Jake Heaps was one of the top quarterbacks in the 2010 recruiting class. 247 Sports composite rankings for pro style quarterbacks had him right behind Phillip Sims and Jesse Scroggins. Sims went to Alabama, then headed to Virginia and is now at Winston-Salem State. Scroggins went to USC, then JUCO and is now at Arizona.
Heaps started out at BYU where he played in 13 games as a freshman throwing for 15 TDs. As a sophomore, his stats regressed and he found himself looking for another home. He landed at Kansas with Charlie Weis where he played in 11 games and threw 8 TD against 10 INT last season. This spring Heaps was beaten out for the Jayhawks starting QB job by Montell Cozart.
Much like Sims and Scroggins, Heaps will now head to his third school, Miami. As a graduate transfer Heaps should be able to play immediately. The question is, will he?
The Hurricanes quarterback situation is still up in the air as projected starter Ryan Williams, a Memphis transfer who played in four games last season with Miami, tore his ACL. Williams still hopes to play at some point in 2014 but his injury leaves the door open. Red-shirt freshman Kevin Olsen has the lead right now but would head coach Al Golden rather have a more experienced QB behind center when the Hurricanes start their season at the Louisville Cardinals?
If I was a betting man, I would say that Golden will stick with the player that’s been in his program but the fact that Golden is bringing Heaps in means that he’s not exactly comfortable with his current situation. Look for Heaps to come in and compete. I don’t think he will win the job but if Olsen struggles, he might just get another chance to live up to his recruiting hype.
