The biggest unknown in this year’s draft class, Van Dyke came into the season as Miami’s backup behind the incumbent starter D’Eriq King. King went down with an injury early in the season, and Van Dyke played well enough that he never gave the job back.
Van Dyke has NFL size at 6’4 and 225. He also has an NFL arm, plus athleticism, and he put together a solid season for a redshirt freshman with a 25:6 TD to interception ratio. You’d like to see the overall accuracy improve in 2022 from his 62.3% completion rate, but the tools are there for a rawer prospect if he were to declare as a redshirt sophomore.
DJ Uiagalelei, Clemson
Here’s one of the true wild cards of this draft class when it comes to QBs. Heading into last year, most fans, if not everyone, assumed Uiagalelei was going to have a Heisman caliber season for the Tigers, they’d be national title contenders, and Uiagalelei would be in contention to be the first QB taken once the 2023 draft cycle came around.
Unfortunately, none of that happened the way some speculated and pontificated. Uiagalelei had a terrible season when you compare his numbers even to his relief duty from 2020 when Trevor Lawrence was out with COVID-19. A touchdown total of nine with an interception total of 10 is simply not good enough. Uiagalelei looked hesitant in the pocket and looked far more statuesque compared to his 2020 film. He’s got the raw ability and the size (6’4 260) that NFL teams covet, but we need to see a full year in 2022 to figure out whether his 2020 film was a mirage or if 2021 was simply a down year. He’s already seemingly on the hot seat at Clemson, and Dabo Swinney may pull the trigger if the struggles carry over into this year.
Spencer Rattler, South Carolina
Here’s the other key wild card in the class. This time last season, the consensus QB1 in the 2022 class seemed to be Spencer Rattler, and it seemed as though Oklahoma was going to be up to their usual dominance. Unfortunately for Rattler, he never got his legs under him to start the year.
He went 30/39 in the season opener against Tulane, but he also threw two interceptions to only one touchdown and the team barely escaped an all-time upset. He played well the next two games, then the struggles picked up. It wasn’t that his accuracy was drastically off- it was more the timing of his mistakes. He couldn’t put teams away and put far more pressure on the offense than anything else. The West Virginia game encapsulated his struggles before the Kansas State game was the straw that broke the camel’s back in Norman. He was booed by the fans despite a 22/25 for 256 yard performance. The Texas game saw him struggle immensely, get benched, and watch his backup lead the Sooners back from the brink of a blowout to defeat their rivals. Rattler threw just 12 passes the remainder of the season.
He announced he was transferring to South Carolina this offseason where former Oklahoma assistant Shane Beamer is now the head ball coach. Rattler never faced much adversity dating back to his time in high school — until last year. Those who saw Rattler on QB1 would know his personality can be… abrasive, to say the least. He’s also undersized at 6’1 and 200 pounds. A good season from Rattler in 2022, and none of that will matter, with him likely hovering around the first round yet again. On the other hand, if he struggles, there’s a lot of baggage he can bring with him depending on how far he could fall.
Conclusion:
Those are six names being lobbied as potential first-round picks for the 2023 draft at quarterback. Every year, there’s at least one or two names that seemingly come out of nowhere to be ranked in and around the top of the class (see Kenny Pickett last year). It’s not entirely unlikely that one of Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina), Devin Leary (NC State), Kedon Slovis (Pitt), Cameron Ward (Washington State), Phil Jurkovec (Boston College), or Anthony Richardson (Florida) join them. or perhaps replace them. That’s the nature of the NFL draft after all. Given everything that’s been laid out, I’d say it’s safe to say that the upcoming class should be considered a major bounceback for the position.
