Ahead of the start of spring practice, Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee spoke about the need for the offense to keep improving after showing much more firepower in Lashee’s first season in 2020.
“I’m excited to see everyone go compete,” Lashlee said. “We’re excited we get to go against our defense in practice. It’s about us getting better, us competing to make each other raise their level. I’m excited for those guys… they’ve been here, can go show what they can do. We’d love to see an uptick in points, more consistency.”
The Canes will be without their leader in QB D’Eriq King this spring as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered in Miami’s last game of 2020, and Lashlee says King’s rehab has gone well thus far to keep him on track to return by fall camp in August.
“D’Eriq is doing a phenomenal job with his rehab. Everything is on track, he’s probably exceeding expectations in a lot of areas,” Lashlee said. “I would fully expect by summer he can throw to receivers, do 7-on-7’s, everything we want him to do heading into fall camp unless we have some unexpected setback.”
The absence of King leaves plenty of opportunities for Miami to get a better glimpse at their younger QB’s, as Tyler Van Dyke, Peyton Motocha, and Jake Garcia will battle to prove they can run Lashlee’s offense the best and win the backup role in 2021.
"I’m excited for all three of those guys,” Lashlee said. “Get out there, just kind of go play, compete… At the end of the day, there’s still a lot of unknown.”
After enrolling early, the true freshman Garcia will be limited to start spring with a foot injury suffered during his senior season of high school – Lashlee said he will only participate in 7-on-7 play until he is fully healthy.
“Jake had a minor injury to his foot in his senior season. He played through it the last five or six weeks,” Lashlee said. “Since he got here, we’ve been doing things to try and help that situation totally heal. He’s progressing each week, will be out there with us on Monday and maybe a limited capacity, but he’ll be throwing, taking reps. I fully expect him to do more and more as the spring goes on.”
Matocha and Van Dyke are Miami’s two returning QB’s, with Lashlee mentioning Van Dyke will handle the majority of the first team reps to begin spring.
“I’m excited to see them. Both have been in the system a year. There’s no substitution for real reps,” Lashlee said. “Peyton is a very athletic kid. (Last year) he went over and played safety for us (in practice due to COVID issues). That’s how athletic he is. And Tyler just has something about him, an intangible trait. He can throw the football well but he does everything right, competes hard, guys love him. He carries himself like you want a quarterback to carry himself… Tyler had a phenomenal first year here, will get the bulk of those reps and see what he can do.”
In addition to King being out, the offense will also be missing projected starting TE Will Mallory, who will sit out spring following a shoulder procedure.
“With Will being out, I’m really excited to see if Larry Hodges, Dom Mammarelli take that next step,” Lashlee said. “What kind of jump can they make? Because we’re going to need them this year even if Will is back and healthy. Elijah Arroyo, he’s a guy we have high expectations for.”
Lashlee also pointed to being excited to see if the 2020 receiver class has taken the next step this spring, calling Keyshawn Smith, Xavier Restrepo, Dazalin Worsham, and Michael Redding “gym rats”.
“I’m excited to see everyone go compete,” Lashlee said. “We’re excited we get to go against our defense in practice. It’s about us getting better, us competing to make each other raise their level. I’m excited for those guys… they’ve been here, can go show what they can do. We’d love to see an uptick in points, more consistency.”
The Canes will be without their leader in QB D’Eriq King this spring as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered in Miami’s last game of 2020, and Lashlee says King’s rehab has gone well thus far to keep him on track to return by fall camp in August.
“D’Eriq is doing a phenomenal job with his rehab. Everything is on track, he’s probably exceeding expectations in a lot of areas,” Lashlee said. “I would fully expect by summer he can throw to receivers, do 7-on-7’s, everything we want him to do heading into fall camp unless we have some unexpected setback.”
The absence of King leaves plenty of opportunities for Miami to get a better glimpse at their younger QB’s, as Tyler Van Dyke, Peyton Motocha, and Jake Garcia will battle to prove they can run Lashlee’s offense the best and win the backup role in 2021.
"I’m excited for all three of those guys,” Lashlee said. “Get out there, just kind of go play, compete… At the end of the day, there’s still a lot of unknown.”
After enrolling early, the true freshman Garcia will be limited to start spring with a foot injury suffered during his senior season of high school – Lashlee said he will only participate in 7-on-7 play until he is fully healthy.
“Jake had a minor injury to his foot in his senior season. He played through it the last five or six weeks,” Lashlee said. “Since he got here, we’ve been doing things to try and help that situation totally heal. He’s progressing each week, will be out there with us on Monday and maybe a limited capacity, but he’ll be throwing, taking reps. I fully expect him to do more and more as the spring goes on.”
Matocha and Van Dyke are Miami’s two returning QB’s, with Lashlee mentioning Van Dyke will handle the majority of the first team reps to begin spring.
“I’m excited to see them. Both have been in the system a year. There’s no substitution for real reps,” Lashlee said. “Peyton is a very athletic kid. (Last year) he went over and played safety for us (in practice due to COVID issues). That’s how athletic he is. And Tyler just has something about him, an intangible trait. He can throw the football well but he does everything right, competes hard, guys love him. He carries himself like you want a quarterback to carry himself… Tyler had a phenomenal first year here, will get the bulk of those reps and see what he can do.”
In addition to King being out, the offense will also be missing projected starting TE Will Mallory, who will sit out spring following a shoulder procedure.
“With Will being out, I’m really excited to see if Larry Hodges, Dom Mammarelli take that next step,” Lashlee said. “What kind of jump can they make? Because we’re going to need them this year even if Will is back and healthy. Elijah Arroyo, he’s a guy we have high expectations for.”
Lashlee also pointed to being excited to see if the 2020 receiver class has taken the next step this spring, calling Keyshawn Smith, Xavier Restrepo, Dazalin Worsham, and Michael Redding “gym rats”.
