First and foremost, I want to say get well soon to the kid! Emory Williams absolutely put his body on the line to give us a first down to keep us alive and give us a chance to tie or win the game on the final drive. He played with heart. He played with passion. He played with toughness. He is a Cane for life. When he was hit and lay on the ground writhing in pain you could tell immediately that he had a broken arm. You hate to see that. I never want to see that happen on the field of play. It is a cruel reminder of how violent and dangerous the game is and the risks these young men take to provide us entertainment, take pride in our city and school, and give them a chance to potentially change their lives and the lives of their families forever. Football players are modern day gladiators in that regard. Which is why I appreciate and respect all of them for suiting up and going to battle between the lines. I also commend Emory for treating this game against our hated rivals, the Seminoles of Florida State, with the respect that it deserved. We appreciate you Mr. Williams.
With that said, fans are so emotional. They let their heart cloud what their eyes see. Because we saw what Emory did for this team and what it cost him, I see a fanbase that is now afraid to speak honestly and critically about the game that we watched Saturday night. I see a lot of moral victories being discussed and the subjective “we’re headed in the right direction” statements being thrown about because we have some young guys at some positions and lost by 7 instead of 42 this season. I am not a prognosticator and I cannot see the future. I tend to agree with the people who believe that we are headed in the right direction and Mario will be the one to save this program. However, none of us know that for sure and all that I can do is analyze what we have actually already witnessed. As of right now we are a team that is sitting 10th in the ACC at 2-4 a season after finishing 11th in the conference at 3-5. Our main rivals are undefeated after beating us for a 3rd year in a row and clinched their ACC title game berth two weeks ago while we seem to not know what we will be doing at quarterback for the imminent future.
People are saying Emory Williams played a great game on Saturday. I give Emory all the credit in the world! He went into a hostile environment under tons of pressure and he kept us in it by not turning over the ball. That is difficult for a true freshman to do for sure. Unfortunately, he broke his arm in the process and that is truly tragic. I do believe the kid will be back soon and better than before, thankfully broken bones heal faster than people realize. The radius and ulna can heal even faster because there is not much weight or pressure being put on them as long as there is no joint damage to his wrist, he could be fully healed in 4-6 weeks while avoiding strenuous activity will be recommended for longer. So I hope Emory gets well soon and I sincerely believe that he will.
With that said, if we can set that aside and speak honestly and critically of this game in isolation, Emory did not have a good game. Put your fan emotions aside for a moment and just analyze the game with the calculating eyes of a computer. Miami wins that game with average quarterback level game manager play. I hate to say it, but Emory simply did not have a good game by any metric or eye test. It was a struggle watching his throwing mechanics and footwork in the pocket. Some of those deep fades that he floated lacked zip and direction. As the game materialized, I realized that he could not throw to his left towards the boundary at all. Either that or he never got to the backside of his progressions at all. Every attempt was up the hash or to his right. Either way, half the field was cut off to us in the passing game. Colbie Young had a favorable matchup all game and he was completely ignored for most of the game. Emory could not throw on the run and he struggled to complete quick slants. FSU realized this in the second half and adjusted to shut down the run game on early downs and sent tons of pressure on third down. They were all out blitzing and sitting on short routes because they did not fear Emory Williams’ ability to beat them throwing the ball and they were right because he struggled to complete quick slants 4 yards from the line of scrimmage. It made converting on third downs seemingly impossible.
Emory only had one completion out of nine attempts in the 2nd half before he hit Jacolby George for that 85 yard touchdown. Without that Jacolby George touchdown Williams was averaging slightly over 4 yards per attempt. Let’s talk about why I am singling out that Jacolby George touchdown. That was one of those “good job, but don’t ever do that again” plays. Emory tried to throw a hole shot against cover 2, except there was no hole. The cornerback, Fentrell Cypress, had perfect coverage underneath and the safety, Kevin Knowles, came over to the boundary early with deep responsibility. FSU had the perfect defense called to intercept that ball. Emory should have never thrown that pass and to make matters worse, the pass was slightly underthrown. However, the fact that it was underthrown is what ended up benefiting the Canes and got us back in the game! By the ball being underthrown, it baited the safety to try to come underneath and make what seemed like an easy interception. Instead, he got in the way of his own teammate. Jacolby George actually had to hesitate and slow down because he could see the flight of the ball had an underthrown trajectory, so he adjusted and the impending collision between the two Seminole DBs is what cleared the runway for George to run in the much needed score after the ball dropped perfectly in his hands. It was really a great play that never should have happened, but I am happy that it did.
Everytime I publish an article some people hear something that I did not say. So I want to be very clear. I am not saying Emory Williams was terrible. I am saying that as of the game against FSU on Saturday night, he was and seems to be a very limited quarterback that will need a lot of work and development. I saw enough to make me say he is worth investing in and developing. Once upon a time, Jordan Travis couldn’t do anything but run QB draws. On Saturday, I saw him throwing back shoulder throws. If Travis could do it and become a serviceable college quarterback, anything is possible. I believe Emory will improve with good coaching but in the meantime, we need to be very aggressive in the portal looking for a veteran stud triggerman. I love Emory Williams, but I love my alma mater more and my saying that we need to look for a quarterback in the portal is not intended to be a slight on him.
Another thing that I did not say that some of you will think you heard. I am in no way saying that TVD would have played better or won that game if he played. I advocated for Tyler to be benched because it’s not possible to win games throwing interceptions at the rate that he has been throwing them at. Personally, I was hoping for Emory to get the start against Florida State, but for Jacurri Brown to be rotated in as well. I acknowledge that Brown is limited as a passer, but he is a dynamic athlete that is dangerous with his feet as well. I viewed this game as a kitchen sink game. All hands on deck. Every option on the table. I was very disappointed to not see Jacurri get a shot at all considering how much the offense was struggling with becoming predictable and not being able to move the ball five yards or get a first down in the third quarter. Jacurri would have provided a good change of pace for FSU’s defense to think about and when you consider how inaccurate Emory was throwing the football throughout the game, I don’t think it would have been a stretch to give Brown a shot and see what he could do. Considering that Brown has not played in any games this season and he could have played without worrying about burning his redshirt, it makes me wonder if Brown is truly available to play at all this season. Is it possible that he has requested that the coaches not play him this season? If so, why? Is it possible he has already indicated that he will be in the portal after this season? Things to think about for sure.
This Miami defense is legit. Kam Kinchens and James Williams are not having their best seasons. They sometimes play undisciplined and bite on fakes way too hard which takes them out of position on plays they have no business being out of position on. James Williams is always flirting with unsportsmanlike conduct and targeting penalties. He doesn’t tackle well and can’t remember a signature moment from him in coverage. He always seems to be right there but often does not make the play. However, as a unit- this defense deserves a competent offense to compliment it. The defensive line and linebackers have been down right balling this season and played very well against the Seminoles. Bain, Harrison-Hunte, Leonard Taylor, Kiko Mauigoa, Corey Flagg, Wes Bissainthe, KJ Cloyd. These guys are playing great ball. The offensive line is giving time to throw with clean pockets and creating running lanes. However, when you are not getting competent QB play, it can really hold a team back as we have seen over the last few weeks. Let’s see how the coaches deal with the QB position moving forward now that Emory is out for the season. Go Canes!
