After second QB switch, Hurricanes coach Mark Richt says N’Kosi Perry still ‘going to be a really great one’

As redshirt freshman quarterback N’Kosi Perry struggled early during the first road start of his career at Virginia on Saturday night, Miami Hurricanes coach Mark Richt had a decision to make.

Should he leave Perry in there, as he did a week ago against Florida State, and hope the young quarterback would rally, or should he put the game in the hands of benched veteran Malik Rosier, who had already led the Hurricanes to multiple comeback victories during his career.

Richt opted to make the change, pulling a disappointed Perry from the game after the quarterback started 3-of-6 with two interceptions. Rosier, who hadn’t seen any game action since the second series of Miami’s game against FIU on Sept. 22, didn’t fare much better to start, but he did lead the Hurricanes on three scoring drives in what was ultimately a 16-13 upset loss to the Cavaliers.

With the Hurricanes facing an open date this weekend and not scheduled to play again until Oct. 26 at Boston College, Richt now finds himself having to re-evaluate the quarterback position — again.

On Monday morning, Richt reiterated he and his staff have faith in Perry and they believe he’s capable of having a solid career, despite some of his early struggles.

He also said they’re confident Perry’s confidence won’t be hurt by what happened on Saturday night in Charlottesville.

“I think he’ll be fine,” Richt said Monday during his weekly radio appearance with Joe Rose on WQAM-560. “He knows we have a high regard for him and we think he’s going to be a really great one one day. He’s a guy we’re going to continue to develop. He’s got a great career ahead of him. He knows that. We’ve talked to him about that. It’s never easy, but that’s part of the criteria of being a quarterback. Can you hit your target? Can you make good decisions? Can you handle the pressure of the job? Sometimes, living it out in a situation like that is tough, but that’s what you have to develop — mental toughness.”

Perry, a fan favorite since his arrival in South Florida last year, started Miami’s games against North Carolina and Florida State after being elevated in the FIU game. Meanwhile, Rosier — who started all 13 games for the Hurricanes last season and their first four this year— acknowledged Saturday night he hasn’t received any practice time with the Hurricanes first unit in recent weeks.

Through Miami’s first six games, Rosier has completed 52.1 percent of his passes for 781 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions, while Perry has completed 56 percent of his passes for 666 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Now, with the Coastal Division in flux and the Hurricanes about to play three of their next four games on the road, Richt needs to find a way to spark his offense, and that could mean another change at quarterback.

When pressed during his radio appearance about that, the coach declined to answer, saying he had yet to meet with his players and his intention was to speak to them before announcing a move like that.

He then added it may not be possible to make many changes outside the quarterback position because of injuries and depth issues.

“At some positions, there’s not a lot of change you can make. I think we’ll keep Navaughn [Donaldson] as a guard. I think DJ Scaife did enough good things outside as a tackle, I think that’s the best combination on the right side,” Richt said. “Left side, it’ll be pretty much status quo. We’ll have Jahair [Jones] and depending on … we’ll see how much Venzell [Boulware] can unseat him as a starter, but that’s pretty much how it’s going to look there. At the receiver position, we’ve got to play a number of guys. All of those guys are going to play. We only have two tight ends on scholarship right now. They’re going to play. Those top two running backs are going to be the guys carrying the load. There’s not going to be a lot of change there. There just has to be overall execution.”

Also Monday, Richt addressed some of the criticism he has received from vocal Miami fans on social media that have questioned his playcalling.

The ability to call plays was something Richt said was important to him when he took the job three years ago. But with the offense struggling, the coach acknowledged he and his staff and players have to do some soul searching.

“I think everybody’s got to do that, make sure whatever responsibility they’re in charge of, that they’re doing the very best they can and if there’s something a wide receiver, running back, tight end, linebacker, safety, whatever position you coach, special teams, make sure you’re being thorough in the self-scouting part of it,” Richt said. “If things have to be changed, then change them. If they’ve got to just get better, make sure you set it up so you can get better at it. …”

Richt continued, “You make sure you’re calling the right things and again, offensive football is about 11 guys doing it right. And so, if all 11 guys are doing it right, then I would say maybe we have some issues with the playcalling. But if we’re not getting everybody doing it right, then maybe we’re not doing a good enough job of getting these guys to do what they’re supposed to do. … The bottom line is, when you re-evaluate what happens in a game, if you’ve got missed assignments and you’re not taking care of business down after down, if it’s usually just one or two guys, one guy here, one guy there, that doesn’t help you. All 11 have to do it right. When they do it right, you have success. When one or two guys don’t, then a play will have a chance of not succeeding. I’m not pointing the fingers at the players. I’m pointing the fingers at the coaching. We’ve got to be able to get the guys to do it the way it needs to be done.”

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