Five things you might not know about first-time Miami starting quarterback Jake Garcia
University of Miami quarterback Jake Garcia is about to get his first college start on the road at Virginia in place of injured usual starter Tyler Van Dyke.
Garcia, 6-3 and 194 pounds, recently turned 21. Entering Saturday, he had played in four games this season, completing 32-of-49 (65.3 percent) passes for 470 yards and two touchdowns, with three interceptions. Last year he played in one game against FCS team Central Connecticut State, going 11-of-14 (78.6 percent) for 147 yards and two touchdowns.
Here are five things to know about the Hurricanes redshirt freshman:
1. He attended five high schools in four years.
Garcia, who came to UM rated the nation’s No. 2 pocket passer by ESPN and No. 5 pro-style quarterback prospect in the 2021 signing class by 247Sports and Rivals, is from Whittier, California. But he temporarily moved from California to Georgia in August 2020 because the California Interscholastic Federation canceled football in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Garcia, thus never even got to play at La Habra High, near his home. He played in one game in 2020 at Valdosta High in Georgia, going 21-of-34 for 332 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. When he was ruled ineligible because of transfer rules, he left for Grayson High, where he graduated. He played for long Beach Poly as a freshman, then transferred to LA’s Narbonne High when his coach left. In Garcia’s junior season, Narbonne was prohibited from the playoffs for rules violations that involved another player’s residency, and that’s when Garcia transferred to La Habra.
2. He slept with a football every night from about age 13 to at least until he arrived at UM. “My football and I are going to be together all the time,’’ he told the Miami Herald before arriving on campus. “I promise you I sleep with my football in bed every night.’’
3. He is an only child. His father Randy was a quarterback for Nebraska’s legendary coach Tom Osborne in the mid 1970s. Randy is a retired Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant in charge of a unit that oversaw vice, narcotics, gang-related officers and detectives and moved to Miami-Dade with Jake’s mom, Yvonne — a career executive assistant — so they could be close to Jake. Randy’s father, whose parents were born in Mexico, died at age 93 from COVID-19. Yvonne, who is fluent in Spanish, was born in Los Angeles, with her mom a Mexican-American and dad, from Louisiana, of Creole heritage.
4. Randy Garcia pulled Jake out of youth tackle football when he was 9. “They just did a lot of hitting for no reason,’’ Randy said. The elder Garcia allowed him to start playing tackle again at age 13. “There was just too much unnecessary hitting to my body,’’ Garcia said. “He felt I didn’t need that until later on.’’
5. He came to UM a Rams fan, but said he mostly likes watching quarterbacks. “Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady” and Drew Brees before he retired. “They all have different types of games. I get to pick up on different things.” He said Brees wouldn’t beat you with his arm as much as “his thought process,’’ and would do it “within the first 10 or 25 seconds once the ball’’ was snapped. “Tom Brady is going to do the same thing. Then you have Mahomes and Rodgers who can make every single throw on the field. You just learn from watching people.’’
This story was originally published October 29, 2022 at 11:01 AM.
