Cyler Miles primarily served as the Washington Huskies starting quarterback in 2014. Huskies head coach Chris Petersen isn’t willing to commit to the soon-to-be junior as the team’s starter for the 2015 campaign.
“I have no idea. No idea. You know, no idea,” Petersen said, when asked during an interview with KJR’s Dave Mahler, via The Seattle Times’ Adam Jude. “But I don’t want to start this quarterback controversy like, ‘He’s out.’ Cyler can do some really good things. But, like anybody — ask me who the starting guards are going to be or the starting receivers. Everybody needs to get better. It really is — it’s wide open.”
Miles experienced ups and downs during his first year as a starter, and Petersen acknowledged the quarterback needs to play better to retain his spot atop the depth chart.
“The long and the short of it is, he did improve,” Petersen explained. “He did get better. Did we play at a level that we need to play at to win like we want to? No, and I think he would admit that. When I look at the tapes, he did some really good things. And I think maybe a thing that’s encouraging is I saw things on there that to me are not complicated that we didn’t get done — that he can make some of these plays that are not complicated I saw him make a lot of hard plays. Now if we can take the things that we know you’ve got to be able to do and just become more consistent, his game will go to the next level — and it will go to the next level.”
Despite an the upcoming open competition, Miles played well in stretches. The first-year starter finished the season with 2,397 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and only four interceptions. However, the vertical aspect lacked in the offense.
A true freshman is expected to be Miles’ primary competition.
Jake Browning (Folsom, Calif./Folsom) is a four-star recruit, according to Rivals.com, who enrolled early with the program and will compete with Miles during spring practice.
“Jake’s going to have the benefit of being here in the springtime, so it’s not like he’s just getting here in the fall and we’re just throwing it at him,” Petersen said. “So we’ll just see. We will rule out no options at this time for sure, and Jake’s going to get a great opportunity to come in and compete with these other guys.”
Miles should still be considered the favorite to start behind center, but he will need to earn that spot over the next eight months.