Miami (OH) QB David McComb "very doubtful"; Caleb Heavner likely to start Week 5

He never played a collegiate snap before this season. Now, he's one of the most valuable freshmen in the country.

Miami (OH) quarterback David McComb has been a promising development for a RedHawk team that sorely needed consistent quarterback play after a tumultuous 2025 at the position. The Kansas transfer stepped in and delivered 1,121 passing yards (first among FBS freshmen), seven touchdowns, and one interception on a 63.1 completion rate in his first four college games. He also added 45 yards and three touchdowns as a rusher.

However, the progress came to a sudden halt in the early fourth quarter of the RedHawks' 24-21 win over UConn in Week 4. McComb exited the game with an injury, leaving backup Caleb Heavner to finish the contest. Heavner guided the RedHawks on the game-winning drive in his lone series, moving the offense 28 yards to set up the go-ahead field goal.

"He's got upper body issues. He's got lower body issues. He was limited in practice all week," Miami head coach Chuck Martin said of McComb. "He got beat up at Pitt. He got beat up at Cincinnati. But he's out there competing, and he gets dinged up again."

Martin provided an update on McComb's status in his Monday press conference, stating the quarterback had a doctor's appointment that afternoon.

"He's got multiple things going on, so it's a twofold doctor's appointment" Martin said. "He's got upper body. He's got lower body. I would say he's very, very doubtful for this week. We'll know more today, not only for this week — we're not counting on this week, but you never know. He's tough. I wasn't counting on him last week at one point, but he was convincing me he was good, but he's got some testing he's doing. We should know by (Tuesday) or later (Monday) most likely what the upper body injury is, what it looks like, and what's our best course of action."

After leading the game-winning drive to defeat UConn, Heavner — a transfer from Division II program Fort Hays — is expected to start Saturday, Oct. 3 against Bowling Green.

"The biggest thing is, he's started for two years in college," Martin said. "David's first start in college was at Pitt. David started in high school, but that was his first college experience, where Caleb, at least, has a couple years of playing under his belt and has played and has been the starter and has been the guy and knows what it's like."

Miami had a fall camp battle for the quarterback position, but Heavner was not one of two primary candidates. The RedHawks decided between McComb and Thomas Gotkowski, who started Miami's final three games of 2025, including the MAC Championship Game and Arizona Bowl. However, Gotkowski suffered a non-contact injury during fall camp, thrusting McComb into the starting role.

Martin still placed full faith in Heavner as the RedHawks' quarterback room continues to shrink.

"He's been here for 10 months, and he's played football before," Martin said. "He's been practicing with the twos, but we have good wideouts and we have good support around him. I don't know if it affects our gameplanning at all for how we play the game... There will still be some trial and error, and there was still some of that with David. Week 4 was a lot easier to gameplan with David than Week 1, so it will be the same thing with Caleb."

With Heavner in the QB1 role, the backup for Saturday will be true freshman Drew Bellisari from Bishop Watterson High School (OH). The only other quarterback on Miami's roster is true freshman Luke Berry from Grand Haven High School (MI).

Miami remains at home for Week 5, and its chase for a fourth-straight conference championship appearance begins. The RedHawks host the MAC's lone winless team, Bowling Green — an opponent Martin has defeated six times in eight tries.