Changes to UM offense will help Van Dyke return to form

UM did quarterback Tyler Van Dyke no favors last year by ditching an offense that he had mastered and replacing it with a scheme that the Canes were ill-equipped to run because of personnel shortcomings and injuries at running back and on the offensive line.

With spring practice set to start on Saturday, UM’s staff and players must help Van Dyke in several areas, and that has begun in two ways: 1) the augmentation of the offensive line with two very good transfers (guard Javion Cohen and center Matt Lee) and an exceptional freshman class, including two five-star tackles, and; 2) with the hiring of offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson to replace the ousted Josh Gattis.

We hear Van Dyke likes the new offense and there’s the expectation that it will showcase his skills.

Here’s something else UM must do — maximize one of Van Dyke’s greatest gifts: throwing the deep ball.

In 2021 with Rhett Lashlee calling plays in an up-tempo spread, 20.1 percent of his throws traveled at least 20 yards in the air, and Van Dyke completed 36.9 percent of those passes for 932 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions, according to Pro Football Focus.

In 2022, with Gattis calling plays in a different system, just 11.1 percent of Van Dyke’s throws traveled at least 20 air yards, and Van Dyke completed 42.9 percent for 374 yards, three TDs and no interceptions.

So Van Dyke actually completed a higher percentage of 20-plus yard throws last season than in 2021, but nobody would have known that because 9 of his 12 TDs on such throws happened in Lashlee’s offense.

Part of the drop in deep ball attempts was a byproduct of Gattis running a more conservative system than Lashlee’s scheme.

Part of it was the loss of UM’s top two receivers in 2021, Charleston Rambo and Mike Harley Jr .No UM receiver on last year’s team was as productive as Rambo and Harley, and Xavier Restrepo’s injury, which sidelined him five games, was hurtful.

Offensive line deficiencies also were a big factor, a byproduct of mediocre personnel and a slew of injuries. Left tackle Zion Nelson played only 61 offensive snaps in 2022 due to a knee injury, and Jalen Rivers and others missed significant time.

Consider that Van Dyke faced heavy pressure from a pass rush on 24.5 percent of his passing attempts last season, compared with 15.1 percent in 2021. That — every bit as much as the scheme change — contributed to his regression.

Then a shoulder injury sidelined him for three games and forced him to miss large parts of three others. As a result, he attempted just 32 throws over UM’s final six games.

That’s why it was critical that UM improve its offensive line — something it seemingly has achieved with the addition of Alabama transfer Cohen and UCF transfer Lee, neither of whom allowed a sack last season, and five-star tackles Samson Okunlola

and Francis Mauigoa.

Van Dyke completed

37.1 percent of his passes when under pressure this past season (23 for 62), compared with 71.1 percent when he had a clean pocket.

That, plus the shoulder injury that sidelined him for more than 80 percent of UM’s offensive plays over the final six games, contributed to Van Dyke’ drop in touchdown passes (from 25 in 2021 to 10 in 2022), yards per attempt (from 9.0 to 7.3) and NFL passer rating (from 109.8 in 2021 to 89.1 in 2022).

Former UM quarterback Malik Rosier, who has trained Van Dyke over the past year in his role as Florida director for Quarterback Country, said Van Dyke not only will benefit from the new offense (Dawson assuredly will run more spread than Gattis) but also from Dawson’s ability to extract the most out of quarterbacks.

“The big difference,” Rosier said by phone, “and it’s no knock on any of coaches, but [last year’s quarterback coach] Frank Ponce was tying to communicate someone else’s offense to Tyler.

“Dawson [who will be both the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach] will be around the quarterbacks and he can immediately answer any question. It won’t be a situation [again] where my QB coach is debating me on something he can’t even change, where the guy I’m talking to [Ponce] has no control over the adjustment. It wasn’t that Ponce wasn’t smart enough to do it; it just wasn’t his role.”

A UM source — not Rosier — said Gattis wasn’t always receptive to Ponce’s ideas. That didn’t help the situation with UM’s quarterbacks. Ponce left after the season for the offensive coordinator job at Appalachian State.

Rosier, very familiar with Dawson’s résumé, said Dawson’s quarterbacks historically “have really good fundamentals, good balance. Their feet are in the right place.

“Tyler can make every throw, has a very good arm. A lot of the stuff [that can hurt him at times] is his feet. That’s one thing I really watched with coach Dawson.”

Rosier noted that Dawson’s quarterbacks have their “feet or eyes in the right spot. Tyler will have someone who understands base and balance. Not being able to plant your feet sometimes, having someone breathe down your neck constantly, is” harmful to any quarterback.

So the reasons for hope with Van Dyke are fivefold: 1) We know he can play at an elite level, as he showed in 2021; 2) This offense better suits his skill set; 3) His new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach are the same person, meaning he won’t get mixed messages; 4) His offensive line is better; 5) He’s healthy after last year’s shoulder injury.

Now if UM can add a top-three receiver when the second portal window opens in May, that would even further enhance Van Dyke’s chances of success.

Off the field, Van Dyke has been everything UM wants. Coach Mario Cristobal appreciates that he didn’t enter the transfer portal or turn pro after a tumultuous 2022. And as we noted on Twitter over the weekend, we hear that Van Dyke donated $10,000 from his NIL deal with Dan Le Batard’s podcast to Hurricane Ian relief efforts last year.

FYI: San Francisco wide receivers coach Leonard Hankerson took his name out of the running for the Canes’ wide receiver job and remains with the 49ers.

Baltimore Ravens assistant receivers coach Keith Williams and former UM receiver Kevin Beard

(now coaching at Toledo) both interviewed for the Canes’ receiver job and remain possibilities, according to the source.