Mark Richt Talks Miami-Virginia Tech, Malik Rosier's Throwing Shoulder
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CORAL GABLES (CBSMiami) - Miami Hurricanes starting quarterback Malik Rosier missed a first half series in Miami's win over North Carolina with an injured shoulder. While he did return to the game, he received further treatment afterwards.
On Tuesday, head coach Mark Richt updated the media on his status.
"He did good," noted Richt. "He practiced. He threw the ball. He's a little sore but he was able to rep the whole time. He didn't know for sure how much he would do when we started, as far as how his shoulder was going to feel. It was a little tender early, but the more he threw, the more blood got pumped into that area. He finished the day throwing all the drills."
Against the Tar Heels, Rosier threw for 356 yards with 3 touchdowns and an interception. On the surface, those numbers look great. His yardage stats benefitted greatly from completions of 78, 51, and 49 yards.
However, he completed just 16 of 40 attempts and had a second interception negated by a penalty. It certainly was not his sharpest outing behind center, although he did improve to 8-0 as a starter.
Richt was asked if Rosier's completion percentage (42.1% against UNC) was a concern for him.
"You always want it to be better," Richt said. "It's not bad. When you consider the yards per completion is super high, we've thrown some balls that are not necessarily high-percentage throws. We've obviously had some balls dropped. We've had some balls near misses. But overall he has thrown very few balls up for grabs."
Overall, the statistics back up the fact that Rosier has taken care of the football this season. His touchdown to interception ratio of 17 to 4 is superb. While his season completion percentage of 56.7 is not great, at 87th out of 126 eligible quarterbacks, he's been hurt by receiver drops, as noted by Richt.
Rosier will face his biggest challenge of the year this Satuday, when the Hurricanes face the nation's 10th ranked defense.
The Virginia Tech Hokies allow just 285 yards per game. They've sacked opposing quarterbacks 19 times in 8 games.
The Hokies' defense dominated Miami's offense in 2016, en route to a 37-16 win in Blacksburg. Bud Foster's defense sacked Brad Kaaya 8 times. Richt hopes this year's matchup at Hard Rock Stadium won't be a repeat performance.
"Part of the problem is getting into the situations where they know you're going to throw the ball. That game got to the point, especially at the end, where you have to throw it and they knew it, and they can tee off on the rush. That's what defenses are looking for – they're looking to stop the run and get you in a position to throw on a third-and-long."
Richt added another note of praise to the Hokies, who sit ranked 13th in the country with a 7-1 record.
"There's a reason why they're one of the best teams in America, very highly ranked and undefeated in the Coastal Division. It'll be a great battle for us, for sure."
Kickoff for #9 Miami and #13 Virginia Tech is set for 8:00 PM this Saturday, November 4th from Hard Rock Stadium. You can listen to the game on 560 WQAM.