“Malik, like everywhere else, is going to have to prove it,” he said recently. “There are no scout-teamers in the spring. Everybody’s got a chance to show what they’ve got.”
Rosier is a tough runner and a strong-armed passer. He enters his third year in Richt’s system, and has a year under his belt as a starter. However, accuracy has never been his strength. In a phone interview last Thursday,
Rosier described his completion percentage — 54 percent on the season, 50.7 in the final three months, 44.9 in the final three games — as “OK. It definitely needs to go up.”
In fairness to Rosier: it didn’t help that top receiver Ahmmon Richards was hurt all year, sure-handed running back Mark Walton was lost in October and tight end Chris Herndon went down in late November. But his misfires in season-ending losses to Pitt, Clemson and Wisconsin soured fans, and had him back in Mobile, Alabama after the season to regroup with David Morris, his old quarterback coach.
“He watched all my games and he said there were a couple small things that were throwing my throwing form off,” Rosier said. “The longer the season went … I got away from the fundamentals.”
On questions of mechanics, Morris was deferential to UM’s coaching staff (incidentally, UM quarterbacks coach Jon Richt, after graduating from Mars Hill in 2013, worked as a trainer for Morris’ QB Country office in Nashville). He did notice Rosier, a right-handed former high school baseball catcher, “would occasionally fly open” from his left side as he ****ed his throwing arm, as would a catcher throwing from his knees.
“That really was the main thing,” said Morris, who is high on Rosier’s talent but admits his accuracy must improve. “If there was another thing, it’s usually [to] get that left foot planted in the ground and try not over-stride. I think he got it immediately. I think they’ve touched on it before. If you can understand that going into the offseason, you can really grow.”
While the coaching staff trusts Rosier and expresses faith in him publicly, they’re critical behind closed doors. Days after losing in the Orange Bowl, Rosier was in the film room with Jon Richt for a tough 90-minute session.
“They didn’t think I played exceptionally bad, but they didn’t think I played exceptionally well,” Rosier said. “They thought I just kind of did my job, which is something they’re pushing to change. Last year was my first year starting. I was trying to do my job. This year, they’re pushing for leadership.
It’s not good enough to just be good at your job. They want to see that person who’s going to make everyone else great. You’ve got to make the O-line great. You’ve got to push them to be better than what they think they can be. … You did your job, but what did you do extra to help us win that game?”
Against Wisconsin, Rosier was told he didn’t do enough.
“We went up 17 points, and when they started catching up, nothing I did really helped the team get back on track and take the lead over,” he said. “That’s something we’re trying to fix, we’re trying to change.”
“Agile and explosive” is also a way to describe Perry, a 6-foot-4, 185-pound four-star recruit in the 2017 class. Rosier said he enjoys mentoring him.
“You can start seeing him becoming more of a leader,” Rosier said. “Last year they were telling him things he needed to know, and this year he can explain why he needs to know it. His knowledge of the game is getting so much better. Everyone knows he has a cannon for an arm, he’s an accurate guy. But just to see his mind open up and start to understand concepts, it’s going to help him in the spring and the fall.”