Kudos to Mario for not suffering from Al Golden Syndrome jettisoning Gattis early rather than risking another year of offensive under performance. And, under perform they did hugely, especially at the QB position. We knew under Lashlee, Van Dyke was a baller, yet this past year under Gattis/Ponce, Van Dyke regressed. When we went to Garcia, things got even worse. A highly regarded QB, Garcia was awful. Then Jacurri saw some action, and while Jacurri displayed admirable physical skills, we saw little evidence of his adjusting to the college game. What we saw was a poor offensive scheme, faulty execution, a complete lack of poise, and IMO bad coaching.
As offensive coordinator, Gattis was also WR coach. During the course of the year, our WRs were I thougtht judged rather harshly. Several of them jumped ship, entered the portal to be reunited with Lashlee at SMU. Apparently Lashley had high enough opinion of them to welcome their transfer. Gattis never clicked with the players; he had big shoes to fill replacing Lashlee whose elevation to a head coaching position was certainly warranted.
Looking forward, we need a coach who can restore Van Dyke to his previous stardom. Van Dyke was the goods under Lashlee; we know the guy can play. Jacurri is some kind of physical specimen and his talents need to be developed and honed. Behind them, we have Emory Williams.
Emory Williams is a local lad here in the Panhandle, and it appeared University of West Florida coach Pete Shinnick was going to land Emory since few team displayed interest in him. Shinnick is one helluva Div II coach who has reputation for recruiting under the radar talent. Two years ago, West Florida won the Div II National Championship. They were led by a tow headed, skinny St. Augustine kid named Austin Reed who plainly just doesn’t look like a football player and didn’t get many Div 1 recruiting offers. But looks are deceptive, because Austin Reed was the best college QB playing in the State of Florida. Under Reed, West Florida which just began playing football, first went to the Div II Final Four, and the next year won the NC.
Austin Reed transferred last year to Western Kentucky. If you peruse QB stats for last year, you’ll find that Austin Reed was a touch down passing machine and had the second best QB performance of any Div I QB.
How disappointed Pete Shinnick was losing Emory Williams to the Hurricanes. He saw in Emory Williams as the heir apparent to Austin Reed. Emory Williams is 6’5” and has some kind of arm. Given Pete Shinnick’s interest in him, Williams may be the sleeper of Miami’s recruiting class.