ORLANDO – Jarren Williams is ‘solid’ in his standing as Miami’s next starting quarterback.
Barring an unforeseen injury, he should not have much to worry about. This comes after his very good first outing as a college football starter against No. 8 Florida last night.
Williams was 19-30 passing for 214 yards, 1 touchdown, and (most importantly) zero turnovers in Miami’s 24-20 loss to Florida at Camping World Stadium (Aug. 24).
He found All-American tight end Brevin Jordan for a 25-yard touchdown pass across the middle late in the first half. Combined with an extra point by kicker Bubba Baxa, the now-formidable Williams-Jordan connection gave Miami a 13-7 halftime lead.
Best part about this touchdown experience: Both Williams and Jordan got to wear the all-new ‘Touchdown Rings’, even though Jordan was most visibly seen with them on.
Despite the fact that Miami (0–1) couldn’t hold on to the lead, Diaz let everyone know he’s sticking with Williams as his quarterback.
“You probably can’t put a guy in a more adverse situation than in this stadium,” Diaz told media members in a press conference after the Camping World Kickoff ended at Camping World Stadium.
“The amazing atmosphere from both sets of fans, you know, their defensive front, which we knew was really good,” Diaz continued. “Jarren never really blinked. A lot of time he didn’t have a lot of time and I thought he just played a little of courage, you know, made some plays with his feet, scrambled the throw to keep this some things alive. I think you can see why we picked him to be our guy.”
In all honesty, the only mistake Williams can be faulted for (only somewhat, for better for worse) is the fact he was sacked 10 times by the Gators defense (16 tackles for loss in the game).
“Those ten sacks, a lot of them were not on my O-line,” Williams told media members in a sign of clear maturity. “A lot of them were on me…I felt like a couple of time when I was pressured, I became a runner instead of remaining as a passer to keep my eyes down the field…That’s definitely something we’re learning from. When the rushes are coming at you live, it’s a little different. It’s a great learning experience.”
Diaz had something to say about all those sacks Florida had in the game.
“Obviously, we have a young offensive line,” Diaz said. “They’ve got an experienced front that we knew would give us some trouble. And then it got into a point where there was going to be a lot of throwing in the second half. You know, that’s all part of it.”
Diaz didn’t stop there.
“You’ve got to put yourself in some situations where you’ve got to expose yourself to their rush,” Diaz said. “And part of it’s just getting the ball out, too. And so I think it’s like anything else. I think it’s always unfair to say, well, it’s just on this position or that position. Protecting the quarterback is an 11-man job on offense. But I think, again, the way that the game finished, we were obviously in the drop back, throw, throw, throw, mode.”
The Hurricanes have its first of two ‘byes’ next week, which means they get two weeks to prepare for their ACC season opener against North Carolina.
The Week 2 road game will take place on Saturday, Sept. 7 (8 p.m. kickoff; ACC Network) with Williams entrenched as Miami’s starter.
