King showing intangibles, leadership skills as quarterback
Beyond Miami Hurricanes quarterback D’Eriq King’s on-field abilities, intangibles such as his leadership qualities have also been lauded by UM coach Manny Diaz and others on the coaching staff.
“I just love the way he interacts with the players on his team,” Diaz told 560-AM on Tuesday morning. “There’s the ball stuff and what he can do playing quarterback, but I always see him after practice hanging out with three or four different guys. And I don’t know what they’re talking about, but they’re just doing something and it’s always a different group of guys. Last night, it was three offensive linemen. Then, the day before that, it might be three defensive players.”
Since transferring from Houston for his redshirt senior season, King has earned the respect of his peers and his coaches ahead of the Hurricanes’ opener Thursday night against UAB at Hard Rock Stadium.
“He’s just a quarterback who seems to draw people toward him,” Diaz said. “Great leadership ability, but it’s not overt, rah-rah Hollywood speech. He just seems like somebody who really brings our team together.”
Miami cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph also shared a story earlier in training camp about how the defense was surprised to see King watching one of their defensive walkthroughs at a time when he didn’t have to be around team facilities. Rumph learned later that it was because the Hurricanes were working on a defense that had given King trouble, so he wanted to study it to learn how to attack it.
“I think it’s growing up as a coach’s kid. I always around ball ever since I was 5 years old,” King said after Tuesday’s practice. “My parents, I think they instilled leadership to all their kids. It wasn’t me doing anything different trying to stand out. It was doing what I needed to do to have a good practice that day. Doing things like that, makes you a better football player.”
Making that sort of extra effort is a positive influence on redshirt junior backup quarterback N’Kosi Perry, who has been in and out of starting duties over the past two seasons, working in with Jarren Williams last season and Malik Rosier in 2018.
On Monday, Perry was officially named the second-string quarterback to King, as expected, with Miami’s release of its depth chart.
“I’m really proud of N’Kosi,” Diaz said. “I mean, obviously, he’s been through a lot. He’s had some super high highs in this program here — beating Florida State [in 2018] — also some not-so-great moments.
“This year, I really think his maturity level has gone to a different level. He’s really handled his business on the field and off the field. I think he’s benefiting a little from what we’re doing. We’ve seen him. N’Kosi can make plays in a game. We have confidence in N’Kosi if he was our quarterback. He just continues to work, get better. He loves the University of Miami, loves being a Miami Hurricane, and I would say there’s probably not a lot of people in the country who have got a No. 2 quarterback that has done some of the things that our guys has.”
With the Hurricanes looking to split No. 2 running back duties behind starter Cam’Ron Harris between freshmen Jaylan Knighton and Donald Chaney Jr., Diaz was posed with the question of whether he views Knighton as more of a capable contributor in the passing game.
“It would be unfair to say one guy can and one guy can’t,” Diaz said. “Both those guys can do some things.
“When you’re talking about pass-catching situations, the first thing you’re talking about then is blitz pickup and be being sound on: a.) who you have to pick up on blitz, and then can you do it? I don’t see any vast discrepancies that one guy certainly can and one guy certainly can’t. And they’ve got a great older guy to learn from in a guy like Cam Harris. Cam has seen some really good backs here before him, whether it’s Travis Homer or DeeJay Dallas. … I think we’ve got great depth there, which we’ll definitely need in 2020.”