Hurricanes QBs sticking together
Martell, Perry, Williams forge tight bond as they fight for the starting job
CORAL GABLES — The Miami Hurricanes are only four days into fall camp, but Manny Diaz made one thing clear Monday.
When UM opens its season Aug. 24 against Florida, he said he expects to use one player and one player only at quarterback.
He said he won’t name co-starters. He stressed there won’t be a platoon system with quarterbacks alternating snaps in Dan Enos’ offense. Either Tate Martell, N’Kosi Perry or Jarren Williams will be entrusted to run the plays and get the offense moving more effectively than they did during last year’s disappointing 7-6 season.
“Until they find out a way we can have two footballs on the field at one time, it’s hard to have costarters at quarterback,” the firstyear coach quipped. “I mean, right now that’s not even our thought. We’re just trying to find out what we got and where we’re at.”
Diaz has three signal callers that seem intent on proving they deserve the job.
Martell, a former U.S. Army AllAmerican and five-star prospect at powerhouse Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas, transferred to Miami in January from Ohio State and spent the spring and summer adjusting his mechanics to be better suited for Enos’ system.
Perry started six games for the Hurricanes last year, but was inconsistent on the field and had issues off of it. However, he earned a spot on the ACC Academic Honor Roll and said he’s worked to prove he’s more mature after be
ing suspended for last year’s opener and dealing with several social-media issues.
“I just know that that’s a part of being a quarterback. You’ve got to do it, like I said, on the field and off the field,” Perry said. “You’ve got to go with academics and the community, everything. I just felt like it was more important to me now. I know what I needed to do and I did it.”
And Williams, who reportedly considered transferring after playing in just one game, spent time reshaping his body, dropping from 15% body fat to 11% and adjusted his footwork and lower-body mechanics in an effort to finish his throws more cleanly and effectively.
“I mean, [Enos] comes with it every day. He pushes us hard every single day. And the thing about Coach Enos is he expects perfection every play,” Williams said Monday. “And if you don’t give that, he’s going to correct you on the spot. Being with him through the spring and going through the summer and all of that, I feel like I’ve been getting a lot better every day because he pushes us so hard.”
Added Martell, “We all had to do like a quarterback analysis thing. My biggest thing was shortening my stride and moving one of my fingers [on the ball] up a little bit. It’s helped me out where I’m able to spin the ball out there.
“We all kind of went through the same thing and corrected different things. That’s why we all got so much better.”
Along with tweaking mechanics, getting in better shape, studying their playbooks and working with their receivers and running backs during the offseason, Miami’s quarterbacks also said Monday they’ve worked to forge a bond with each other that has fostered a sense of camaraderie even as all three know competition for the starting job is intense.
When they’re working on separate fields, Williams pointed out he’s not keeping up with how his teammates are doing or whether any particular pass went awry. The focus is on mental reps or running his own huddle.
“Those are my boys. We always have so much fun together,” said Martell, who threw for 269 yards and one touchdown while serving as Dwayne Haskins’ backup in Columbus last season. “I mean, we’re all like good friends, we all root for each other and different things. At the end of the day, they’ve got to put the best guy out there.”
Who that will be remains to be seen, as none of the three has emerged with a major edge in the race. Each is still learning, adapting and trying to find his stride.
And Diaz said he won’t be basing his decision on the way any quarterback performs on any given day or in any given situation in particular. He’ll be assessing their respective bodies of work and seeing which one makes it clear he needs, not merely wants, to be the quarterback at Miami.
That kind of urgency, he expects, will come when things get a little tougher as camp progresses.
“To me, it’s about being consistently good. … That’s why it’s silly to make an assessment off of a drill or a throw or whatever. Because there’s all kinds of guys in college football that make good throws or have a good quarter or heck, even have a good game,” Diaz said. “But this is the University of Miami. Our standards are so far beyond that. We need a guy that can bring it every week, that the whole team can trust every week. The only way we can replicate that is to come out here for the long term and bring it every day over the course of the month of August.
“You’re going to find that out when everybody’s mind starts to feel sorry for themselves. It might be tomorrow. It might be mid-next week. That’s what we’re going to find out. Right now, everybody still feels good. [When it’s] my arm is sore, my legs are sore, then we’ll find out. And that’s just not at quarterback. That’s at every position.”