TD! QB Van Dyke starts, 5-star starts, Gaynor replaced at center after 27 straight starts

Manny Diaz was expected to infuse some youthful talent Saturday in his lineup against Central Connecticut State, and, indeed, he made some changes right from the start.

The first, which was expected, was that second-year freshman quarterback Tyler Van Dyke got his first career start with veteran starter D’Eriq King out with a shoulder injury. Van Dyke played late in the fourth quarter this season against Alabama (one incomplete pass and three rushes for 17 yards). He also played sparingly in two games last season — handing off on the last play of UM’s 52-10 rout of Florida State and throwing two incompletions before being sacked for -7 yards in UM’s last offensive drive of the 62-26 loss to North Carolina.

Van Dyke threw his first touchdown pass, a 5-yarder to Mike Harley, at 12:18 of the opening quarter to culminate a 7-play, 64-yard drive. He was 3 of 3 for 36 yards on the drive.

True freshman backup quarterback Jake Garcia was also set to make his college debut Saturday, Diaz said.

Other immediate changes included the offensive line, which was reshuffled at the start for the fourth time in four games. With second-year freshman left guard Jalen Rivers out with a season-ending knee injury, Here were the starters on the O-line: left tackle Zion Nelson, left guard Navaughn Donaldson, center Jakai Clark, right guard D.J. Scaife and right tackle Jarrid Williams.

Usual center Corey Gaynor, a fifth-year redshirt junior, was replaced in the starting lineup after 27 consecutive career starts. It was Clark’s first career start at center after starting at guard on both sides the past two seasons. Clark is a third-year sophomore.

Defensively, safety Gurvan Hall, who was suspended for the game for violating team rules, was replaced as a starter by five-star fan favorite James Williams. Williams played in the first three games and had three tackles before Saturday.

Also, Gilbert Frierson replaced Amari Carter at starting striker.

“Is it disappointing in year 3 you have to go to the older guys and now you’ve got to find solutions with the younger guys?” Diaz was asked earlier in the week.

“I look at it the opposite way,’’ the coach said. “To me when we came into this program we talked about one of the major things we had to fix was our recruiting and our roster in terms of talent acquisition. So we still think we got older guys that can do it for us, but the future of this program is in these last couple of classes and the class we’ve got on the hook now.

“So, I don’t know why that would be disappointing. If anything it’s the other way around. Our older guys are going to play better, they are. But we are continuing to increase the talent on our roster.’’