Malik Rosier remembers clearly the conversation and the challenge.

Following a horrid camp performance in the spring of his redshirt sophomore year, new head coach Mark Richt delivered a firm message to his backup quarterback: “If you don’t change how you are and how you play, I promise you’ll never play for me a down in your life.”

Some teammates advised Rosier to transfer. Family members did, too. But Rosier came to the Hurricanes for a reason – to earn a degree from Miami and play for the U. He wasn’t ready to leave yet.

“I never let that competition scare me away from anything,” Rosier told 247Sports.

Two-and-a-half-years later, Rosier is entering his second season as the starter in Coral Gables. He’s a redshirt senior and an established leader on a team coming off its first 10-win season since 2003.

That’s not to say the challenges have stopped.

This offseason another Richt, Jon, the team’s QB coach, issued an equally bombastic declaration to Rosier and the Miami quarterback room: “Look, everybody in the country is doubting you as to whether you can do this or not. … A lot of people are bringing us down saying we’re not good enough to bring Miami back to what it’s been because we’re not ready at our position.”

Rosier played brilliantly at times during the 2017 campaign. He led multiple second-half comebacks and helped Miami win its first ACC Coastal Division title. He also completed just 54 percent of his passes and threw 14 interceptions.

That led to an offseason of questions as to whether Rosier would retain his starting job.

In Jon Richt’s mind that’s, exactly what his pupil needs.

“When Malik is challenged is when he becomes the best Malik,” Jon Richt said. “If you just let him do his own thing, he’s going to relax. But when you push him and you prod him and get in his grill and make him believe he’s got something to prove. That’s when Malik comes out and plays the best football he can.”

***

Highlights aren’t hard to find from Rosier’s 2017 campaign.

There’s the comeback he led against Virginia to keep Miami’s perfect season alive. There’s his last-second touchdown pass against Florida State that snapped a seven-game Seminoles winning streak against the Hurricanes. There’s his performance in a 41-8 win over No. 3 Notre Dame, which came only days after his father suffered a stroke.

Rosier showed a penchant for the big moment dating back to high school in Mobile, Alabama at Faith Academy. Once, in a one-score game in the final minutes Rosier decided to do something rash. The team's punter, Rosier decided to take off for the first down instead of burying the opponent deep. He saw something and instincts took over.

“He gave us all a heart attack,” said Rosier’s high school coach Rusty Mason. “He got the first down, believe it or not. That’s the only way we’d let him live. He’d do unusual things in the moment. What a player when the lights came on, man.”

Jon Richt said Rosier, during those many highs, looked like a “Heisman-type candidate.” The issue is, Rosier lacked consistency in those efforts. The reasons for this are twofold: 1. A mechanical drag that caused inaccuracy. 2. What Jon Richt called playing down to his opponent.

When it comes to the first issue, things are easier to parse.

Of the 81 quarterbacks last season who took 50 percent or more of their team's dropbacks, Rosier ranked 79th in PFF College’s adjusted completion percentage category, which accounts for dropped balls, throwaways and other things that impact a passer’s completion percentage. Rosier finished 65th when it came to his completion percentage under pressure.

Looking for solutions this offseason, Rosier and his private QB coach David Morris, of QB Country, spotlighted Rosier’s stride. Often Rosier would over-stride when he missed. In other words, his front foot pushed out to far, which interfered with the sequencing of his mechanics – lengthening his delivery while shortening his window to deliver the ball.

“When you shorten up that front step it leads to a quicker release,” Morris said.

Many of these instances came while under pressure. Rosier would over-stride and it’d force his body’s axis off target, forcing Rosier to throw “open bodied.” To correct that Rosier spent his offseason prioritizing stepping into his throws in the face of pressure.

Thus far, the results are positive. Rosier said he’s hitting players in the chest where he would’ve sailed the ball high a year ago.

Even former Hurricanes have noticed the difference. Brad Kaaya, who came to Miami in the same class as Rosier and started ahead of him from 2014-16, texted Rosier earlier this week: “Bro, I’m watching your highlights. Your throwing motion is so much smoother, so much more compact.”

When it comes to the Richt’s point of consistency, Miami is looking for a steadier Rosier in 2018. There’s no doubting Rosier can perform in the big moments, but there were times when Richt saw Rosier relax at the worst time.

“It could be the same game and he could play really good and really bad,” Jon Richt said. “Everybody knows the story of what he was last year. That’s what we’ve kind of combated all offseason, just trying to create an atmosphere where he understands that he has to come out and compete every single down and every single play.”

There are examples of this spattered throughout Miami’s 2017 season.

Perhaps none were more notable than Miami’s 24-19 win over a 1-7 North Carolina. Rosier finished that afternoon with a season-high 356 yards passing and three touchdowns, but he also completed a season-low 42.1 percent of his passes and threw a pick. Notably, Rosier threw four of passes for 42-plus yards on separate drives with three of them ending in touchdowns. No other Hurricane drive that afternoon went for more than 17 yards.

Rosier said that’s something the offense worked to address all offseason but also admits: “This offense will only be as good as the quarterback is.”

Jon Richt said Rosier is so smart the Hurricane coaches have to get creative at times to keep him engaged the same way a player who picks things up less quickly would be. For Rosier in Year 2 as the starter that’s meant a less holistic view of the offense and a more micro look at tells and details on any given play – from a defensive back’s leverage to a linebacker’s position.

“When he’s truly focused and locked in and is mentally into it, I think he’s as good as any quarterback in the country,” Jon Richt said.

***

Rosier found out he’d been named Miami’s starter in 2018 on the internet.

Not that he was particularly surprised. He’d worked with the 1s all summer, and he’d been receiving calls saying he’d be the guy. Rosier initially described the knowledge a sigh of relief. He’s glad “people can leave me alone about that one topic.”

Miami is going to work through Rosier no matter what the fans think or reporters speculate.

“He’s by far the best guy we’ve got at controlling and running our offense,” Jon Richt said. “He knows our offense in and out. He is the best quarterback. He’s not the most talented athlete that we have. But he’s the best quarterback we have right now to run our system.”

Rosier knows what he’s in charge of.

The Hurricanes enter the season ranked in the top 10. Miami, the team Rosier grew up rooting for as a kid, is back in the national spotlight. And he, more than anyone else on the field, controls how Miami will travel its path.

Walking out of class one week before the start of the 2018 season, Rosier quotes a favorite saying of head coach Mark Richt: “Don’t tell me how rocky the sea is. Just get the ship in.” Rosier knows there’s been plenty of chatter surrounding his play this offseason. He also knows none of that will matter if the Hurricanes win.

There’s a reason Rosier chose to stay when Richt challenged him in 2016.

It’s for this spotlight, at this university. He’s steering the boat.

“It does fall on the quarterback to get the ball moving,” Rosier said. “Anytime you have a good quarterback with the athletes we have at Miami, the offense is going to be very dynamic.”

“To know there’s still an unmarked ACC championship the University of Miami is something that shouldn’t be. For me that’s something I’d really love to accomplish. Coach Richt talks about if you win a championship, you get to come back every five, 10, 15 years. That’s something I strive to win so we can come back and reminisce on those days.”