Quarterback Offer Breakdown: Tyler Van Dyke

Roman Marciante
4 min read
Tyler Van Dyke is a big armed, pro-style signal caller from Glastonbury, Connecticut. This 6'4" 215 prototypical-sized quarterback led his Suffield Academy offense and also touts lettering in both baseball and basketball. What does offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Dan Enos see in the gunslinger? The gun is obvious. Now InSight will give you the smoke.



Footwork/Rhythm. Very good footwork to wide receiver route relationship noted within the context of the offense. Honestly one of the better coached film entities in this regard that I have noted recently. Receivers are constantly being hit out of the breaks and Van Dyke drops are purpose driven and concise. Not a fast twitch drop back passer but still very efficient. Great front foot stride distance.

Accuracy. .571 completion % his junior year and shows really good ball placement. Lot of run after catch potential for receivers. Some excellent examples on film throwing ideally on the run. Arm Strength. Very good arm strength. 60 yard plus noted on film and has the ability to throw wide side of the field with authority. Good linear trajectory on throws and balls tend to get into the receiver's catch radius in a hurry. Arm Mechanics. Consistent. Effortless thrower with no real hitch or elongations. Very efficient in this regard and you don't see any baseball down up tendency typical with dual sport kids at this level.

Mobility. Has the ability to escape the pocket and extend plays but borderline non-factor within the zone read game. Offense really didn't show that variety of play in highlight capacity. Defenses would not need to spy. Listed 4.99 40 time and a shuttle of 4.41. This is a pro style quarterback by every stretch of the imagination.

Clips








https://twitter.com/romancane/status/1105261141255770112

Roman Rank.
Hey would you look at that. This is a high school quarterback who typically will spend more time under center then in the gun. Suffield runs a very efficient under center play-action type offense and Van Dyke seems very natural in it. I enjoyed Van Dyke's ball handling skills and his ability to constantly suck up defenders with his ball fakes.

I enjoyed the crispness of this offense and how at times surgical it was with Van Dyke under center. When Van Dyke is in rhythm, the ball is out with a purpose. And it didn't matter if it was one step, three step, roll, or what have you, the receivers breaks were always in tune with their quarterback and it was refreshing to see.

Van Dyke is definitely an arm talent. Very natural thrower with a baseball-equivalent heavy ball that would pop a catcher's mitt with a loud thud. This is a kid who can make every single throw and the offensive coordinator can have that leniency. Honestly, if Van Dyke opened up the offensive coordinator's running plays as well as he opens up the route tree, you would have a borderline 5-star type guy. But nonetheless, this kid is often times impressive.

Where as Matocha and Webb were similar play makers with some running ability and a little bit of an inconsistent stroke, Van Dyke is as consistent as you can get throwing wise (at this level at least). Different types of quarterbacks, but nonetheless still very talented. Van Dyke has heavy interest in other schools at the moment but we will do our due diligence just the same. Roman Rank 4.1 stars
 

Comments (44)

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Wow, that arm is impressive to say the least. Would love to see him in an Enos driven offense to see what a quality arm could do for our WR/TE/RB group, I’m sure he would perform rather well in Coral Gables. Sounds like he’s got interests elsewhere but who knows. Great write up Roman!
 
Would take this kid in a heart beat. I’m still a fan of pocket passers.

@Roman Marciante what are your thoughts on his improve skills? I know this is a different type of QB than we’ve been offering lately. I’m asking becuase I can hear Herbstreit calling a night game
in Blackburgs during this kids career saying “The Va Tech DLine never let him get into rhythm and he just hasn’t looked comfortable all night.”
 
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Sign this kid up.. Prototypical size. Looks like he's been playing the position for years which is a huge plus IMO. Live arm and pretty accurate. He would have a field day with Miami receivers.
 
Would take this kid in a heart beat. I’m still a fan of pocket passers.

@Roman Marciante what are your thoughts on his improve skills? I know this is a different type of QB than we’ve been offering lately. I’m asking becuase I can hear Herbstreit calling a night game
in Blackburgs during this kids career saying “The Va Tech DLine never let him get into rhythm and he just hasn’t looked comfortable all night.”

I think he has the ability to extend plays. He's a pass first kid who had some really nice plays on the roll and outside the context of the play.

I just don't see defensive coordinators keeping a defensive end at home if they run the qb zone read. Which is fine, the kid definitely can make up with it with his arm.
 
The first thing I noticed watching the highlights (besides his bazooka for an arm) was that he lines up under center in a very traditional "pro style" offense a lot. His footwork, drop back ability and ball fake ability give him a leg up on 95% of incoming QBs who often never learn any of that stuff in high school.
 
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@Roman Marciante I'd like to know your thoughts on accounting for a HS QB's stats when evaluating. I know there are a million factors that can explain away some subpar stats, but at the end of the day, I want to see a QB who produces. Stats by itself won't sell me, obviously, but it's a nice added element to give me a little more confidence in a player.

The stats I can find for Van Dyke may be incomplete (just 9 games):
1282241899 yards.57114.8 ypa211.0 ypg14 TD5 INT

With that said, I'll take Van Dyke over Tee Webb (who has better raw counting stats)
 
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So we should completely ignore what is available?

I didn't say you should "completely ignore" anything. But you should absolutely question the source of high school football "statistics," and take the majority of those stats with a grain of salt. Especially when the sample sizes are so low -- add 10 completions to the above and suddenly Van Dyke goes from a 57.1% passer to a 61.6% passer. Drop 10 and he's a 52.7% passer.

