MIAMI _ A day after University of Miami offensive coordinator Dan Enos spoke publicly about how redshirt freshman quarterback Jarren Williams was disappointing and "did not play well enough to win" in his first college start, a 24-20 loss to the Florida Gators, Williams responded.
"He's a perfectionist," Williams said Tuesday. "If you're anything short of that he's going to let you know. He expects perfection, and we rep it day in and day out. That's what he expects from us because that's what we need."
Does he like that kind of coaching?
"I love that because I feel like it's going to make me great in the long run," Williams said. "It's tough, but it's only going to make me better."
Williams completed 19 of 29 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. In the first half he was nearly perfect statistically, completing 12 of 14 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown. But he was sacked 10 times _ and Enos said that half of those sacks were Williams' fault.
"I think I had him down for five of the sacks (being his fault) _ 100% on the quarterback," Enos said Monday.
Enos criticized Williams on everything from his "pocket posture" to his "inconsistent eyes" to "poor ball security" and holding the ball too long.
"The standard is excellence and perfection," Enos said, "and as close as we can get to that, the better off our football team is going to be.
"I don't see Jarren as he is, I see him as he can be."
Said Williams: "I mean, he was right. My job, the quarterback, we're judged on if we win ... And we came up short. I had a lot of mistakes in the game ... I'm going to learn from all my mistakes I made.
"I learned from that game the biggest thing is when the pocket does break down and you go to the next play _ you still gotta trust the pocket. Trust the pocket, because on that next play you might have a big play. If it didn't go right the first play you come back on the second play. Stay in there and find the open guy and go through my progressions."
One play that stood out to Williams, he said, in terms of missing open receivers was the one near the end of the game when he was sacked for the 10th and final time and ultimately fumbled, which teammate DJ Scaife recovered.
On second-and-10 from the Florida 24-yard line, Williams missed a wide open K.J. Osborn, who waved his arm about 10 yards away.
"Crunch time," Williams said. " ... I dropped back and I got greedy. I was looking down the field. I went through my first and second progression and tried to like a post in the corner.
"I was hanging on way too long, and then I tried to run out the pocket, but if I would've gone to my last progression, which was K.J. in the flat, he could've possibly caught the ball and picked up a first down. So, that's that's completely on me.
"I held the ball too long and I got hit, too, after, and that wasn't on the O-line. That was on me."
Williams, like his teammates, plans to build on the opener and use it as a learning tool. The Canes have off this weekend and travel to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for an 8 p.m. kickoff Sept. 7 at the University of North Carolina
"I feel like, that was my first college game, just having that experience now, just kind of understanding how things go in the game, the play clock, with a lot of different things," the quarterback said. "I feel like I kind of got a better understanding of how things work out there, so I'll be a lot more prepared now going into my second game.
"I expect to play a lot better."
Willliams said his offensive tackles _ true freshman Zion Williams guarding his blind side and redshirt freshman John Campbell on the right side _ were taking the experience "really well."
"For the most part," Williams said, "I feel like they did a really good job going against the defense. It's a great first experience for them. That game, going against that talented D-line, is only going to make us better."
Williams said he has heard from former Canes quarterbacks Gino Torretta and Malik Rosier, and even saw them during the game.
"It was good to know those guys, they're with us," Williams said. "It's really a family, you know, even 10 years, 20 years, however many years ago it was. They're still part of this team."
