Tyler Van Dyke ‘going to be one of best players in the country,’ Mario Cristobal says

There are big things ahead of Tyler Van Dyke. In what could be a historic year for the Miami Hurricanes, Van Dyke leads a program with big expectations under first-year head coach Mario Cristobal. Cristobal came over from Oregon after the 201 season and could very well make Miami a contender in the ACC right away. As far as what Cristobal expects out of Van Dyke, it’s to be one of the best overall players nationwide.

“He’s incredible,” Cristobal said on The Herd. “I mean, an exceptional leader. He’s a relentless-pursuit-of-excellence guy, his decision making is on point, his accuracy, his arm strength. He understands protections, the run game. He is a complete player. He really is and he’s very mobile. His pocket presence is off the charts. He understands the offense as well as anybody I’ve been around. He reminds me a lot of what we had at Oregon with Justin Herbert. And again, he only played I believe in seven, eight games last year. And you saw Miami’s offense is on a really huge upturn, you know, uptick when he was in there. So we think he’s going to be one of the best players in the country right now. He’s done a great job in the offseason with our team, certainly in spring practice. He was off the charts as a competitor and as a leader, so big things (ahead for Tyler Van Dyke).”

Van Dyke subbed in for D’Eriq King last season after the latter’s injury and thrived. In 10 games, Van Dyke threw for 2,931 yards and 25 touchdowns to six interceptions, plus a 62.3% completion rate.

As a member of the Class of 2020, Van Dyke was a four-star prospect out of Glastonbury (Conn.) Suffield Academy according to the 247Sports Composite. He was the No. 1 overall prospect in Connecticut, the No. 7 pro-style quarterback in the class and the No. 222 overall prospect in the class.

As spring practice got underway in March, Van Dyke was asked about Cristobal’s previous comments calling the quarterback one of, if not, the best in the ACC.

“I didn’t know that,” Van Dyke said to the media as the Hurricanes opened spring practice. “Obviously it makes you feel like you’re one of the best. But at the same time, you have to keep going to work. Can’t let that get to your head and get big headed. You have to keep working. If you just stay at the top and think you’re going to be at the top, it’s not going to work. You have to keep working.”

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The Miami Hurricanes open the 2022 regular season against Bethune-Cookman at home Sept. 3.