BREAKING: Miami Hurricanes land athletic Albany transfer QB Reese Poffenbarger

After a long wait, the Miami Hurricanes have a quarterback on board out of the transfer portal.

The FCS’s University of Albany QB, Reese Poffenbarger, has picked Miami and gives the team a dual threat behind center. The Canes, of course, have been on the hunt for a playmaking transfer and also had a couple of December visitors in Cam Ward (opted to go pro) and Will Howard (picked Ohio State). Poffenbarger will enroll this month and compete in spring ball, giving the team four scholarship players behind center – sophomore Emory Williams (started two games this year as a true freshman), Jacurri Brown (will be a redshirt sophomore and only played in one game, starting the bowl vs. Rutgers) and incoming freshman Judd Anderson.

Certainly it made sense for Miami to add Poffenbarger given he’s a veteran and with Miami’s lack of numbers behind center. And it will be very interesting to see how he fits in and what kind of plays he can make with his arm and legs once spring drills begin.

Poffenbarger entered the portal Dec. 20 after leading the Great Danes to the FCS semifinals and on the year completed 58.7 percent of his passes for an FCS-best 3,603 passing yards along with 36 TDs and 13 INTs. He also ran for five more scores with 187 rush yards. He threw four TDs in five different games – vs. Fordham, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Stony Brook and Monmouth. In the final game of the season, a 59-0 loss to South Dakota State, he threw for 232 yards with three interceptions. So some really good numbers but a rough ending.

Two years ago he completed 61.5 percent of his throws for 2,999 yards with 24 TDs and four INTs, adding 128 rush yards and two more scores. Poffenbarger began his career at Old Dominion after arriving from Middleton (Md.) High School as an industry 3-star QB prospect, and he redshirted there as a freshman before transferring to Albany.

That’s the background.

Now let’s delve a bit deeper and see what he brings to the table at Miami.

A 6-0, 210-pounder, per Pro Football Focus he had an 84.0 overall grade and 81.2 pass grade this past season (in 2022 he had a 77.2 overall grade and 76.8 passing grade). PFF noted him as being especially strong on deep throws with a 90.6 grade on 20+ yard passes (completed 35 of 103 for 1,321 yards with 21 TDs and six INTs). As a runner he has shown the ability to make some big plays and has the ability to make guys miss – per PFF he averaged 2.99 yards after contact and forced 18 missed tackles. More on that later.

On Dec. 23, On3 ranked him the No. 9 best available QB in the portal, and Poffenbarger has two years of eligibility remaining.

Issues here as it pertains to him perhaps faring well at Miami? Well, he’s only played two years at a low-level program against mostly low-level competition. The biggest “name” teams he has faced were Baylor in 2022 and Hawaii and Marshall this season.

So let’s see how he fared in those games.

*Against Baylor (a 69-10 loss) he completed 13 of 26 passes for 150 yards with a TD, adding 45 rush yards. He was sacked twice.

*Against Marshall (a 21-17 loss) he completed 22 of 38 passes for 194 yards with a TD and no interceptions. He had a 54-yard TD run as well in the game but was sacked seven times.

*Against Hawaii (31-20 loss) he hit on just 10 of 31 passes for 93 yards with no TDs and an interception. He had a 41-yard TD run in the game and was sacked four times.

So aside from a couple of big runs, the passing game just wasn’t really there. Let’s take a closer look with the help of tape from one full game that’s available, against Hawaii on Sept. 9 of this year.

Note that sometimes it’s better to watch even one actual full drive for a player vs. a highlight tape, since highlights tend to usually only show the brightest moments, hence the term “highlight”. So let’s first tune in above for a TD drive starting at the 39:57 mark. You get a sense of what Poffenbarger can do … and some struggles. You see at the start of that drive how he double-clutches his first throw and it’s low and incomplete – he has locked onto that receiver and never comes off him. After a first down RB run up the middle that is helped by a linebacker needing to spy Poffenbarger because of his own running ability, you see a play-action quick release throw to his first read down the middle that is broken up in good coverage. The throw is on the money, but the receiver has rounded his route too much. Then you get a sense of Poffenbarger’s speed against Hawaii’s defenders – he shows really good quickness running into the end zone on the left side.

If you watch other drives on the tape you see he will change calls at the line to put the team in a better position, and he also can wiggle out of tackles and isn’t afraid to try and plow over defenders for an extra yard. There are quick releases and accurate passes, and some where he holds the ball too long and is sacked.

A few plays worth watching as well begin at the 1:42:20 mark, which is a drive at the end of the first half. On that first play Poffenbarger has a defender come free in his face as he’s setting to throw. The QB still delivers a dart right on the money on the right side for a first down completion, taking a big hit as he throws. Very impressive. But on the very next play Poffenbarger has a wide open man down the middle on a 10-yard pass but throws the ball behind him and it’s off his hands incomplete. The next snap you see more of that athleticism – he looks right for a screen but it’s covered up, he then looks to run but has no room and he winds up doing a nice job finding a receiver on the left sideline for the short completion.

Those three plays alone in bam-bam-bam order show the ability, and also some of the consistency issues.

Overall, in essence, this is a tough-minded QB with athleticism. Are his passing skills off the chart? Not even close. There’s a reason despite playing a lot of lower level teams he’s at below a 60 percent completion percentage. He’s not the most accurate thrower overall. But he does enough good things that you wonder how good he can be at Miami.

Under Albany coordinator Jared Ambrose (who arrived at the start of the 2022 season from Delaware, where he worked with Joe Flacco) it’s a 50/50 run-pass offense that works well by spreading the field and using shotgun with a lot of 11 personnel.

With all the above in mind, now you can watch his highlights below, because they will wow you with how he can throw on the run, make big plays with his legs, etc. But keep in mind that some of these opponents simply are not good … and that these are his best plays of 2023.