed, have been over, except for two interceptions thrown by Perry and returned for a combined 93 yards that led to 10 Virginia points in a poorly played first 19 minutes Oct. 13.
Out came Perry, who had started the previous two games and played all but two series before that against FIU. In came fifth-year senior Rosier, who also was less than stellar, but nonetheless directed drives that yielded 13 points, including an 11-yard run for his team-leading sixth rushing touchdown. UM (5-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) nonetheless lost 16-13, and Richt made the decision that Rosier, for now, was better suited to read defenses and lead the team as a veteran in hostile territory on the road.
Rosier had new life, and according to teammates and coaches, has practiced like it since last week being named the starter against the Eagles (5-2, 2-1).
“Absolutely,’’ offensive coordinator Thomas Brown said Tuesday. “That’s why I think competition is so great for every single position. Anytime anybody gets too relaxed, I’m not saying he was, it’s hard for you to get to a certain point if you don’t have guys around you who either can beat you out or force you to become better.”
Rosier said Tuesday that the past two weeks — UM didn’t play last weekend — have been much more productive for all three units of the offense, which he said have “been dominating.’’
“We’ve actually had [defensive coordinator Manny] Diaz yelling at the defense for the first time in a long time — us throwing touchdowns, us doing a good job with our progressions,’’ said Rosier, who is 14-4 as a starter, and this year, 50 of 96 (52.1 percent) for 781 yards and five touchdowns, with three interceptions, in five games.
Perry, with wins against North Carolina and Florida State and his lone loss against Virginia, is 50 of 89 (56.2) for 666 yards and 11 touchdowns, with five interceptions, in six games.
“When I kind of sat down with Coach Richt,’’ Rosier said — “and I understand I haven’t been playing the greatest — but like I told him, I said ‘Toledo, I scored five touchdowns; FIU, I [started] and I was 2 for 3,’ and I was, like, ‘Personally, I feel like I did enough not to lose my job. If you think the kid’s better, then I understand. But I just need a reason why.’
“He was like, ‘We want to give the kid a chance. He’s been getting better,’ which obviously he has. He’s gotten so much better, especially with just dissecting a defense and knowing what the coverages are. After that, I’ve just kind of come to the realization that football was going to end some day and I thought then it was going to end for me.
“Luckily, it didn’t.
“I’m just thankful every day I’m able to come out here and practice with these guys because, like I said, I never know when I’m going to get a chance to be able to play with them.”
Rosier said after he was benched he spoke to former Clemson starting quarterback Kelly Bryant, who is now seeking a transfer after he lost his job to freshman Trevor Lawrence. “Me and Kelly are pretty close,’’ said Rosier, who noted he never thought about transferring because he already had redshirted his freshman season in 2014.
Rosier, whose biggest flaw is his lack of accuracy, was asked if it’s hard not to point to his record as a starter when he hears the criticism — and there’s plenty of it among UM fans, who clearly prefer Perry, or even for true freshman Jarren Williams to be given a shot.
“To me, I feel like everyone looks at stats and everyone looks at, ‘OK, this is his completion rate.’ But for a quarterback there’s more than that. Yes, that’s like the big number— that and touchdowns, and your interception ratio. But there’s more to a quarterback than, ‘OK, can he throw a ball?’
“I feel like you have to control an offense. You have to direct the line. You have to direct the receivers. You have to help the young guys. You have to be able to manage a game to a point where if you go down, you can bring yourself out of it.
“N’Kosi did a good job versus Florida State keeping the guys up. And that’s things that quarterbacks have to do...”
Rosier acknowledged that as quarterbacks, things do go wrong from time to time.
“Coach Richt talks about it all the time. ‘The best thing about a quarterback is I need a guy who won’t turn a bad play into a disaster,’ so if something goes wrong, you can’t make it worse. There’s going to be missed opportunities everywhere. Everyone makes mistakes, but the big thing is can you push past it?”
The Hurricanes, led by Rosier, hope the answer on Friday will be yes.
▪ UM freshman running back Lorenzo Lingard will undergo surgery for a knee injury he sustained Monday during practice and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
▪ Hurricanes safety Jaquan Johnson and cornerback Michael Jackson were named semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award that goes to the nation’s top defensive back at the end of the season.
▪ The UM-Duke game on Nov. 3 at Hard Rock Stadium will kick off at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
This story was originally published October 23, 2018 at 4:45 PM.