The Miami Hurricanes Have a Quarterback Conundrum

Author: Richard Pyle

With the NFL Draft approaching this weekend, the Miami Hurricanes are about to begin one of the most critical times of spring training. Former Hurricanes starter Brad Kaaya is headed to the NFL, which means that Miami needs to decide on who will take the reins during Mark Richt’s second season at the helm trying to rebuild a school with a storied history of winning.

Kaaya set the school’s new All-Time passing record this past season in a win over the Duke Blue Devils. While Kaaya isn’t projected to go in the first or second rounds, he is still a formidable player that needs a lot of coaching to cut down on some of his decision making.

Questions still remain on who exactly will take over as the Canes signal caller going into the 2017 season. With five on the current roster Richt has already told the press that the spot is wide open. So who are the current players fighting for the starting job?

Malik Rosier

Rosier is a dual threat QB that stands at 6’2 and 210 pounds. He’s probably the most experienced out of the crop that the Canes are working with and arguably one of the favorites to land the job. He spent his first two seasons backing up Kaaya, but the biggest question is if he hasn’t automatically been handed the job, then how effective can he honestly be?

Jack Allison

Allison was one of the many redshirt freshmen for last season, but don’t let that fool you on this kid’s potential. At 6’5 200 pounds he has the size that any coach would want in a QB, however the competition is stiff and it’s not known on how much growth and development he’s had since his 

freshman year.

Evan Shirreffs

Just like Allison, Shirreffs was a red shirt freshman last season as Richt has apparently decided that he wanted to stockpile QBs for life after Kaaya. He’s also another big             QB standing at 6’5 216 pounds and early reports from across the world of sports is that he’s gotten a lot of praise from the early spring practices.

Cade Weldon

Weldon was a freshman last year that wasn’t red shirted at 6’2 203 pounds, the Hurricanes list him as a “Pro style QB.” Which essentially means this kid is rather smart and is fully capable of running a complex offense if Richt chooses to do so. I personally wouldn’t be surprised to see him sit in that 3^rd string role again since he couldn’t beat out Rosier last year as the team’s backup.

Vincent Testaverde, Jr.

That’s right, a former Hurricanes royalty’s offspring has earned himself a walk on role as a red shirt freshman last season. This is an interesting case considering how great his father was for the university and as a player in the NFL. History tells us that for the most part the sons of former QBs don’t fair to well following in their footsteps. While Miami might keep him on the roster, no one expects him to win the starting role.

So there you have it, the five QBs that are battling it out for the starting position. Early reports are that Shirreffs and Rosier have been splitting first team reps evenly, but keep a close eye on Jack Allison as he’s recovering from a separated throwing shoulder. If I had to make my pick, I’d say they’d roll with Rosier and keep him on an extremely short leash.