Insight from the man who coached UM’s future quarterback and Dolphins’ 2019 first-round pick
Besides coaching one of the top prep football programs in New England, Suffield Academy’s Drew Gamere has an interesting distinction from a South Florida perspective: He coached both the Dolphins’ 2019 first-round draft pick (Christian Wilkins) and potentially the Miami Hurricanes’ quarterback of the future (newly signed Tyler Van Dyke).
When Wilkins showed up, unannounced, in Gamere’s Suffield, Connecticut, office during the Dolphins’ bye week in October, that surprised everyone. But nobody should be surprised when Van Dyke takes the field later this month as an early enrollee and starts displaying his impressive arm strength, because UM people know he’s the real deal.
“He throws the ball as well as any high school player I’ve ever seen,” Gamere said. “He took his game to another level this year with his arm strength and accuracy while throwing on the run. He’s always been able to throw the deep ball and did it at a really high level this year whether protected or under pressure. His accuracy improved in different ways.”
That’s important, because accuracy was one reason Van Dyke has been rated in the second tier of 2020 quarterback prospects instead of the first.
Van Dyke — rated by Rivals as the No. 8 pro-style quarterback and 199th-best 2020 prospect — led Suffield to a 9-0 record and had 21 touchdowns through the air, four more on the ground, six interceptions and a 61.6 completion percentage.
“People underestimated how good an athlete he is; he’s a three-sport varsity player here,” Gamere said. Besides playing football and basketball, the 6-4 Van Dyke was his conference’s top pitcher last season.
“All colleges want somebody who to some degree can be a dual threat and he is,” Gamere said. “Not that he’s going to be a runner first, but he can create plays with his feet, which might not jump out at people.”
He said Van Dyke is ideally suited to a pro-style offense but believes he can play effectively in a spread offense, which the Hurricanes plan to implement under new coordinator Rhett Lashlee. Van Dyke met Lashlee during the coach’s one season as offensive coordinator at Connecticut.
As we reported last week, Van Dyke is still intending to enroll at UM — and excited about joining the Canes — even though UM fired offensive coordinator Dan Enos, who had a strong relationship with Van Dyke.
“We did spread it out some,” Gamere said. “He certainly has flexibility with whatever system” is implemented.
Van Dyke was at Yankee Stadium for UM’s 35-3 loss to Wisconsin in December 2018 and said he left no longer having any interest in attending UM. That changed when he visited campus and met with coaches in January.
Gamere said Van Dyke took a strong look at Syracuse, Michigan and Boston College and “Georgia Tech came in late. But when he visited Miami, it surprised him how much he loved it. They jumped right to the top. He has complete confidence in coach [Manny Diaz].”
UM expects him to compete to start as a freshman. A grad transfer might be added, as well, with Wake Forest’s Jamie Newman and Texas Tech’s Jett Duffey among those believed to be of interest to the Hurricanes.
“There will be a huge learning curve [but] I don’t think it will take him long to assert himself and be competitive there,” Gamere said.
UM’s N’Kosi Perry and Jarren Williams have both had disciplinary and maturity issues since enrolling at Miami and it’s not 100 percent certain that both will be back.
But Van Dyke has “zero issues with maturity,” Gamere said. “He commands teammates’ respect.”
Before his dismissal, Enos said: “Tyler will be a guy that will be the first one in and last one to leave. We were very inconsistent in that area in the quarterback room. One of the reasons we targeted Tyler is physically he fits the profile of what we’re looking for: very good size, good hands, good mobility,good throwing mechanics, good arm talent, shows toughness.”
As for Wilkins, Gamere and his former defensive star have stayed in touch this season and they spent time together during the Dolphins’ bye. “He was the most unique, best athlete I had coached to that point and such a special person,” Gamere said.
Privately, the Dolphins believe Wilkins improved considerably in recent weeks — particularly with use of his hands, a key for linemen. His 56 tackles were most among all NFL rookie defensive linemen.
“He’s gotten better and better,” said Gamere, who watches some Dolphins games. “He feels extremely comfortable there.”
Wilkins is famously stingy with money.
“The first time I saw that was during his senior year at Clemson — the only time I visited him there — and he brought up taxes before the draft and which teams’ tax rates would be the highest. I thought he was joking, but he was serious to a degree.”
Gamere is hoping to come down for a weekend next season to visit both of his prized pupils.
“That would be great,” he said. “Two outstanding young men. Totally by chance they both wound up there.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 4:51 PM.
