Miami Quarterback Has a Tough Time Following a Tough Act : College Football: Erickson battles injuries, interceptions and the legacy of four predecessors who graduated to the NFL.

At Miami, where a quarterback’s uniform is thought to confer immediate stature and perfection to the wearer, Craig Erickson has a welt on his right hand and an uncertain expression to suggest he knows otherwise. His debut season has included a fractured finger, almost as many interceptions as touchdowns and a spectacular public fit of temper.

No one could blame Erickson if he inwardly harbored a desire to burn the pictures of his Miami predecessors, four sleek millionaire NFL quarterbacks in Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar, Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde and Steve Walsh. In staggering succession they were labeled the quarterbacking talents of their generations, and Erickson in his turn had the misfortune of being predicted to be more talented than any of them. Thus far his junior year has been an exercise in grappling with reality.

“There’s a certain expectation at Miami that a quarterback plays good every time he steps on the field,” Erickson said. “It doesn’t happen that way.”

Erickson has become perhaps the natural focal point for criticism as Miami undergoes a difficult transition period. He inherited the position just as the Hurricanes were assumed by a new head coach in Dennis Erickson (no relation) and abandoned an offense he spent three years learning. While trying, unsteadily, to grasp the new system, he broke a knuckle on his right index finger in only the fourth game of the year and had surgery. Since his return only three games ago, he has been prey to skepticism: for the year he has completed 53% of his passes for 1,797 yards, but with 12 interceptions to 14 touchdowns.

When No. 7 Miami (9-1) met No. 1 Notre Dame (11-0) on Saturday in a game with huge impact on the rankings and national championship, Erickson was perhaps the most inexperienced and closely scrutinized starter on the Orange Bowl field.

Should the Hurricanes this season accomplish anything short of a national championship, Erickson stands to be the brunt of a wave of criticism.

Erickson has close-cropped hair and a disarming candor. He came to Miami in 1985 out of West Palm Beach, 6-feet-2 and 196 pounds of prized ability who caused All-America candidate Jeff George to renege on a commitment and instead go to Illinois.

That Erickson possesses all the physical gifts required is not questioned. Former Miami offensive coordinator Gary Stevens, who nurtured him as a reserve before going to the Miami Dolphins, said flatly, “Great arm. Firepower.” He also is credited with a feistiness that has aided him through some controversies and his struggles with inconsistency as a starter.

“He can shake it off,” Stevens said. “He won’t let it get the best of him. He’ll come back and beat you. He may throw nine incompletes and come back and complete 10 in a row.”

Erickson’s temperament was perhaps responsible for the Hurricanes’ most disturbing incident of the season. When he returned from his injury to start against Pittsburgh, his performance was statistically solid if shaky. He and receiver Lamar Thomas had a screaming match in the huddle, on the sideline and again while walking off the field. Receiver Dale Dawkins said, “He lost his composure and that’s something a quarterback just can’t do.”

But the Hurricanes also have a measure of compassion for Erickson’s awkward position, and recognize his desire to take command. In early fall practices he told them sharply, “Straighten up the huddle.” His outburst during the Pittsburgh game has been filed under the frustration they all feel at their season-long errors in the new offense, which range from miscommunication to having the wrong players in at the wrong time, to misreads. Erickson has said he prefers to keep those kinds of arguments within the team.

“It was no big deal, a heat of the moment thing,” receiver Randal Hill said. “I think there’s a lot of pressure on Craig, more than anyone can imagine maybe. I mean, Kelly, Kosar, Testaverde. He deals with things in his own way. It was just a little controversy and confusion. He’s successful, and no one can take that away from him.”

The hitches in the offense probably were exacerbated by the loss of Erickson against Michigan State in the second quarter. The result is that going into the Notre Dame game, he has played just five quarters against teams that can be regarded as fair tests of his ability, the Spartans and Pittsburgh, and the rest of his performances have come against weaker teams such as East Carolina and San Diego State.

The Hurricanes maintain that many of their problems have been smoothed over in recent weeks, receivers reading their routes more accurately and Erickson anticipating them better. The essential differences between the new “spread” offense and the old conventional pro-style are that they use just one running back while adding a receiver, and the emphasis is on shorter, quicker patterns. The idea is to get the ball off to one of their lightning receivers as fast as possible so he can exercise his speed.

It is difficult to quarrel with the Hurricanes’ statistical success, as they have gained more than 500 yards in six games. They average 36.6 points per game and 469 yards, the latter a school-record pace. In Erickson’s defense, the frequent interceptions may be a result of natural hesitation he has felt in trying to forget a system he knew so thoroughly and studied so patiently while playing behind Walsh.

“I think it’s come a long way,” Erickson said. “I’m able to come out without actually thinking about what I have to do. A lot goes into throwing the football, a lot has to be clicking for you.

“You never forget anything that’s so good. I learned a lot of the basics under Coach Stevens. There was somewhat of a transition, but it was for all 11 guys. It’s just that the focus was on the quarterback.”

But Dennis Erickson acknowledges that his quarterback is largely untried against first-rate competition. For every substantial statistic he has acquired, such as 424 yards against San Diego State last week, the third-best single game in school history, there has been a worrisome facet like his five interceptions in the same game.