QB coach: Miami’s Williams should benefit from new OC’s ‘uplifting, positive’ style
There was so much promise with Miami Hurricanes quarterback Jarren Williams.
He won the starting job in fall camp, teased Hurricanes fans with an impressive first performance (despite being sacked 10 times) in the season-opening loss to then-No. 8 Florida, broke a daunting school record by throwing six touchdowns against Louisville — and then fell apart with three clunkers against overmatched opponents to end the season.
But don’t count out Williams, said his private quarterbacks coach, Quincy Avery, who also happens to coach Houston Texans starter and former Clemson star Deshaun Watson along with two Atlantic Coast Conference signal-callers who entered the transfer portal and are eyeing UM (6-7) as possible transfer destinations.
The Atlanta-based Avery, who said he privately coaches about 35 collegiate quarterbacks, told the Miami Herald that former UM offensive coordinator Dan Enos, who was fired a day after UM’s Independence Bowl loss to Louisiana Tech, was not a good fit for Williams. Avery said that newly hired UM offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee not only runs “an exciting brand of offense,’’ but has an “uplifting, positive” style of teaching.
The new semester begins Monday, and Williams “went back to school in a hurry’’ after the bowl game to get to work, Avery said. “He’s very aware there’s another level he has the ability to play at, and he’s just trying to figure out how to do that with the Hurricanes.”
Avery said Williams, whom he has coached since the quarterback’s 10th-grade season, did not gel with Enos from the start.
“I’m not sure if the last offensive coordinator was the best fit with Jarren,’’ Avery, 33, told the Herald. “He wasn’t a good fit in terms of personality and a bunch of different things. I knew that early on when he got there. He even made Jarren do things that just as a quarterback he doesn’t typically do. When somebody tries to change you that much it makes it pretty hard to be successful.
“Jarren has shown his potential and I know that it’s still there. That’s why I was so excited about the new OC. He’s somebody that will instill confidence in him and allow him to be who he is as a quarterback. I just don’t think Enos was built to work with Jarren.’’
The two Avery-coached quarterbacks also in the market for fresh starts as grad transfers are Jamie Newman of Wake Forest and Anthony Brown of Boston College.
Newman told Bruce Feldman of The Athletic that Miami, along with Oregon, Georgia, Washington and Maryland are among the programs he is considering and that Miami is also interested in Brown, who could return to BC because a new coaching staff has been announced.
Newman, 6-4 and 230 pounds, was 220 of 361 (60.9 percent) this past season for 2,868 yards and 26 touchdowns, with 11 interceptions. He also rushed for 574 yards and six touchdowns.
Brown, 6-2 and 220, was 81 of 137 (59.1) in 2019 for 1,250 yards and nine touchdowns, with two interceptions. He also rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns. But his season was cut short after six games because he tore the ACL of his left knee and he’s still in the healing process. He tore the other ACL as a redshirt freshman.
Williams, who Avery said knows Newman and Brown and has “definitely worked out in groups with them before,’’ finished his redshirt freshman season 169 of 276 (61.2) for 2,187 yards and 19 touchdowns, with seven interceptions. He was sacked 34 times, which obviously hurt his production.
“Jarren just wants to compete with his play,’’ Avery said, when asked how Williams viewed UM looking at the quarterback transfer market. “I don’t think those guys care as much as a lot of people think. He got an opportunity to play this year and knows he can do things better. He’s in control of his destiny.’’
Williams, however, has had internal issues at UM, including getting suspended for one game for violating team rules as a freshman and skipping a practice before a road game at Pittsburgh this season. There have also been other disciplinary problems, sources said. Avery believes he has grown since then.
“I think he’s maturing,’’ Avery said. “Now he gets the opportunity to prove that narrative wrong.’’
Avery said he tries “not to talk to the [transfer portal] guys about where they’re going. If I don’t know then it makes it easier to talk to coaches. I just try to help them out and give them information and let them do their thing. I don’t want coaches to ever look back at me like I steered somebody somewhere.
“It’s not my decision to make, right? There’s no high school coach in the country who deals with this kind of stuff. They have maybe one guy every few years, and I have a bunch of guys who are really talented and I care about and spend a lot of time with.’’
Regarding former Southern Methodist offensive coordinator Lashlee, one of the country’s elite assistants who will run an up-tempo, spread offense, Avery said he was thrilled about the hire. He said he watched what he did with quarterback Shane Buechele (3,929 passing yards, 34 touchdowns, 10 interceptions in 2019), who “wasn’t able to excel at Texas but did great things at SMU.
“It’s an exciting brand of offense and it’s a different type of coaching. It will be good for Jarren to be around somebody that’s uplifting rather than a coach that might be a different style. Lashlee is more of a positive reinforcement type of coach.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 3:13 PM.
