This is what Hurricanes QB Jarren Williams said improved his deep-ball accuracy

Jarren Williams’ arm strength no longer seems to be in question.

The Miami Hurricanes quarterback had struggled throwing the deep ball at times this season. Against Virginia Tech on Oct 5, two passes that were underthrown resulted in two of his three first-quarter interceptions.

But Miami coach Manny Diaz said the criticism that his starting quarterback can’t throw the deep ball is a “myth” — one that was dispelled with two 30-plus-yards touchdown passes in Miami’s win over Florida State.

Williams was hindered by a right shoulder injury early in the season, which perhaps contributed to his inaccuracy on deep throws.

His first start since being benched against Virginia Tech was Saturday, and the redshirt freshman surprised with his deep balls against Florida State. His 39-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Thomas and his 56-yard touchdown pass to Dee Wiggins were his longest touchdown throws this season.

“Jarren has great arm strength and great accuracy on the balls down the field,” Diaz said during his Monday radio show with WQAM. “ … It’s not like we waited until the Florida State game to start calling deep passes.

“Those opportunities have been there. Sometimes it might be a protection breakdown. It could have been a read. It could have been a coverage that they were in, and for it all to line up this past weekend, I mean, that was so sweet. I mean those were two big-time plays.”

After Wednesday’s practice ahead of the Hurricanes’ (5-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) matchup against Louisville (5-3, 3-2 ACC) Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium, Williams said he’s worked on his throwing mechanics — with the help of offensive coordinator Dan Enos — to improve his deep-ball accuracy.

“There were a couple things that I was doing, that’s why I wasn’t getting the full strength on my deep balls,” Williams said. “And that’s something that Coach Enos pointed out to me. It’s something I’ve been working on, but I definitely have the arm strength to get it out there. It’s just, in terms of me just having the right mechanics and making sure that I deliver the ball how I’m supposed to.”

During practice, Enos pointed out specifically what Williams was doing wrong, which made the difference in an accurate throw, or one that a receiver would have to stop and turn around for, and an inaccurate one.

“He’s like, ‘Sometimes you kind of fade away,’ ” Williams said. “‘You gotta step into it, bring your hip through, and stay leveled, too.’ If you’re up and down, you’re gonna be inaccurate. Just stay leveled through your throw.”

Williams said those mechanical issues weren’t a problem during the summer and spring camp. It was more of a “bad habit” that he developed during the season, one that he said he’s glad Enos brought to his attention, allowing him to hit some deep shots against Florida State.

Though Williams completed 56.8 percent of his passes against the Seminoles for a season-high 313 passing yards, Enos still had critique of his young quarterback’s performance.

“Just don’t be careless with the ball,” Williams said Enos told him. “Sometimes I try to fit things into really tight windows where I could have maybe ran or checked it down, or maybe just thrown it away. Just being even smarter with the ball and just knowing the down-and-distance and knowing what the situation is.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2019 at 3:34 PM.