Rosier: ‘I’ve got to show I am the guy’
Quarterback competition will be intense
CORAL GABLES — For the first 11 games of his career as a starter — dating back to a spot start at Duke in 2015 when his teammate Brad Kaaya was hurt — Malik Rosier had no idea what it felt like to lead the Hurricanes’ offense and lose.
Then he struggled last November at Pittsburgh. And again against Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. And then there was that demoralizing loss to Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl that put a damper on Miami’s return to one of college football’s premier postseason games and ended the Hurricanes’ streak of nine consecutive wins at Hard Rock Stadium.
After 11 consecutive wins came three consecutive losses. That’s hardly how Rosier imagined his first season as the Hurricanes’ regular starter would end. As he struggled with his accuracy and even admittedly at times went through the motions of leading his offense, his coaches challenged him.
He was pulled briefly by coach Mark Richt in the regular-season finale at Pittsburgh. And not long after the game against Wisconsin ended, quarterbacks coach Jon Richt was already pushing Rosier to become the leader the Hurricanes would need moving forward.
On Tuesday, as Miami opened spring practice with the first of 13 scheduled workouts, Rosier said he was determined to do all that was being asked of him. He understands if he can’t rise to the challenge, he could very well lose his job to N’Kosi Perry, Cade Weldon or Jarren Williams, the talented young signal callers currently working behind him on the depth chart.
“The big thing is, just lead. Last year, I was kind of in the water. I was feeling teams out. I was kind of understanding the offense as it was,” said Rosier, who completed 54 percent of his passes and threw for 3,120 yards, 26 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 2017. “This year, I’ve got a good grasp of it. I’ve got to come out here and lead, and I’ve got to show guys that I am the guy and I have to take us to the ACC championship again, and this time win it.”
His teammates — including center Tyler Gauthier — indicated Tuesday they saw a sense of urgency from the redshirt senior, Gauthier specifically noting Rosier was playing with a chip on his shoulder.
Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, meanwhile, noted that while Rosier is, by nature, competitive, the push from Perry, Weldon and Williams will likely only make the veteran better.
To prepare for the challenge of keeping his job, Rosier shared Tuesday that when he returned home to Alabama during the offseason, he worked with his quarterback coach, David Morris.
The two focused on “small things” Rosier said
he hoped would help him improve his accuracy, one of the areas Mark and Jon Richt both told him needed improvement after 2017.
“Accuracy and completion are two totally different things. Accuracy is throwing a catchable ball that your guy can catch, a completion is a ball that they actually catch. You can get a high accuracy grade, but your completion rate can be lower. That’s something we’re working on, all the quarterbacks are working on,” Rosier said. “Of course, you want to be 100 percent, but you’re not going to be. There’s going to be dropped balls, there’s going to be plays that get you and the big thing is put that play behind you, keep going and don’t let the last play affect you.”
As to the players behind him, Rosier has said he welcomes the competition.
He worked with Perry and Weldon last season as the two redshirted. And he can already see flashes from early enrollee Jarren Williams, who arrived at Miami in January after earning U.S. Army AllAmerican honors and throwing for more than 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns at Central Gwinnett High.
And Tuesday, he had nothing but praise for each of them.
“They’re pushing me a lot. The big thing with N’Kosi is he’s very athletic. There’s a couple plays where the defense got us. They ran the coverage for the right play, and you’d see N’Kosi break the pocket and get 8, 9 yards, which is exciting to see. He’s an explosive kid. And you can finally see him starting to understand the offense, not just doing it right, but understanding why he’s doing what he’s doing. That’s really nice to see.
“With Cade, same thing, Cade had two pulls, defensive end crash and you see Cade pick up 10 yards and you see the ball come out of his hands a lot better and then with Jarren, Jarren went with the 3s … But the big thing with Jarren is to come in here and complete as many balls as he did on the first day versus our defense is really good. He’s throwing accurate balls. The big thing is for him, once he gets into actual team periods, to just do the same thing, relax and play ball.”
The Hurricanes return to the practice field Thursday.
“The big thing is, just lead. Last year, I was kind of in the water.” UM quarterback Malik Rosier