South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
An early win for the Hurricanes
QB King runs, looks and sounds healthy
CORAL GABLES — D’Eriq King took the snap, read the defense and saw the opportunity he just mentioned on the sideline to the guy he worked closest with this offseason.
Not a coach. Not some teammate. It was a physical therapist who helped return his surgically repaired knee to health.
“I told him I wanted to run so I can show what I can do,” King said.
Here, in the opening moments of the first practice, King did just that Friday night. He ran. He moved upfield with his normal step. He slashed across the field with the same speed he did last season.
“I wanted to get out there, run around and be me,” he said.
The University of Miami doesn’t kick off its season for another month, but already got its first win. King looks back to form. His knee looks healthy.
“It looked like nothing actually happened,” Miami coach Manny Diaz said, referring to the knee surgery. “You see the guy spin some of the throws in there. And what I actually liked — and I feel it was intentional — is he took off and ran.”
Move along. There’s nothing left to see here anymore.
Except that there is. There has to be considering the major knee surgery was just eight months ago and King’s importance to this program.
King is, without question, Miami’s most important player of the past 15 years. He didn’t just provide the answer at quarterback this program has searched for when he arrived from Houston and the transfer portal.
He stabilized the full program. Remember? The questions weren’t just about quarterback. They were accompanying through the full program about maturity, work ethic and leadership — the exact strengths King exhibited.
He helped changed everything for Diaz the moment he showed up. He provided a dynamic player in a dynamic package. He didn’t just win a handful of games with his play — he moved the full program forward with his demeanor.
That’s why his injury during last December’s bowl game was felt in ways most injuries aren’t. It’s also why this first practice meant something more than an opening glimpse of a team — why King’s first run meant something more than a common run.
Teammates cheered. Coaches smiled. Several ran over to celebrate with him.
“It felt good,” King said. South Florida football doesn’t always do hope well. It’s been beaten out of us in recent years. But for both the Miami Dolphins and the Hurricanes hope comes in the form of a returning quarterback.
Tua Tagovailoa had some rookie struggles, but arrives in his second NFL season with a better understanding of the job and improved surrounding talent.
King’s situation was entirely different. The question with him was entirely physical. One imposing question entering Friday’s practice was if Miami would let him play in the opener against a heavyweight like Alabama if his knee was 90 percent healthy.
Would it put him at risk, or perhaps injury, with 11 games remaining?
Maybe that question raises itself later. But Diaz laughed after the practice in answering whether King already had passed all the physical hurdles to be named the starter in the opener.
“It’s not my choice,” Diaz said. “He’s not going to let me not start him at quarterback. He’s going to run out for the first play. It wouldn’t matter who else we’d put out there at quarterback. We’d have to call time-out because we’ll have 12 men on the field.”
King especially wants to play against Alabama to show NFL scouts his game. That’s the tallest order in college football, of course. Alabama was last seen dismantling Ohio State in the championship game. It will simply do a roster re-load for this year.
King watched every Alabama game this offseason. “I had a lot of time,” he said, meaning while rehabbing his knee.
Even now, he has treatment on it twice a day. It’s something to watch. But the sight of this first practice was relief to everyone. Miami’s season doesn’t open for another month, but it got its first win with the sight of him running down the practice field.