Van Dyke, offense dominate during UM’s spring game
The Hurricanes had their spring game on Saturday at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
Tyler Van Dyke, the 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year, had little to prove in Miami’s spring game Saturday.
But even on a relatively quiet day in which the offense kept its playbook simple, the Hurricanes’ starting quarterback still led the first-team offense to four touchdowns and a field goal to give the offense the victory Saturday at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
Van Dyke, who took some unsuccessful deep shots early and then turned more to the running game and a shorter passing attack, completed 20 of 32 passes for 172 yards and a 7-yard touchdown.
Backup Jake Garcia was 14 of 24 for 117 yards. His second-team offense did not score.
“There’s always a gap between where you end the season and where you want to go next year,’’ UM coach Mario Cristobal said. “We’ve made ground toward where we want to get to. We have a lot of work to do. And we know that. That’s the best part about it.
“Right now the best approach is understanding that the best thing we have is the power of choice. And we need to choose to work our tails off to go get better and to make sure we’re focused on school, great decisions and coming together as a team [so] that in 100-plus days when we take the field, our very best will be on the field.’’
Ole Miss transfer Henry Parrish ran for touchdowns of 2 yards and 1 yard in the first half and leading rusher Thaddius Franklin had a 3-yard touchdown run. In the second half, Van Dyke threw the 7-yard touchdown to Jacolby George.
HOLDING BACK
How much did Cristobal and offensive coordinator Josh Gattis hold back offensively? The game was
televised live, with the stadium — capacity 18,000 — only half full despite an announced sellout.
“There were a few things under wraps,’’ Van Dyke said. “But I think we did a good job, especially up front. We were very physical. We established the run game early. The defense played well too, making us work for our yards.
“...There are some shots we didn’t call today. We threw a couple that didn’t really connect. You’ll see during the season we’ll connect on those.
“We had a great day.’’ Cristobal reiterated that he believes Van Dyke will be as good as any quarterback in the country. “The leadership, his ability to have command of the offense, the way he can just make plays — both designed and improvised. He’s a total team player.’’
Cristobal said redshirt freshman Garcia “made some great plays,’’ though he mentioned the receivers were at times inconsistent.
“We gotta catch the ball sometimes, too, but that’s on all of us,’’ the coach said. “The supporting cast always has to be even more precise than the quarterback does. He’s one piece. You’ve got 10 pieces surrounding him.”
JAKE GARCIA
Garcia said he had “a lot of fun” competing again, and assessed his day as “pretty good.’’
“The quarterback room in general had a pretty good day,’’ Garcia said, “and collectively as a team. But this is not where we want to be yet. So we gotta keep going hard, and like coach said, close the gap. Our goals for the summer are to clean everything up. My personal goal is keep putting on weight and know the playbook inside and out so that I’m ready to go and ready to rock when we get to fall camp and then the season.’’
The three drops by Xavier Restrepo, Key’Shawn Smith and Parrish came very early in the game. Slot receiver Restrepo excelled big-time all spring, and again he led all pass-catchers Saturday with six receptions for 46 yards.
Tight end Kahlil Brantley led the tight ends with three catches for 42 yards, including a 26-yard catchand-run delivered by Van Dyke for the longest pass of the day.
Franklin led the running attack with 60 yards on 14 carries. Parrish ran nine times for 41 yards.
Early enrollee quarterback Jacurri Brown was 3 of 6 for 15 yards and an interception that deflected off the hands of USC graduate transfer defensive tackle Jake Lichtenstein and into the arms of safety James Williams. Brown also fumbled, which was recovered by defensive tackle Allan Haye, Jr.
Defensively, end Cyrus Moss had two sacks, including a strip sack. Lichtenstein had the pass breakup, fumble recovery and sack. Tackle Leonard Taylor added a sack.
Sophomore Andy Borregales kicked a 22-yard field goal in the first half to culminate Garcia’s third drive.
The game was broken into two, 15-minute conventional quarters for the first half, with the second half running.
Cristobal was asked if he accomplished what he wanted to this spring.
“We have to a certain extent,’’ Cristobal said. “I don’t think you ever get there. The emphasis of physicality certainly was implemented and we saw some results. Now we have to get good at sustaining physicality and .levels of effort and technique and making sure that if it’s play 69 in the game, play 72 in the game, that we’re getting a signal, we’re communicating and we’re lining up and we’re going fast.
“... Overall progress, but you wish you had 15 more [spring practices]. But you don’t.
“... I know what we want to see. We want to see a team that plays with passion, with toughness, with physicality, with resiliency that can execute at a high level. And to get there there’s no magic formula, no secret sauce or hocuspocus. The Canes gotta get to work.’’
Susan Miller Degnan: 305-376-3366, @smillerdegnan