Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hurricanes won’t name starting QB
Grieving quarterback King joins Hurricanes for first spring practice
CORAL GABLES — By the time the Miami Hurricanes open their regular season against Temple on Sept. 5, grad transfer D’Eriq King is fully expected to be the starter at quarterback, right?
UM isn’t making it as clear cut as the team began spring football drills on Monday.
Coach Manny Diaz said that no one has earned a starting spot at any position just yet.
“I think it’s not all that different from what I’ve talked about a year ago,” said Diaz, referring to the competition that went on all last spring and into fall camp between Jarren Williams, N’Kosi Perry and Tate Martell. “When we know we want to announce — last year, that was after our second scrimmage in the fall; this year, I can’t predict when that would be — but we want to have, I’ve said this since I became the head coach, we want to have a starting quarterback at the University of Miami.”
Williams decided to enter the transfer portal as King opted to come to Coral Gables from Houston. Returning are Perry and Martell, now redshirt juniors, along with redshirt freshman Peyton Matocha. They are all also joined this spring by true freshman early enrollee Tyler Van Dyke.
King is the odds-on favorite after he accounted for 50 total touchdowns — 36 passing and 14 rushing in his last full season at Houston in 2018. Perry was inconsistent the last two seasons platooning with Williams in 2019 and Malik Rosier in 2018. Martell played sparingly last season under former offensive coordinator Dan Enos.
“There’s other quarterbacks on this roster, so we’re all rallying around other quarterbacks also,” said Miami redshirt junior center Corey Gaynor after fielding a second consecutive question regarding King following UM’s opening spring practice.
King’s new Hurricanes teammates are getting acclimated with him, as well as new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee’s uptempo system, as King had his first official practice with his new team on Monday.
“He’s just being that leader, setting the tone for the offense,” said senior receiver Michael Harley. “When he gets the [firstteam] reps, he’s just going on from there.”
Said Gaynor: “He’s a football player. That’s what we need here. We need a lot of football players. Awesome snapping the ball to him, having him run the offense. It was great.”
King had to overcome the emotions of coming back to Miami following the funeral of his father, Eric King, over the weekend. Eric King died on Feb. 15.
“I don’t think it’s fair for me to speak on how D’Eriq is doing,” Diaz said. “I couldn’t begin to know what it’s like to go through what he’s going through. What I know is he’s been phenomenal when he’s been in this building as a worker throughout the entire time he’s been here. The big thing, just being around him the last couple of weeks, we just want him to know that — not just him but his entire family — our whole program is with him and we hurt with him. That he feels our love, which is important.”
Said Harley: “He’s been strong. Me and a couple of guys, the receivers on the offense, have been shooting texts back and forth. He just told me that his Pops wanted him to take this step and take advantage of it.”
King was not available to speak to reporters on Monday. When his father first died, he released a statement on Twitter remembering him.
“You instilled confidence in me,” King wrote. “You taught me everything I know about the game. You brought the dog out of me when I was 4 years old! You always had my back through anything. I could always count on you to hold me down! The way you loved your family and your will to do anything for us was second to none. The way you loved your family and your will to do anything for us was second to none. The way you loved my mom showed me what pure love was. I looked up to you. I never wanted to let you down. I got to spend 22 years with you and I want to thank you for being there every step of the way! Love you forever. I promise to make you proud for the rest of my life! I GOT US.”