Miami Football: Stability at Quarteback Is a Must for the 2011 Hurricanes

The Hurricanes entered the ACC in 2004 and have never won an ACC Championship.  In fact they never even have been in the Championship game.

Since 2004, Miami has had a No. 1 recruiting class, several players playing in the NFL, and one recent graduate at starting cornerback for the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers, Sam Shields.

So why no conference championships?

Two reasons really, one already addressed in the coaching changes and one still in the works: quarterback.

In college football there are two main ingredients to building a champion.  Great coaching and a great quarterback. 

Look at the last six national champion quarterbacks: Vince Young, Chris Leak/Tim Tebow, Matt Flynn, Tim Tebow, Greg McElroy and Cam Newton.

Want more proof a great quarterback is key? Look at the last six Heisman Trophy winners: four out of the six were quarterbacks, on teams that made the National Championship game.

So let's go back to 2003, a year after Hurricane legend, Ken Dorsey, graduated from Miami.

Florida Gator transfer Brock Berlin was the first player who had the daunting task of filling Dorsey's shoes, in which he did pretty decent, taking Miami to a 11-2 season, winning the Big East and eventually beating ACC Champion Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

The very next season Miami moved to the ACC, in which they lost three conference games, but won the Peach bowl game against the Florida Gators.

In the seasons under Brock Berlin, they had their ups and downs.  Although Berlin was the last solid quarterback they had, coach Larry Coker seemed to be the major problem.

The next quarterback Miami got, was Kyle Wright.  In 2005, he was the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the nation.

He had his moments for the Hurricanes, but failed miserably against big game opponents.

Wright was eventually benched for Kirby Freeman by new head coach, Randy Shannon. 

Problem was Kirby was a lot like Wright, a decent arm, but just did not have the leadership quality that Berlin and Dorsey had in previous years.

In 2007 Miami had three quarterbacks on their roster.

Red-shirt Robert Marve, true freshman Jacory Harris and senior Freeman.

After Shannon decided to put Marve and Harris above Freeman on the depth chart, Freeman decided to transfer to Baylor.

Marve was the original starter on the 2007 team, but Shannon decided to run a dual quarterback set, which I believe was a horrible mistake.

I truly believe Marve could have been a decent quarterback by the time he was a senior, but Shannon bailed on him. Marve had a terrific arm, although he did make some mental mistakes on and off the field.

Like Freeman, Marve decided to transfer after he, too, was demoted to backup quarterback heading into the 2008 season.

This decision left the Hurricanes to their most recent problem, Harris.

Harris has the heart and at times has shown some great accuracy.  His first year starting, he threw for over 3,000 yards and 20-plus touchdowns.

The major problem with Harris is inconsistency. In his two years of starting at quarterback he has 37 touchdowns, but 32 interceptions.

Another problem with Harris is his lack of throwing power.  He tends to lob the ball way too much, and if he were to try to stay a starter, he would need to throw more zip on the ball.

Which leads me to my favorite quarterback since Berlin: sophomore Stephen Morris.

Morris has the arm strength and mobility to become a big-time quarterback.  Starting a few games already for Miami, he got great experience as a freshman.

With the new coaches in the 2011 season, it's going to be very interesting in deciding who is going to be the starter.

Currently, Miami is still trying to get a couple transfer quarterbacks: Michigan's Tate Forcier and Rutgers' Tom Savage.

Although it would be nice to add depth, as either player would have to skip one season due to transfer rules, I still think Morris gives the Hurricanes the best chance to get to the ACC Championship game.

Either way you look at it, no matter who starts, if they continue to make poor decisions, Miami will be just another team in the ACC.