Newcomer Van Dyke hopes to ‘go out and be better’ than great UM quarterbacks
UM’s 21st century history is littered with quarterbacks who arrived on campus as the next big thing and never quite measured up to expectations.
The hope is that freshman Tyler Van Dyke can buck that trend, and he has a lot going for him: pocket presence, size, maturity, intelligence. And oh yes, the cannon arm, as Van Dyke will tell you if asked.
“I can throw it, yeah,” he told WQAM’s Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey Jr. on Hurricane Hotline. “I can also make plays when everything breaks down with my feet. Whenever I have a chance to score a touchdown, that’s my mind-set. I’m getting in no matter what.”
That Van Dyke has arrived at this point — already enrolled at UM — is a surprise in the sense that he had essentially ruled out the Hurricanes after watching them lose 35-3 to Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl less than 14 months ago.
“I first heard from [then-quarterback] coach Jon Richt, back last December, and Mark Richt came to visit me at Suffield Academy,” he said. “I started showing interest then. Then I went to the Miami-Wisconsin game at Yankee Stadium, and after the game, I was like, ‘No way I’m going to Miami. This is not going to be the spot for me.’”
But then everything changed.
Since-dismissed offensive coordinator Dan Enos “came in and said he wanted to re-offer me at Miami,” he said. “I got down there and loved the campus, loved the people. That’s when I felt this could be the right place for me. I visited a couple more times and said ‘this is the place for me.’”
When Van Dyke returned for another UM visit in December, he said everyone “made me feel comfortable. It brought me closer. Coaches were a big part of it, and obviously the campus and the past Miami has had. We’re going to try to bring that back to the top.”
Van Dyke said most of this UM class stayed together in part because of a group text among them.
“Whenever Miami won or lost a game, we still would come together and talk in our group chat,” he said. “If it was a bad loss, we stuck together, all [of us] texted saying we’re going to be the solution and if we go in and do our jobs with the right mind-set, then we can do that. We definitely came together with that group chat. It definitely helped us bond in other ways that other recruiting classes haven’t.”
UM believes Van Dyke has all the qualities needed to succeed at the position.
“My first year [of youth football at age 7] I was a tight end,” he said. “I played tight end first year, but they needed a quarterback next year so I played quarterback. My grandfather was a quarterback at Vermont when they had football and was a coach at Hofstra University. He definitely influenced me with that position and helped me throughout that recruiting process.”
Reminded by Zagacki and Bailey that Miami — both collegiately and professionally — has a long list of accomplished quarterbacks, Van Dyke made clear he’s a confident young man.
“I’m going to go compete and create my own story,” he said. “There have been great quarterbacks. My goal is to go and be better than them.”
Van Dyke thought Enos would be able to “help me fix my mechanics, stuff that I need fixed and help me read the defense.” But he has spent time with new coordinator Rhett Lashlee and is excited to work with him, said Van Dyke’s high school coach, Drew Gamere.
We’re told that in his first couple of weeks on campus, Van Dyke has struck UM teammates as a no-nonsense guy, refreshing in a quarterback room where immaturity was an issue last season.
He will compete with N’Kosi Perry, Tate Martell and Peyton Matocha to back up grad transfer D’Eriq King, the very likely starter.
NEW COMMITMENT
UM snagged one Class of 2021 commitment during its junior day this weekend: Miami Northwestern outside linebacker Ja’Corey Hammett, whose only other Power 5 offer — to this point — has been from Tennessee.
UM now has eight Class of 2021 commitments. All eight are from South Florida and three attend Northwestern: Hammett, receiver Kahlil Brantley and cornerback Tim Burns Jr.
This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 5:21 PM.