And at the end of the day, Maxpreps is only as good as the stats they are provided by coaches/staff:
How Maxpreps generates stats
 
I didn't say you should "completely ignore" anything. But you should absolutely question the source of high school football "statistics," and take the majority of those stats with a grain of salt. Especially when the sample sizes are so low -- add 10 completions to the above and suddenly Van Dyke goes from a 57.1% passer to a 61.6% passer. Drop 10 and he's a 52.7% passer.

And at the end of the day, Maxpreps is only as good as the stats they are provided by coaches/staff:
How Maxpreps generates stats

I always do, my man. Hence, me stating, "I know there are a million factors that can explain away some subpar stats."

With that said, it's usually more likely that a HC will be generous with their players' (and team's) stats than stingy. Context matters. For instance, I assume Van Dyke played in more than 9 games last season. I counted around 19-20 passing TDs in his tape. The difference between reported and factual is likely accounted over the last few games of the season (or I guess possibly a coach who struggles with counting, amiright?) surely putting him over 2,000 yards--not bad.

With all this said, I'm much more interested in a discussion as to the factoring of stats into evaluation of a HS QB prospect than I am about the potential inaccuracies of HS stats.

I don't know if Artur Sitkowski's NJ HS coach missed his completion total by a few, but I do know that seeing a reported 5 TDs to 10 INTs with a reported 50% completion percentage over 10 games serves as a major red flag despite highlight clips that show a strong arm, big frame, and quick feet.
 
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I always do, my man. Hence, me stating, "I know there are a million factors that can explain away some subpar stats."

With that said, it's usually more likely that a HC will be generous with their players' (and team's) stats than stingy. Context matters. For instance, I assume Van Dyke played in more than 9 games last season. I counted around 19-20 passing TDs in his tape. The difference between reported and factual is likely accounted over the last few games of the season (or I guess possibly a coach who struggles with counting, right bud?) surely putting him over 2,000 yards--not bad.

With all this said, I'm much more interested in a discussion as to the factoring of stats into evaluation of a HS QB prospect than I am funny quips about the potential inaccuracies of HS stats.

I don't know if Artur Sitkowski's NJ HS coach missed his completion total by a few, but I do know that seeing a reported 5 TDs to 10 INTs with a reported 50% completion percentage over 10 games serves as a major red flag despite highlight clips that show a strong arm, big frame, and quick feet.

All fair.

On a Sikowski-related note, I have to imagine schools like IMG/BG/STA/St. John Bosco/Mater Dei/Bergen do a better job of keeping accurate stats and submitting them to Maxpreps than most other schools in America, and certainly better than schools like Green River, Wyoming. In Sikowski's case, the stats were horrible and there was reason to believe they were at least somewhat accurate.
 
Tyler Van Dyke is a big armed, pro-style signal caller from Glastonbury, Connecticut. This 6'4" 215 prototypical-sized quarterback led his Suffield Academy offense and also touts lettering in both baseball and basketball. What does offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Dan Enos see in the gunslinger? The gun is obvious. Now InSight will give you the smoke.



Footwork/Rhythm. Very good footwork to wide receiver route relationship noted within the context of the offense. Honestly one of the better coached film entities in this regard that I have noted recently. Receivers are constantly being hit out of the breaks and Van Dyke drops are purpose driven and concise. Not a fast twitch drop back passer but still very efficient. Great front foot stride distance.

Accuracy. .571 completion % his junior year and shows really good ball placement. Lot of run after catch potential for receivers. Some excellent examples on film throwing ideally on the run. Arm Strength. Very good arm strength. 60 yard plus noted on film and has the ability to throw wide side of the field with authority. Good linear trajectory on throws and balls tend to get into the receiver's catch radius in a hurry. Arm Mechanics. Consistent. Effortless thrower with no real hitch or elongations. Very efficient in this regard and you don't see any baseball down up tendency typical with dual sport kids at this level.

Mobility. Has the ability to escape the pocket and extend plays but borderline non-factor within the zone read game. Offense really didn't show that variety of play in highlight capacity. Defenses would not need to spy. Listed 4.99 40 time and a shuttle of 4.41. This is a pro style quarterback by every stretch of the imagination.

Clips








https://twitter.com/romancane/status/1105261141255770112

Roman Rank.
Hey would you look at that. This is a high school quarterback who typically will spend more time under center then in the gun. Suffield runs a very efficient under center play-action type offense and Van Dyke seems very natural in it. I enjoyed Van Dyke's ball handling skills and his ability to constantly suck up defenders with his ball fakes.

I enjoyed the crispness of this offense and how at times surgical it was with Van Dyke under center. When Van Dyke is in rhythm, the ball is out with a purpose. And it didn't matter if it was one step, three step, roll, or what have you, the receivers breaks were always in tune with their quarterback and it was refreshing to see.

Van Dyke is definitely an arm talent. Very natural thrower with a baseball-equivalent heavy ball that would pop a catcher's mitt with a loud thud. This is a kid who can make every single throw and the offensive coordinator can have that leniency. Honestly, if Van Dyke opened up the offensive coordinator's running plays as well as he opens up the route tree, you would have a borderline 5-star type guy. But nonetheless, this kid is often times impressive.

Where as Matocha and Webb were similar play makers with some running ability and a little bit of an inconsistent stroke, Van Dyke is as consistent as you can get throwing wise (at this level at least). Different types of quarterbacks, but nonetheless still very talented. Van Dyke has heavy interest in other schools at the moment but we will do our due diligence just the same. Roman Rank 4.1 stars


Ok, I'm partial to CT prep school QB's, I admit that :)

But this is a very good analysis of the kid, I agree 100% with what you've written, and that's why he's my favorite of our QB prospects in this cycle.

REALLY hope we can land him
 
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