Hurricanes young QBs maturing but still seek consistency
CORAL GABLES — There were moments Jon Richt could only shake his head in disbelief.
The Hurricanes quarterbacks coach knew the players he and his father, Miami coach Mark Richt, had recruited were talented. However, there were far too many times this spring and offseason when N’Kosi Perry, Cade Weldon and Jarren Williams showed their ages — and not in good ways.
Sometimes, even the simple task of being on time for a team meeting seemed challenging for the Hurricanes youngest quarterbacks, a group that includes two redshirt freshmen in Perry and Weldon and a newly arrived freshman enrollee in Williams.
“When you have three freshmen essentially, you have to teach them to do that. It’s not always been demanded of them the way we demand things and that was frustrating for a long time for us,” Jon Richt said. “We were like, ‘These are quarterbacks. They’re supposed to be perfect. We recruit them to be perfect. Why aren’t they perfect?’ But those guys have midyear kind of figured it out. … now they’re starting to take initiative to do things, the right way, on their own.”
While the biggest offseason development in Miami’s quarterback room may have been Mark Richt’s decision to name redshirt senior Malik Rosier the Hurricanes starter before the start of camp, the progress his backups have made isn’t something anyone at Miami is discounting.
These days, Jon Richt says, the young Hurricanes quarterbacks are watching film before they’re being asked. They’re studying their own film and are ready to answer the questions their coaches are asking. They coach themselves more and, when possible, are trying to assert themselves as offensive leaders, even if the majority of their reps are comreally