That is a simple but tough question that deserves an answer. I still go with Jarren Williams as my starter. I understand that there is a really intense following for N'kosi Perry and there is no doubt an improvement in his game over the course of a year. But here is my opinion on the matter after watching the first 6 games. I never thought Jarren was the reason for the losses the first 4 games.
He was the leading ACC passer in terms of percentage and did not throw one single interception. (A couple in harms way sure) Williams has the ability to be incredibly accurate with the ball and throw the ball with extreme arm confidence. There were some correctable deep ball things he can shore up mechanically but I disagree when people write it up as simply "arm strength." And let's be really honest here, Kosi has the arm, but he certainly missed on a deep shot or two this week as well. This might be a systemic issue not idio-centric. Both Miami qb's have missed on deep shots.
Enter the VT game and that was about what you would expect from a freshman. Except it was much differently than what I expected. It did not happened over the course of one game let alone 5, it happened on back to back to back drives. (I supported the decision to pull him by the way) Bud Foster comes out after the game and states some obvious things. Jarren does not have a Patrick Mahomes arm (generalized) and that he threw a couple intercept-able passes on film. OK. Fair. But not many people have that arm strength in the NFL let alone college.
You ask my humble opinion if Williams can make all the necessary throws to operate this offense? The answer is resoundingly yes. I bet if you ask Dan Enos this, he would agree with you too. Does that mean he can make all the throws Kosi can in the same manner? No. It does not. These kids are good at doing different things. That is the reality of it.
I will share my world a little further. I do these clips and get TONS of feedback. It is a constant blitz of sorts. "Jarren should have ran it, it was a wide open lane. etc" (And Jarren in his own admission this year said he should run a little sooner at times) This week? "N'kosi Perry STILL can't read the field, Deejay was wide open in the flats when he decided to run that ball in for six."
I mean which way do you want to go here? You just need to just say no Qb is necessarily wrong here, just different. Perry looks to run the ball sooner than Jarren. That is true. Jarren by percentage is more accurate with the ball and operates the middle of the field much better. I have film breakdown that might corroborate that as well.
So why do I pick Jarren to start next week if healthy? Because winning that quarterback battle over the course of the spring and summer still matters to me. He won the job and impressed his coaches week to week and beat out a good stable of qb's in doing so. That is a big reason why. That was cumulative. That should not so easily be erased by a really bad start to a game. Once again I always knew Jarren would make freshman mistakes. It just looks worse when it was all at once.
Now what did N'kosi Perry just do? He won. He improved over the course of a year. He showed me that a more mobile option can bail out this offensive line who is still very poor at communication and looking for work way to often. Perry showed me that all that hard cumulative work Jarren Williams put in during the off-season to win the job is now going to be marginalized. Perry has a certain spark about him and that distance Jarren put between him and #2 is ready to get engulfed and erased with more "Freshman" Mistakes.
QB1 is going to have to even play better then he did before. There is no other choice.