Tyler Van Dyke shares thoughts on offense after Friday drills

Mario Cristobal and the Miami Hurricanes are a little over two weeks away from their Sept. 3 season opener against Bethune Cookman. One scrimmage is behind them and scrimmage No. 2 is set to take place Saturday afternoon.

Miami Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke took a few moments Friday to look ahead to what he and the offense hope to accomplish this time around.

“Probably just be more explosive,” Van Dyke said. “You know, last time we were just kind of moving the ball down the field which is not a bad thing. We just want to get that explosive play right up and make those deep shots down the field before the season starts.”

After losing his top two receivers last season in Charleston Rambo and Mike Harley, Van Dyke and the new-look Canes offense under offensive coordinator Josh Gattis have used fall camp to search for the next man up in the receiver room. The team has been looking for explosive plays. So far, the best two have been Xavier Restrepo and Key’Shawn Smith. But there have been too many drops in general and too few of those big plays.

“I mean those guys are progressing,” Van Dyke said about the receiving group. “We still have to be on top of things. Understand what we’re trying to do, understand what routes we are trying to run in certain plays. The guys are doing well and obviously, there’s still stuff to learn and get better.” 

Another target Van Dyke will start looking to find more often is tight end, Will Mallory. Mallory has been pacing himself so far this fall as he returns from injury. But after hauling in 30 catches for 347 yards and four touchdowns for Miami last season, the sure-handed senior will surely play a vital role in the passing attack.  

“He’s like that security blanket for me, I can always trust him,” Van Dyke said. “I’ll always know where he’s going to be on the field. He’ll always make the play for me… I’m glad to have him because he’s a big asset for this team and for me.”

One aspect that Van Dyke thinks will help the Miami passing game is the Canes’ new run scheme under Gattis. During his tenure as offensive coordinator at Michigan, Gattis’s rushing attack ranked 15th in the country with 214.4 rushing yards per game. 

“I think I’ve said this before, the run game opens up the passing attack. It makes it a lot easier getting those backers up – play action, hitting those windows behind them. So I think that the run game will help the passing attack a lot.

“I mean with the guys we added, it’s going to be good. Especially the gap game we’ve got. We got a gap scheme. A lot of pulling tackles, guards, even the center’s pulling a little bit, which we did a little bit last year but not as much as coach Gattis likes to do. So you’re going to see a little bit of a difference there.”

Van Dyke praised his offensive line and the progressions they’ve made from summer to now and also mentioned the importance of center Jakai Clark. 

“They’ve came a long way, I mean it starts with Jakai (Clark) understanding blitz pickup,” Van Dyke said. “It really helps me too because when I know I have to turn something, he has already turned it. Sometimes with that confusion, it doesn’t go well. So I can really trust him, and obviously the other four guys even (the) two, three extra guys that might not be starting on the line right now, they’ve came a long way. (They) worked really hard this summer and put in that extra work. They’re going to prove you guys something this fall.”