Oxford, Ohio – Last season’s QB room ended in disappointment. This year, Miami is rebuilding it and the race to lead it is wide open. 4 QB’s who were on the RedHawks left Oxford after last campaign and the RedHawks are operating a 3 headed monster of a QB room headlined by returner Thomas Gotkowski, and joined by incoming transfers Davis McComb (Kansas), and Caleb Heavner (Fort Hays).
Currently, all signs point toward this being a 3 man race with Gotkowski leading a bit. People around the program have said that McComb has the best legs, while Heavner’s arm is the most talented. However, Gotkowski’s experience in the system and experience at this level help push him ahead.
If I were projecting the Depth Chart right now:
- Gotkowski
- Heavner
- McComb
The Returner: Thomas Gotkowski
Gotkowski’s path in Oxford has been a slow burn. The Ben Davis High School (Indianapolis) product arrived in Miami in 2024 and spent his first year watching from the sideline as a redshirt. Last season, the RedHawks handed him the reins in five games, three as the starter (after injuries ahead of him), by season’s end he’d thrown for 575 yards, 4 touchdowns, and just 1 interception, completing 44.2% of his passes (38-86) while showing genuine dual-threat ability with 115 yards and a score on 31 carries.
His two best performances came in back-to-back weeks in late November, and they’re the reason he’s got an inside shot at being QB1 this year. Against Buffalo on November 19th, he was efficient and dangerous, going 13-23 for 185 yards and a touchdown through the air while adding 26 yards and another score on the ground as Miami rolled to a 37-20 win. Ten days later, in his first career start against Ball State, he was even better — 12-24 for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 44 rushing yards, in a 45-24 blowout.
Then the stage got bigger, and Gotkowski shrank. In the MAC Championship against Western Michigan, he managed just 92 yards on 7-17 passing with no touchdowns, and the RedHawks fell 23-13. It got worse in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl against Fresno State — 6-22, 0 touchdowns, an interception, and only 16 rushing yards on 9 carries in an 18-3 loss. Two neutral-site games, two of the toughest defenses he’d faced all year, and two performances that raised real questions about whether he’s ready for the moment.
That’s the tension defining this QB race. Gotkowski has the experience and the flashes of brilliance nobody else in the room has shown, but he also has a track record of fizzling when the lights get brightest. He’s earned the first crack at the job. Whether he keeps it depends on whether last year’s championship-weekend collapse was a freshman hiccup or a pattern.
The DII Transfer: Caleb Heavner
If arm talent decides this race, Heavner is the wild card. The Denison, Texas native spent three seasons at Fort Hays State (Division II) in Western Kansas, earning All-MIAA honorable mention in each of his last two, and leaves with career numbers that jump off the page: 3,398 passing yards and 24 touchdowns to go with 1,094 rushing yards and 11 more scores across 24 games. Thanks to the new age-based eligibility model, he arrives at Miami with two years left to play.
This past season told the story of a quarterback still figuring out how to marry his talent with consistency. He threw for 1,590 yards and 9 touchdowns on a 56% completion rate (173-305), but 9 interceptions show a willingness to push the ball downfield that occasionally backfired. His legs, though, were never in question — 664 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns on 158 carries, capped by a pair of highlight-reel breakaways to close the season: a 77-yard run against Central Missouri and a 61-yarder at Emporia State in the finale.
His signature performance came against Colorado State University-Pueblo, where he was nearly unstoppable 19-27 passing (70%) for 226 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 70 yards on the ground. He backed that up against Central Missouri with his best two-way outing of the year: 144 rushing yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, paired with 158 passing yards and another score through the air.
The question for Miami isn’t whether Heavner can make plays — it’s whether he can make them fast enough after jumping from Division II to the MAC. Early returns suggest his arm is the best in the QB room, and that’s exactly what an offense looking to open things up needs. Gotkowski still holds the edge as my presumed starter, but if Heavner builds chemistry with the receivers quickly in camp, he has the raw tools to force the issue.
The High Major Transfer: Davis McComb
McComb is the mystery of the room. The Edmond, Oklahoma native spent last season redshirting at Kansas, and outside of a handful of insiders, almost nobody has seen him play meaningful snaps since high school. What we do know paints an intriguing picture: a 6’4″, 220-pound frame, a 3-star ranking per 247Sports (both high school and transfer portal), and a resume at Edmond Memorial High School where he left as the program’s all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns, and attempts. That production was enough to draw offers from Kansas, Tulane, Toledo, UAB, North Texas, Tulsa, Virginia Tech, Akron, and Memphis before he picked Kansas out of high school.
With four years of eligibility still in front of him, McComb has more runway than anyone else in the QB room — and that changes how you have to think about his 2026 outlook. Right now, I’ve got him third on the depth chart, but that ranking comes with an asterisk. When a player is this much of an unknown, it’s less a judgment on his ability and more an acknowledgment that fall camp is going to tell us more in a month than his transcript has told us in years.
Here’s the case for patience: McComb may have the highest ceiling on the roster, and playing him behind a proven quarterback coach like Gus Ragland this season, with an eye toward handing him the offense in 2027, is a defensible long-term plan. But defensible on paper doesn’t mean easy in practice. This is the reality of coaching in the NIL and transfer portal era — you can’t just develop for tomorrow, because tomorrow’s roster depends on winning today. If Miami stumbles out of the gate, the patience for a redshirt-caliber plan can evaporate fast, and every coach knows it.
The Bottom Line:
Most MAC programs would kill for one proven arm heading into fall camp. Miami has three players who can make a case, and no clear favorite among them. That’s either a luxury or a problem, depending on how camp goes.
What we do know: this battle isn’t getting settled in a scrimmage or a coordinator’s gut feeling. It’s going to play out in front of everybody, likely stretching into the final weeks of August, with the very real chance it isn’t fully resolved before Miami opens the season against Pitt.
If I’m putting my chips down today, Gotkowski’s experience gives him the edge to open the season under center. But nothing about his 2025 tape suggests the job is safe past October. In the MAC, where margins are razor-thin and one bad half can flip a season, Miami doesn’t just need a starter — it needs whichever of these three proves, week after week, that he can be trusted with the ball in his hands when it matters most. Right now, that’s still an open competition, and that’s what makes it worth watching.
Reminder: We’re still looking for a Miami beat writer! If you’re interested in writing for the RedHawks, let me know @ hunter.sansom@sansomsportsmedia.com
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