Miami lands Albany transfer quarterback Reese Poffenbarger
Former Albany quarterback Resse Poffenbarger is transferring to Miami.
Poffenbarger, led the FCS in passing touchdowns (36) and yards (3,603) last season. Poffenbarger visited Miami recently before making his commitment.
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"Miami speaks for itself—the beautiful city. The campus is amazing, and the culture is unmatched," Poffenbarger said. "The biggest thing I was looking for throughout this process was the perfect fit from a coaching staff. When it comes to Coach [Mario] Cristobal and the culture that he instills and is working on and what he preaches to new guys, is undeniable."
After showing interest in former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard and Washington State's Cam Ward, Miami chose Poffenbarger, who is going into his fifth year as a college quarterback.
Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson reached out to Poffenbarger, and the relationship grew.
"He's one of the coolest guys that does it in this business. He's an absolute competitor, and that's what I was looking for a guy who is going to match my energy when it comes to wanting to win at all costs."
Poffenbarger was a walk-on at Old Dominion, then transferred to Albany, and now has two years of eligibility remaining. Dawson will be Poffenbarger's fifth offensive coordinator, but the veteran is confident in adapting to a new offense.
"It's just learning a new language, it's not learning new concepts," Poffenbarger said. "When looking at Coach Dawson's offense there is a ton of similarities from what I've played in. A lot of the same concepts."
He is the former Maryland state player of the year and a first-team all-state quarterback out of Middletown High School. Coming out of high school in Middletown, Maryland, he was not rated but developed his game to extend plays outside of the pocket.
"I think it's one of my biggest strengths as a quarterback," Poffenbarger said of making off-scripted plays. "I feel extremely confident in my ability to buy time in the pocket and when that time comes to extend plays. And not extending plays to run the ball, but extending plays to keep my eyes down the field. It's something that I've thrived in my entire life...You consistently have to find arm angles or windows to make the throws, and a lot of times, people talk about an undersized guy not being able to see. That's never the case if you talk to any quarterback who is 6'1," 6'2." It's never that I can't see the window, it's if I find the arm angle to fit it in that window."
Poffenbarger, now 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, will enter a quarterback competition at Miami that includes sophomore Jacurri Brown and freshman Emory Williams. Miami will also add 2024 signee Judd Anderson to its quarterback room.
"I can't wait to build those relationships with those other quarterbacks and just be a part of this organization and do everything I can to get some wins."
The Great Danes went 3-8 in Poffenbarger's first season and 11-4 this year, including a trip to the FCS semifinals.
"I think that something that gets misconstrued a lot is that guys coming from smaller levels, how are they going to make the jump. I'm going to have to adjust to the speed, which is going to be faster, but my offensive line is going to be bigger in front of me...FCS guys go into the NFL at receiver and DB all the time. The biggest difference is the trenches in my opinion...the speed will be different but you can only run cover three so many times, and you can only run quarter so many ways...Im not nervous for the transition. I'm extremely excited to get to work."
Poffenbarger will arrive in Miami in a week and begin to compete in the spring for the starting job.
"When I was going through this process, I was looking for one thing and that was where can I go that is going to allow me to be part of a team that is going to win football games? I wasn't out there looking for NIL money. I wasn't out there looking for the prettiest school. It just so happened that I ended up at one of the prettiest schools in the country. It does have the big name, "The U," and the culture is unmatched. To the fans of Miami out there, you are getting a kid that is going to compete his absolute tail off to the end of every single game and give the city and program everything I have to get this place exactly where it needs to be and that's competing for national championships every single year."
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