JD PicKell: Why Shannon Dawson’s offense will help Tyler Van Dyke rebound

On a recent episode of The Hard Count, On3’s J.D PicKell had his sights set on the Miami Hurricanes. Miami will have a different offensive coordinator to start the year for a second straight season. And while some fans are concerned with this recent pattern, PicKell believes the Hurricanes have found their man in Shannon Dawson.

With Dawson’s offense, the college football expert sees Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke in a position to have a stellar season.

“Tyler Van Dyke, for 2023, I think it’ll be a better year for him. What goes into that? Well, what went into what happened in 2021 and 2022? The coordinator switched, right? And we had Mario Cristobal, the head coach for the Miami Hurricanes, on this very show, and he just told us; listen, man, nobody’s fault. Offensively, last year just wasn’t a fit for what we were trying to do. Okay. That’s fine,” started PicKell.

Van Dyke had a dip in production in Cristobal’s first season at the helm. Granted, he did have to deal with injury issues last season; the Hurricanes’ offense struggled to find a rhythm for much of the year. But with Dawson, PicKell sees his previous history as a quarterback coach paying off big for Van Dyke and the Hurricanes offense.

“Enter into the fray now Shannon Dawson calling the offense. I get excited about Shannon Dawson calling the offense for Miami because Shannon Dawson has played quarterback before. He’s coached quarterbacks before. And this is not by any stretch of the imagination a dunk on Josh Gaddis… Josh Gaddis has a history coaching wide receivers. Shannon Dawson has a history coaching quarterbacks.

“And so, why is that important? As the coordinator, it is paramount for you to speak the same language as your quarterback. And by nature of the positions they’ve coached, you would imagine it’s easier for a former quarterback and quarterback coach to be more easily synced up with your quarterback than it would be for a wide receivers coach.”

It appears that Dawson and Van Dyke hit the ground running in setting up the Hurricanes’ new offense. From the reports PicKell has received, Miami has nearly completed installing their offense over the spring. And that is good news because that should make things easier for Van Dyke and the rest of the offense to perform at a high level, in the mind of PicKell.

“By nature of what we’ve heard out of Miami from spring football, it sounds like they’ve installed the majority of that offense during spring ball,” said PicKell. “So, I’m sitting here saying, okay, you installed the majority of your offense in 15 practices. That means it’s easy to process. If it’s easy to process and learn, then it’s easy to take to the field and just ball. And when you’re able to process quickly on the field, you get to let the instincts take over. Then you’re not thinking so much; you’re just playing football out there. You just go out there and sling it. And Tyler Van Dyke, he’s proven he can sling it. So I think this will be a really good fit.”

Dawson has an opportunity to fast-track the rebuild of the Hurricanes offense in 2023. With Dawson’s air raid offense And Van Dyke’s throwing ability, Miami could very well be in the running for the ACC championship by the end of the season. And that would put the program one step closer to regaining the buzz and stature it once held.