South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
QB King done with college football
MIAMI GARDENS — D’Eriq King’s playing career with the Miami Hurricanes has come to an end.
King, the former starting quarterback who is sidelined for the season due to a shoulder injury he suffered against Michigan State on Sept. 18, appeared on CaneSports’ “The Lamar Thomas Show” earlier this week, where he discussed his football future.
King, the 24-year-old sixth-year senior, could have applied for a medical hardship waiver for the 2022 season to continue his collegiate career, but he’s looking to move on to the pros.
“I’m done with college [football],” said King, who revealed he suffered a Grade 5 AC joint separation against the Spartans. “I get cleared in January. I already got invited to a couple of All-Star games. I’m waiting on the Senior Bowl. I’m training to get ready for that and see what happens.”
King transferred to Miami from Houston last offseason after four seasons with the Cougars and had a standout 2020 season with UM, throwing for 2,686 yards and 23 touchdowns to go along with 538 yards on the ground and four rushing touchdowns, leading the Hurricanes to an 8-3 record.
He announced he was returning to Miami for the 2021 season — three days before tearing the ACL and meniscus in his right knee in Miami’s Cheez-It Bowl loss to Oklahoma State on Dec. 29, 2020.
King spent this past offseason rehabbing so he’d be ready for the Hurricanes’ season opener against Alabama on Sept. 4.
King also revealed that he suffered another knee injury against the Crimson Tide.
“I don’t think anybody knows this but the Alabama game [when] I got stripsacked, blindsided, I re-injured my knee,” he said. “I tore another ligament in the back of my knee. I don’t think anybody knew about that. I came back to Miami that day. That Sunday I got an MRI, X-ray, all that and it wasn’t my ACL — thank God. It was a small ligament I could play through.
“So I played the [Appalachian] State game with not a lot of practice that week as far as me running the ball and just getting team reps because I was trying to get healthy for the game. Just had to play through it, go out there and try to win some games.”
King led the Hurricanes to a 25-23 win over the Mountaineers on Sept. 11 before the shoulder injury the following weekend against Michigan State.
“Deep down inside, I know if I didn’t separate my shoulder on the first drive of the third quarter, I think the game is totally different,” King said. “For me, people can say what they want about the program, the coaches and all that, but at the end of the day the first couple of games come down to we weren’t playing good as players.
“I felt the Michigan State game was the game we’d pick it up and everything started clicking. From my performance, I can say the turnover on the first possession of the game, that was rough. And then separating my shoulder the first drive of the second half. I probably should have sat out, got healthy. But I tried to come back, fight through it and I think it ended up making it worse.”
King threw for 767 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions to go along with 96 rushing yards in three games this season.
He’ll finish his college career with 8,378 passing yards and 76 touchdowns and 2,055 rushing yards and 32 rushing touchdowns.
King says he continues to attend every Miami practice and meeting while he continues to rehab his shoulder, with the expectation he’ll be cleared by early January.
He continues to mentor starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, the second-year freshman who’s led the Hurricanes to three consecutive victories after Saturday’s win over the Yellow Jackets.
“It’s definitely hard for me to watch them practice, but at the end of the day I think that’s what’s best for me,” King said. “At the same time, after I get done playing ball, I want to get into coaching, so I’m kind of taking this time to learn the ins and outs of that.”