Who’s the Miami Hurricanes’ biggest ‘freak?’ QB D’Eriq King’s answer might surprise
D’Eriq King only has gotten to practice with the Miami Hurricanes a handful of times. He got to participate in winter workouts shortly after he transferred from the Houston Cougars, then got to participate in four spring practices before the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to shut down. In the past few weeks, he has gotten work out on Coral Gables again, too.
He only needed one practice to pick out who the biggest “freak” on the roster was, and it’s not necessarily the obvious choice.
“Cam Harris, the running back,” King said in an appearance on Siriux XM’s “Packer and Durham” on Wednesday.
Mark Packer, one of the two hosts of the ACC Network-simulcasted show, asked King who had stood out to him so far. “Who is the one guy that you go, ‘You know what? That guy is a freak?’” he asked. The quarterback singled out his likely starting running back.
“When I first saw him run, when I first got there for my first workout I was like, ‘Whoa, this guy’s this big, running that fast?’” King said. “And then we got to spring ball and he showed out all four days, so he surprised the heck out of me. I’m anxious to see him play this year.”
Even on a roster with potential first-round picks such as tight end Brevin Jordan and defensive linemen Quincy Roche and Gregory Rousseau, a still mostly unproven tailback has managed to stand out to King. Harris, who started three games last year and mostly served as the backup to fellow running back DeeJay Dallas, ran for 576 yards and five touchdowns on 114 carries as a sophomore in 2018. As a junior, the 5-foot-10, 200-pound halfback should seize an even bigger role on offense.
Overall, Miami’s athleticism has stood out so far to King, who spent the past four years playing in the American Athletic Conference. While he encountered plenty of great players in the American, the baseline level of athleticism in a Power 5 Conference has proven different.
“There’s a lot of great athletes out here,” the redshirt senior said. “When I first got here, I was kind of like shocked. Everybody can run, everybody can move, everybody looks like the best player on the team, so, yeah, I would say this: It’s pretty insane.”
Most importantly, King feels he has the coaching staff to make the most of the talent.
King was familiar with new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee from the assistant coach’s time in the same role with the SMU Mustangs in 2018 and 2019. Once coach Manny Diaz made him Dan Enos’ replacement in January, King began to consider the Hurricanes. Lashlee, and his track record developing dual-threat quarterbacks such as Cam Newton and Nick Marshall with the Auburn Tigers, sold King on coming to Coral Gables.
“When I entered the portal, I had a few schools I was looking at and then coach Diaz hired coach Lashlee,” King said. “I loved his offense, just playing against him when he was at SMU. I think it was a good fit for me, and Miami has great history behind the program, and they have a lot of talent out here and I just wanted to come be a part of it.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 3:13 PM.
