The Miami football program could be the leader for former Houston quarterback D’Eriq King based on the comments of ESPN college football analyst Emmanuel Acho on the network on Tuesday.
Former Houston quarterback D’Eriq King is the top signal-caller currently in the transfer portal following his announcement on Monday night while the National Championship Game was being played. ESPN analyst Emmanuel Acho seems to think that the Miami football program could be his best destination.
The initial expectation on the schools King would consider had LSU as the favorite, Arkansas second and Miami third according to Sportsline. Those odds came before LSU passing game coordinator genius Joe Brady left for the Carolina Panthers to become their new offensive coordinator under new head coach Matt Rhule.
Miami was one of two destinations that Acho mentioned during an appearance on College Football Live on the network on Wednesday afternoon. Acho stated he felt that Miami and Mississippi could be the co-leaders to sign the prolific former Cougars quarterback. It is no secret Miami is open to adding a QB through the portal.
The play Miami received almost exclusively from N’Kosi Perry and Jarren Williams was blatantly inconsistent in 2019. New offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee is expected to help upgrade the Hurricanes play at QB in 2020. The same was said for Lashlee’s predecessor and many are expectedly skeptical.
"“I think there are two options, right? You can look at a place like the University of Miami, which desperately needs a quarterback — great defense, desperate for a quarterback — or a sleeper, sneaky team.Remember, D’Eriq King ..accounted for 50 total touchdowns and would’ve been a Heisman finalist, had he not gotten hurt, along with the likes of Kyler Murray. So keep an eye out for Ole Miss as well.”"
Canes Warning covered King’s impressive stat line during his career at Houston when the news first broke that the Miami football program is likely to be one of the schools the mobile QB considers transferring to. King played four seasons for Houston.
"“King took advantage of the new redshirt rule when he decided to sit out the remainder of the 2019 season after playing in four games to maintain a year of eligibility. The 5’11 195 pound QB completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 4,925, 50 touchdowns and 10 interceptions with Houston.”"
Relying on Jarren Williams and/or N’Kosi Perry for the 2020 season requires a huge leap of faith in their ability to improve tremendously on and off the field and learn an entirely new system. If King transfers to Miami, he is likely to be the starter or that could hinder the Hurricanes adding a transfer QBs again.
From most accounts, Tate Martell was not equipped to be the starting QB for the Miami football in 2019. That said, another QB coming to Coral Gables and sitting would definitely be used against the Hurricanes in the future. If King does come to Miami it would hopefully be a positive for the current QBs to sit and learn from him.
Perry and Martell would have one season of eligibility remaining and Williams two commencing with the 2021 season. Miami has to begin developing their own QBs. Coral Gables is not Norman, Oklahoma. Miami also returns redshirt freshman Peyton Matocha and incoming freshman Tyler VanDyke at QB.