Tyler Van Dyke reveals the biggest lesson learned during up-and-down 2022 season

The 2022 season did not go the way Tyler Van Dyke and the Miami program had hoped for in Year 1 under Mario Cristobal. The Hurricanes went 5-7 on the year as Van Dyke wasn’t fully healthy.

Expectations are high for the team once again in 2023, and Van Dyke is a major reason why.

He joined the ACC Network on Tuesday during ACC Media Days to discuss the biggest lesson he learned from last year’s all-over-the-place season.

“Definitely learning how to play through adversity,” Van Dyke said. “I think it made me stronger as a man going through everything that happened last year: the Middle Tennessee State game, my injury, just growing as a person and understanding that life’s not going to be so smooth. Just working through all that. Talking to my sports psychologist and understanding that it’s not gonna be so smooth and you got to face downs a lot in life to ultimately get up to the top”

Van Dyke emerged as the starting quarterback for the Hurricanes program in 2021 after D’Eriq King went down injured. The Connecticut native went 6-3 as the starting quarterback the rest of the way, throwing 25 touchdowns and just six picks as he earned the ACC Rookie of the Year award.

The 2022 season saw Van Dyke’s numbers drop across the board as he started only eight games due to his shoulder injury. He threw only 16 pass attempts in the month of November.

“It was tough,” Van Dyke said of the 2022 season. “There was a lot of ups and downs — more downs last year. Tough year. I talked to my sports psychologist a lot and just understood that everything’s not gonna go your way. It’s not gonna be so smooth in life so it’s all about how you get back from it. I’m good now. My health is good. So just excited for this year.”

Cristobal expects the offense to be much better in 2023 and has faith in the job that Van Dyke should be able to do this year.

“We expect to be a much more explosive offense. But it starts with protection. And that falls on myself. We’ve gotta protect the quarterback better. We’ve gotta put him in situations, whether it be moving the pocket, making sure our run-pass ratio [is good], and the types of protections and concepts we use are conducive to him having success,” Cristobal said.