Miami, with what feels like all the talent in the world, couldn’t get out of its own way offensively, largely due to poor quarterback play.
That looks to change with the addition of prized QB transfer D’Eriq King.
King, a grad transfer from Houston, will begin classes at the University of Miami this week, and will participate in spring practice with the Hurricanes, ostensibly as QB1.
Miami limped to a 6-7 finish in 2019 in coach Manny Diaz’s first season. This in spite of the UM defense being ranked second in the ACC in yards per game (303.3) and scoring (19.6 points per game).
The offense ranked just 12th in the conference in yards (357.2 per game) and 10th in points (25.8), as the quarterback rotation of Jarren Williams (2,187 yards, 19 TDs/7 INTs, 145.4 rating) and N’Kosi Perry (1,045 yards, 8 TDs/3 INTs, 121.5 rating) failed to produce lightning in a bottle.
King, in one full season as the starter at Houston, in 2018, put up dynamic numbers: 2,982 yards and 36 TDs through the air, with a 167.0 passer rating, adding 674 yards and 12 TDs on the ground.
Then King decided, after four games in 2019 under new coach Dana Holgorsen, decided to redshirt to preserve his final year of eligibility.
An issue for King could be that he didn’t seem to take to Holgorsen’s system: completing just 52.7 percent of his passes in his four starts, in which the Cougars went just 1-3, with King putting up a meager 117.7 passer rating.
It had been expected at the outset that King was going to return to Houston, but then after the season he entered the NCAA transfer portal, with the top candidates to obtain his services being Arkansas and Miami, where the new offensive coordinator, Rhett Lashlee, most recently of SMU, likes to use dual-threat QBs.
Lashlee and Miami will hope to get the King who put up the big numbers in 2018, obviously.
Story by Chris Graham
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