Mario Cristobal shares biggest issue facing Tyler Van Dyke

Tyler Van Dyke and the Miami Hurricanes have had quite the fall from grace over their last two games. A loss on the road to a ranked Texas A&M team wasn’t awful, but following it up with a stunning loss to MTSU was catastrophic. Plenty have already started to point the finger and some have sent it in Van Dyke’s direction. However, Mario Cristobal says to not give up on the Hurricane’s QB just yet.

Cristobal spoke on Van Dyke during media on Monday. He said improving his QB’s play is just as much about building up the supporting cast around him as it as helping him find his groove again.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“I wouldn’t say it’s mechanical. We’ve got to do a really good job of cleaning things up for him. And we’ve got to do a really good job as a supporting cast,” said Cristobal. “It was a rough game and he’s had a really good week since then. He’s got as much or more pride than anyone I’ve ever been around. And we have all the confidence in rollin’ with him.”

Van Dyke started the season well with 454 yards and three touchdowns on a 75.2% completion rate in two games. The following two losses to the Aggies and Blue Raiders were much different, though. Van Dyke completed just 50.6% of his passes for 355 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions.

Cristobal now wants to find the best way to make Van Dyke comfortable again. Rather than give up on him, he wants to do right by Van Dyke instead by being honest and putting in the effort towards helping find his way back.

“Quarterback is the hardest position, right? It’s never comfortable. We’ve (just) gotta make it as clean and as clear for him to operate at a high level, especially when you’re in a new system,” Cristobal said. “He is busting his butt, he’s working hard. We call it like it is. I always tell the truth about a guy, I never throw a guy under the bus…I won’t do that. I don’t think that’s right, but I certainly don’t try to also cover up for a guy if they’re doing the wrong things.”

Miami’s season is well off track after these losses. If they want to reassemble their season into anything successful coming out of the bye week, they’ll need Van Dyke back and better than ever. After looking themselves in the mirror the last two weeks, he and the Hurricanes will have their chance to take a good step this weekend by playing North Carolina to open ACC play.