The D’Eriq King era is reaching new heights for the Miami Hurricanes just as it’s ending.
Or is it only beginning?
It’s becoming a weekly ritual for King to face questions about his professional prospects and the possibility he could enter the 2021 NFL Draft in the next few weeks. Those questions became even more pressing this week after Rivals.com reported King had already told McKenzie Milton, the former UCF quarterback looking to transfer, he was planning to go pro.
On Wednesday, King reiterated what he has said all along, while also teasing Miami fans a little bit.
“I have not made my mind up at all,” King said. “I’ve seen those reports — a lot of people mention me on Twitter and stuff like that — but I haven’t made my mind up at all. I want to go out there and beat North Carolina this weekend.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play in the NFL, but you can’t go wrong playing quarterback at the University of the Miami, one of the best universities in the country and one of the historic programs in the country. I wouldn’t mind at all coming back here for another year.”
If he does return, the Hurricanes (8-1, 7-1 Atlantic Coast) should once again be a factor nationally, especially given the way he has improved as the season has gone on.
———
After he began his Miami career with three spectacular performances, King hit a brief lull in the middle of the year, combining to go just 28 of 59 for 343 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions in a pair of games against the then-No. 1 Clemson Tigers and Pittsburgh Panthers. Since then, the No. 9 Hurricanes are having their best four-game offensive stretch of the season and King is averaging 313.8 yards per game game while completing 69.2% of his passes with nine touchdowns and no interceptions.
With two regular-season games and likely a bowl game left, King is completing 63.9% of his passes, averaging 259 passing yards per game and has a 5-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. No Miami quarterback has hit all three of those marks, and it’s not even factoring in his 51.9 rushing yards per game and four touchdowns.
In a normal 13-game season, King would be on pace for the second best completion percentage, second most passing touchdowns and fourth most passing yards.
With the Houston Cougars, he never could have faced the same sort of scrutiny he does now with the Hurricanes, leading a top-10 team with national championship history. The redshirt senior laments how he has missed out on a typical Miami experience because of COVID-19 — the season is shorter, fewer fans fill Hard Rock Stadium and, quite frankly, he doesn’t really go anywhere other than his home and the football facilities — but he has come to understand how meaningful it is to succeed as a quarterback for the Hurricanes.
“It’s a blessing. Being a quarterback here when things are going well, you kind of get all the glory and when things are going bad you get all the glory,” King said. “There’s pressure everywhere to play quarterback, but especially at a university like Miami, where there’s such high expectations every single game, every single year. There’s been times we’ve won this year on games that we were expected to lose and it’s like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to win by this much,’ but I get all that. It’s the University of Miami. They have big expectations and I’m all for it.”
On Saturday, he will face one of his stiffest tests yet, a potential shootout against star quarterback Sam Howell and the No. 20 North Carolina Tar Heels at Hard Rock Stadium. The Hurricanes will then close out the regular season at home against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Dec. 19, and then he should get to play in some bowl game later this month or next.
———
Once it’s all done, he will finally have a decision to make public.
If he goes, King will be one of the great one-year wonders in the history of this program and, ideally, a launching point for what this offense can consistently become with Rhett Lashlee as offensive coordinator. So far, it has been hard to separate quarterback from coach.
“They’ve got great chemistry between the two of them,” coach Manny Diaz said Monday. “I think they’re both just very special people.”
Whenever King leaves — if it’s in the next few weeks or not for another year — Miami will have to replace one of the greatest quarterbacks in program history. With the offense humming and a deep cache of skill players emerging, King believes the Hurricanes will be in good hands no matter who the quarterback is in 2021.
“I have good quarterbacks behind me,” King said. “All those guys could step right in and play, so I feel like if I was to leave it’d be the same offense, same expectations.”
