Van Dyke at ACC Kickoff: Focus on setting an example

Tyler Van Dyke proved himself as a quarterback last season. In the final six games, he averaged 366 yards, had 20 touchdowns to three interceptions and completed 66 percent of his passes. He returns as one of the top quarterbacks in the country. His performance was the best since Joe Burrow at LSU in 2019.

So getting the ball from Point A to Point B is not really a concern.

Instead Van Dyke has been doing his part to help Mario Cristobal and the new coaching staff establish their desired culture.

“I would just say leading the team, making sure everyone is doing what they’ve got to do,” Van Dyke said Thursday at ACC Media Day. “Leadership is a big thing, especially for my position. It’s all about impacting guys and making sure they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do. It’s all about leadership, getting those guys to rally and everyone become a leader. How you do anything is how you do everything, whether that is showing up for class or showing up on time for community service. You’ve got to do all the details right, and then everything will come.”

Cristobal has taken notice of the efforts of his quarterback. He couldn’t be more complimentary of Van Dyke as the days approach to the start of training camp.

“It’s a tremendous blessing,” Cristobal said of having Van Dyke on his first Miami team. “We recognized instantly and from far away because, obviously, you watch college football at every chance you get, that Tyler Van Dyke in that quarterback room is very special. You have a natural leader that’s one of your hardest workers and competing to be recognized as the hardest worker that demands as much of himself as he does of anybody else.

“That type of mentality and that work ethic he has also displayed in the classroom and the way he approaches community service and everything he does. It’s a tremendous benefit, a huge asset for the university and the program, and certainly makes the adjustment a lot more simple.”

Part of the transition, of course, is adjusting to a new offense and new offensive coordinator in Josh Gattis and Van Dyke has found that pretty easy even though the Gattis offense and philosophy is distinctly different than what he experienced last year with Rhett Lashlee.

“I love Coach Gattis. He is bringing a lot of things that we never had last year,” Van Dyke said. “Coming from a lot of the RPOs around last year, we’re doing a lot more play action, full-field lead pass concepts. I’m really excited for it. We are really trying to emphasize the run game and really trying to balance the run/pass game up a little bit. That will make me better and open up the pass game a lot more than it did last year. He likes to utilize the talent we have, the running backs and the tight ends to the best ability. I’m really excited for that and can’t wait for it.”

Van Dyke admits that when he was thrown into the lineup last season that he didn’t have anywhere close to the belief that he has now. As a kid, he was always one of the better players on the field and he was used to being a leader. That didn’t really matter though. College football is different, so there was an adjustment period. But it was was not a coincidence that he started to put up big numbers, amazing numbers, when his confidence caught up to his ability.

“Before the season, I always prepared like I was a starter. I was always watching extra film and doing what I had to do in case the opportunity came,” Van Dyke said. “But I think the biggest thing was confidence. You can’t play football or especially quarterback without confidence. That was the biggest thing for me, and I had my team. They had my back. We just rallied behind the entire team.

“I would say I improved a lot last year over the year. It’s all about confidence and understanding your capabilities. I thought I was practicing well, but I feel like when I got on that field and got that confidence from my teammates and my coaches, that was the biggest thing for me that changed throughout the season.”

This year, Cristobal and Gattis are determined to improve Miami’s running game. It extends beyond the additions of Henry Parrish and TreVonte Citizen to go with Jaylan Knighton and Don Chaney.

“We’ll definitely run the ball better this year. Coach Cristobal did a great job of getting a couple of offensive linemen here and really emphasizing toughness and physicality,” Van Dyke said. “I’m excited what the run game is going to be like. Coach Gattis brought in a lot of gap schemes, you know, all that stuff. I’m really excited to really balance the run-pass game out.”

The ACC is loaded with good quarterbacks this year, but Van Dyke was not shy when asked how he thinks he stacks up.

“Obviously I feel like I’m the best one,” Van Dyke said. “I mean, all these guys have talent. I was with them at the Manning Passing Academy and all those guys have great arms. They are great kids. But obviously I’m saying I am the best one.

“That’s not arrogance. That’s a belief.”

Many people would agree and have already started looking ahead to next April and the NFL Draft when it comes to Van Dyke. But he said he is blocking all of that from his mind right now.

“Honestly, I really don’t think about all that. I’m just trying to focus on the team and winning because without player success, you have to have team success,” Van Dyke said. “As you can see last year, we were 7-5 and only had one guy drafted. You have to have the team success.”

Will Mallory and Jahfari Harvey also made the trip to Charlotte.

Mallory was asked about Van Dyke’s leadership.

“I think when you guys see Tyler and, obviously, he has that natural confidence. Like Coach said, he has that natural leadership. He is a guy that you want to play for, that guys rally around,” Mallory said. “We’re fortunate we have him on our team because I wouldn’t want to be playing against him, that’s for sure.

“Tyler just is a guy that’s a leader. He is our guy. It’s easy to follow him. It’s easy to want to play for him just because of how he is as a person and how he is as a competitor.”

Mallory also commented on why he came back to Miami for another season.

“I think there was a lot left that I wanted to prove to myself,” Mallory said. “There’s a lot left that I think I want to go down and be remembered as a Miami Hurricane. This place is special to me. It would be hard to leave, and I just wasn’t ready to leave yet. I’m fortunate that I get to come back with a special coaching staff, special players, guys like Tyler, new offense that I’m really excited to play in.

“We’ve got a good tight end group too that I was excited to come back and lead that. I was really fortunate to be here for one last ride. I am just excited to make the most of it. I have played a lot of football, and I think each year I’ve improved. I learned a lot about myself. Especially last year. There’s a lot to improve on. It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of focus, and that’s what it takes to improve to better yourself, better yourself as a player, better yourself for your team. You just have to put the work in, trust the process that the coaches put forth, and it’s been good. Like I said, I’ve learned a lot about myself, learned a lot about myself as a player and just excited to improve on that this year.”

Harvey was asked about the new culture under Cristobal and how it has changed the team.

“Since the first day the new staff came, I feel like everybody bought in really well,” Harvey said. “We have a group of hard workers over at The U. It felt different walking around there. It felt like the culture just changed automatically. Everybody goes in there ready to work every day. Same energy every day. Just getting ready to grind.”

Harvey also commented on the influx of talent on the defensive line, which could impact his playing time.

“We’ve got a lot of talent from the transfer portal. A lot of guys coming in,” Harvey said. “We have some vets, some younger guys. I feel like everybody that came will make an instant impact on the D-line. Those boys bought in the first day and came in ready to work, ready to play, ready to go win some games.

“With the coaching we’ve got here on the defensive line especially, we’ve got some great coaches. I feel like we’ll improve very much in sacks, tackles for losses, especially turnovers. I feel like everybody bought in, is coming into fall camp working hard and we’ll have a great defense this year.”