The Miami Hurricanes winner in the race to be D’Eriq King’s backup quarterback is... a tie
The winner in the University of Miami backup quarterback race is...
“OR”
Borrowing the depth chart script in several positions last year, the Hurricanes on Monday did not reveal who their backup quarterback to starter D’Eriq King will be against Alabama should the unthinkable happen and King can’t play — or on the brighter side, is playing well, breezing through the game and could use a rest.
In the first depth chart of 2021 released Monday for the season opener Saturday against No. 1 Alabama, the Hurricanes chose the “OR” route between the names of second-year freshman Tyler Van Dyke and true freshman Jake Garcia.
“Like I said throughout fall camp, those two guys, they’re really close,’’ UM offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Rhett Lashlee said during a Zoom news conference. “They both had really good springs. Obviously, Tyler does have the year advantage.
“If you think of a guy like Jake Garcia, in the spring he practiced every other day. It’s a little bit different intensity level than when you’re in fall camp going every day, putting 16-hour days back to back to back to back to back. That can start to wear on a guy if you’ve ever been through that — as it does with all freshmen.”
The backup quarterback role is always important, but this season, it’s even more critical for the Hurricanes, as King is returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his right knee — sustained in the Dec. 29 Cheez-It Bowl.
Despite Van Dyke seemingly the favorite to be backup based on several viewing opportunities by the media during fall camp, when he took almost all the backup snaps, the media did not see any of the preseason scrimmages. The newest depth chart is perfectly in line with UM’s philosophy of keeping everyone battling instead of potentially having one competitor get a little too comfortable or the other get dejected and slack a bit.
Last year, the quarterback order was King, followed by former UM player N’Kosi Perry (now the starter at FAU) and Van Dyke.
Van Dyke/Garcia
Van Dyke, listed as 6-4 and 224 pounds, was a consensus four-star prospect by the time he graduated from Suffield Academy in Connecticut. He was rated the No. 2 pro-style quarterback and top player in Connecticut by ESPN and the No. 9 pro-style signal caller by 247Sports. He threw for 2,260 yards and 21 touchdowns on 124 completions (61.5 percent) in 200 pass attempts, with six interceptions his final year in high school. Last season, Van Dyke threw two incomplete passes. He saw action in the rout of Florida State and in the regular-season finale loss to North Carolina.
Garcia, listed as 6-3 and 200 pounds, is from Whittier, California, and graduated from Grayson High in Loganville, Georgia. He was rated the nation’s No. 2 pocket passer by ESPN and No. 5 pro-style quarterback by Rivals and in the 247 composite rankings. Last season he completed 71 of 125 passes (56.8 percent) for 1,237 yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions, per Max Preps, to lead the nation’s No. 2 prep team at Grayson to the Class 7A state title.
Lashlee said Van Dyke and Garcia both “had their bright spots” in fall camp.
“It’s kind of been a good back and forth,’’ he said. “There’s a reason there’s an “OR” there, because we have a lot of faith in both of them. ...That’s kind of how I’ve talked with both of them. They’ve both got to be prepared to play. They both have got to take that mentality that they’re one snap away, and also get into the mode of game week where they’re not going to get a lot of reps but they’d be expected to, if called upon, go in there and give us a chance to win.”
Added Lashlee: “I suspect it’ll be like that most of the year, that both of those guys will be very much in the fold here.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 3:51 PM.
