QB Rozier motivated by losses
Hurricanes starter will be pushed by two redshirt freshmen this spring.
CORAL GABLES — Malik Rosier was asked if he was “humbled” by Miami’s finish to last season.
That is not the way he’d phrase it.
“It kind of (ticked) me off the way (we) ended the last three games with losses,” he said. “I’ve got a chip on my shoulder about that. I’m not humbled by it ... We’ve got a point to prove now. We’ve got a lot of guys back, so if we don’t come in and dominate the ACC, something’s wrong.”
During the Hurricanes’ 15 spring practices — the first of which was Tuesday, on a sunny, humid morn-
ing at Greentree Practice Fields — Rosier must prove he should enter fall camp as the starting quarterback. Coach Mark Richt wants to see Rosier, a redshirt seniorto-be, throw more accurately and take better command of the huddle. If he can’t satisfy those demands, the door is open for a new starter such as talented redshirt freshman N’Kosi Perry to win the job.
Rosier has praise for Perry and others in the mix but speaks as if the job is his.
“Last year I was kind of like, in the water. I was feeling teams out, I was understanding the offense,” he said. “This year I’ve got a good grasp of it. I’ve got to come out here and lead. I’ve got to show guys that I am the guy. I’ve got to take us to the ACC championship game again and this time, win it.”
Miami got off to a 10-0 start and was in position for a spot in the College Football Playoff but lost its regular-season finale 24-14 on a cold day in Pittsburgh to a sub-.500 Panthers team, was crushed by Clemson 38-3 in the ACC title game and lost an early lead in a 34-24 loss to Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl.
Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown believes Rosier has the requisite talent to be Miami’s starting quarterback again after a season in which he completed 54 percent of his passes for 3,120 yards, 26 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He also ran 131 times for 468 yards and five TDs.
“If you look at his great plays from last year, he looked like one of the best in college football,” he said. “He can be, when he’s on and hitting his target.”
Brown, unprompted, offered two reasons Rosier didn’t do that at the end of last season.
“He may have been banged up a little bit because of the amount of carries that he took,” Brown said. “Lack of focus, also. Malik is competitive, but like most guys he needs competition. He needs guys who can push him consistently. Now we’ve got a couple guys off a redshirt year. We’ve got a new guy coming in. Hopefully that will add to the competition and make him better.”
■ Rosier’s day one impression of Perry?
“The big thing with N’Kosi is he’s very athletic. There were a couple plays where the defense got us. They ran the right coverage for the right play. You see N’Kosi break the pocket and get 8, 9 yards, which is exciting. He’s an explosive kid. You finally see him start to understand the offense. Not just doing it right, but understand why he’s doing what he’s doing.”
Weldon, Rosier said, “same thing, he had two pulls. The defensive end crashed and he picked up 10 yards.” When throwing, Rosier said of Weldon, “you see the ball come out of his hand a lot better.”
Williams “ran with the third unit” and is “throwing an accurate ball,” Rosier said. Once he gets into the actual team period, same thing, just relax and play ball.”