5. Malik Rosier
I know most college football fans, especially in the state of Florida, are currently thinking I’m crazy. However, Malik Rosier has shown the number one quality it takes to be a successful college quarterback which is grit. Maybe some of his accuracy issues caused Miami to need late-game heroics, but Rosier also was the fire behind said heroics against Georgia Tech, UNC and Florida State, not to mention Duke from 2015.
Rosier averaged 7.5 yards per passing attempt while throwing for over 3,000 yards and scoring 31 touchdowns (five rushing). James Blackman, while only a freshman, threw 11 interceptions in 2017 while struggling often to get the football out of his hands. Blackman isn’t as mobile as Rosier, and will have to fight off Francois to keep his starting position. Blackman is going to become a really good college quarterback but the Miami defense is going to be quite stingy once again.
Unlike Blackman, Rosier also enters his third year in the same offensive system. Rosier was a backup to Brad Kaaya in 2016 before starting in 2017 and more than likely start the 2018 season as well. Blackman was in Jimbo Fisher’s highly complicated and plodding pro-style system and now will play in Taggart’s NCAA Offense attack. Blackman will be asked to run at times, although not a ton, and that proved to the detriment of both the Ducks and Herbert in 2017.