VERO BEACH, Fla. — It’s the second Saturday in June and about a dozen Miami Hurricanes are playing catch, signing autographs and posing for photos with fans at a youth football camp for the Shawn O’Dare Foundation.
Tyler Van Dyke is enjoying the relaxed setting. The ACC’s 2021 Rookie of the Year is more than six months removed from a frustrating junior season, a 5-7 campaign in which he played through an AC joint sprain down the stretch in an effort to get his team bowl-eligible.
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But Van Dyke is healthy and happy now. He has a new offensive coordinator and a fresh start with the Canes. So, we didn’t get around to the uncomfortable topic of Alabama until about halfway through a 30-minute conversation.
“I always wanted to be here,” Van Dyke said with conviction when asked how he wanted to address reports that he considered transferring to Alabama to play for offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. “With Coach (Shannon) Dawson coming in, and my relationship with him, and the way his offense is, this is where I wanted to be.”
The truth is, in January, Van Dyke didn’t know who Miami’s offensive coordinator would be in 2023. It made him anxious.
He liked Rees and could have joined him at Notre Dame. Rees also could have joined Van Dyke at Miami before the 2022 season (he interviewed to be the Canes offensive coordinator). Rees, though, ended up at Alabama, and rumors persisted that the Crimson Tide were looking for QB help following spring practice.
Van Dyke, however, reaffirmed his commitment to the program in late April — but not until after a couple of tense days. Alabama ended up adding Tyler Buchner, who opened the 2022 season as a starter at Notre Dame before being sidelined with an injury, to shake up the QB room in Tuscaloosa.
Relentlessly working. All focus on 2023. 100% CANE!#GoCanes pic.twitter.com/AOdLDYhqol
— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) April 20, 2023
Van Dyke stayed put after going through the spring with Dawson — his third offensive coordinator in three years — because Mario Cristobal hired the kind of coach Van Dyke wanted to play for.
“Chill and relaxed” are the words Van Dyke uses to describe Dawson, a 45-year-old Louisiana native.
“It was different back (in January),” Van Dyke said of his situation. “We didn’t have an offensive coordinator. But I trusted Cristobal and what he was telling me about the offensive coordinators he was looking at and what they do. There were times (during the interview process) he wanted me to come meet one. But I didn’t want to meet one and have a strong opinion about one just because I met him and not the others. I told (Cristobal) I really liked Dawson’s offense and the job he did in Houston. Clayton Tune did a great job, had over 4,000 yards passing. Dawson’s offense gives the quarterback a lot of freedom to throw the ball and make great decisions.”
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That’s what Van Dyke wanted. He wanted to be trusted to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage — the freedom to change a running play to a pass play and the ability to switch a route when he saw an opening to make a big play downfield. He didn’t have that under Josh Gattis, the offensive coordinator in 2022, and didn’t want to leave Miami to find it elsewhere.
He’s been dating former UM golfer Morgan Pankow for three years and loves hitting the links in South Florida himself. He’s made lasting friendships in Coral Gables, drives a Tesla and has healthy NIL deals (money he says he invests and puts away). The incentive was always to stay.
But after getting pummeled most of last season, Van Dyke also needed Cristobal to fortify the offensive line and add some better receivers. And that is what happened.
Miami used the transfer portal to land one of the best centers in the country (Matt Lee) and a starting interior lineman at Alabama (Javion Cohen) and signed two five-star offensive tackles (Francis Mauigoa and Samson Okunlola) as headliners to its top-10 2023 recruiting class. The Canes also brought in one of the fastest receivers in the country (Tyler Harrell) in the portal after the spring.
“I think we have a lot of depth now compared to what we used to,” Van Dyke said. “I think it comes down to depth and staying positive and not folding when adversity hits. I think that was a big thing, too, last year. We’d fall behind even by a touchdown and get down. Two years ago, it wasn’t like that. I remember Florida State — we lost the game –— but we were down 20-7 and came back and took the lead.”
Van Dyke thrived in Rhett Lashlee’s up-tempo spread offense as a true freshman in 2021. He threw for more than 300 yards in each of his last six games, completing 66 percent of his passes for 20 touchdowns and three interceptions over a 5-1 stretch. Van Dyke eclipsed the 300-yard mark only twice last season in Gattis’ offense and finished the year with a total of 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.
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Right when he and Gattis appeared to be getting on the same page (he completed 69 percent of his passes for 847 yards and five TDs in back-to-back games against North Carolina and Virginia Tech), Van Dyke injured his throwing shoulder in a deflating home loss to Duke.
Jake Garcia led Miami to an ugly overtime win at Virginia the following week, but it was obvious the Canes needed Van Dyke to have any shot at salvaging their season.
So he suited up to face rival Florida State a week later despite not throwing a single pass in practice all week. He grimaced through eight attempts, completing four for 24 yards before Cristobal pulled him in a 45-3 blowout loss to the Seminoles. He returned three weeks later against Pittsburgh to try to help the Hurricanes qualify for a bowl game.
“Probably shouldn’t have played that game,” Van Dyke said. “Coach wanted me to play, but it was also my decision.”
Van Dyke didn’t need surgery after the season. The injury healed with rest over time. But he’s got a literal reminder — a chip on his shoulder if you will — of what he tried to play through last season.
“Feel that bump?” Van Dyke asks as he points to his shoulder. “I feel 100 percent now. I actually feel like my accuracy is a lot better. I throw the same. Maybe it’s in my head, but I feel really good. It doesn’t affect my throwing at all.”
Building a bond with his new receivers has been his focus during the offseason. Van Dyke has always had chemistry with slot receiver Xavier Restrepo, but he’s developed something similar with 6-foot-5, 215-pound junior Colbie Young over the past year. They’re both from the Northeast and hook up sometimes to watch NBA games together.
“Tyler always says if we want to be great, we have to have great timing,” Young said. “We always try to get as much time with him as we can.”
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Van Dyke has been working out with David Morris at QB Country this offseason. He’s also spent time in Mobile, Ala., focusing on keeping his left arm close to his body and his front knee bent on delivery.
“Before, I was getting over the top and it was affecting my high-low accuracy,” Van Dyke said. “That might’ve helped my accuracy, too.”
One important on-field change under Dawson: wristbands with plays, more huddling and fast signals from the sideline.
“We got a lot of signals stolen last year,” Van Dyke said. “That was an emphasis from Coach Cristobal, too.”
What Van Dyke said he likes most about this year’s version of the Hurricanes is they’re player-led. Team bonding ramped up in the offseason with weekly off-the-field activities. The team went to Top Golf and a Heat playoff game in June.
“The self-accountability between just the players and not having the coaches always get on us is good,” Van Dyke said. “People complaining (last season), blaming each other was a bad dynamic. I feel like we brought in the right people and the right people ended up leaving. Maybe not everybody. You never know. But I think Coach Cristobal did a great job getting the right people in the building.”
(Photo: Manny Navarro / The Athletic)
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