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When Kansas confirmed the departure of 2013 starting quarterback and former five-star recruit Jake Heaps last week, it wasn't clear if Heaps planned on continuing his up-and-down college football career. But we didn't have to wait long for clarification, it turns out.
Miami announced Sunday that Heaps will join the Hurricanes after graduating from Kansas at the end of this month. Heaps projects to be eligible immediately and has one season of eligibility remaining.
"I'm extremely excited to join the Miami football program and to get down there and compete," he told FoxSports.
Hurricanes coach Al Golden said in April that redshirt freshman Kevin Olsen had a narrow lead in the race to start the team's 2014 season opener against Louisville, but pointedly did not rule out adding a senior transfer to the mix. Projected starter Ryan Williams tore his ACL in spring and is reportedly hoping to return in time for the Hurricanes' Sept. 20 game against Nebraska, while incoming freshmen Brad Kaaya and Malik Rosier will also appear on the depth chart.
In Heaps, the Hurricanes have added a quarterback who ranked as the No. 3 quarterback in the class of 2010 and a top-100 overall prospect according to the 247Sports composite. Heaps signed with BYU and won the starter's job, but eventually lost out and joined Charlie Weis in Kansas.
Heaps appeared in 11 games in his only season in Lawrence, completing 49 percent of his passes and posting an 8-to-10 touchdown to interception ratio as the Jayhawks finished 3-9. Weis held an open competition for the starting quarterback job in spring practice and named Montell Cozart his No. 1 afterwards.
Heaps' supporters will argue that given better support from his offensive line and skill position players than he was provided in Kansas, he can still live up to some fraction of his 2010 hype. There wasn't much evidence of that the past couple of seasons, but it's nonetheless hard to blame Golden on taking this kind of flyer.
