Miami quarterback D’Eriq King spectacular in final fall camp scrimmage, throws six TDs
The Miami Hurricanes’ 2020 football season is tantalizingly close.
After opening camp on Aug. 7, the University of Miami held its third and final fall scrimmage exactly four weeks later on Friday night at Hard Rock Stadium, marking the countdown to the home opener against Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Dominating the day, which should make UM fans even more excited: new graduate transfer quarterback D’Eriq King, who, according to coach Manny Diaz’s statistics in a video after the game, was spectacular.
King completed 24 of 34 passes for 330 yards and six touchdowns. He added nine carries for 84 rushing yards.
The scrimmage was closed to the public and media.
“You’re starting to see his ability, not only with his arm but with his feet as well,’’ Diaz understated about King, who came to UM after four seasons with Houston. “Very encouraging.’’
(Aside: Here’s my Hurricanes’ special football section enterprise story on King, who ‘leads big, plays big, loves big.’ )
Senior receiver Mike Harley led all wideouts with five catches for 78 yards and a touchdown. Jeremiah Payton had a great night with three catches for 95 yards and a touchdown, while fellow receiver Mark Pope caught four passes for 65 yards and two scores.
Also catching touchdowns were tailback Cam’Ron Harris and tight end Will Mallory. Freshman Michael Redding caught two touchdown passes.
Diaz agreed that UM’s offense did a good job of finishing drives in the red zone.
The event was deemed a “mock game,’’ according to Diaz. “We put Miami on one sideline and had some other guys that were simulating [upcoming opponent] UAB on the other sideline... Mechanically I thought we were sound. That was positive. We’ve got to be ready to go Thursday.’’
Coaches gave the “UM’’ team a made-up 24-0 deficit to start the second quarter to create some “urgency,’’ Diaz said. “I was very pleased. We just went out there and went to work.
“We did a bunch of different things down there,’’ he said. “We were crisp. No assignment issues and everyone seemed to know what to do and do it at a high level.’’
The coach was asked about the “defensive front four being in the backfield quite a bit.’’
“Yeah, and we’re going to have to have some depth as well,’’ the coach said. “Even when the other guys went in I thought we were able to be disruptive with the front. It was a little bit of a mismatch the way it was set up for tonight. But they still made it very difficult not just on the running game but for the quarterback to hold on to the football.’’
Defensively, first team ends Jaelan Phillips and Quincy Roche and tackles Jon Ford and Nesta Jade Silvera were completely disruptive, according to UM’s report. Silvera and Roche each had sacks. Cam Williams and Sam Brooks also registered sacks, and lineman Jared Harrison-Hunte had two sacks.
UM’s report did not say which of the quarterbacks were sacked, and did not mention the backup quarterbacks.
Said Diaz: “It felt great to be back at Hard Rock Stadium. We have some players that had never even seen Hard Rock Stadium. [Freshman] quarterback Tyler Van Dyke had never a stadium with grass on it. D’Eriq King was only here on his official visit.
“Just to get out here and get out and play and have the scoreboards on and just have some sort of game day atmosphere was really good for our guys.’’
The first scrimmage three weeks ago was surprisingly clean and dominated by the offense. Two weeks ago, the defense came to life in the second “sloppy” scrimmage. On Friday, Diaz seemed very pleased.
The Hurricanes ended 2019 with a 6-7 record.
The UAB Blazers of Conference USA finished 9-5 in 2019 and opened the 2020 season Thursday night with a 45-35 win against Central Arkansas.
▪ UM great, Pro Football Hall of Fame member and recently named Hurricanes chief of staff Ed Reed attended the scrimmage.
▪ Media members of the Atlantic Coast Conference selected Clemson by a landslide in the league’s preseason football poll released Friday.
Notre Dame, which is an ACC football member this season because of the special rules put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic, got two first-place votes for top team. North Carolina placed third, followed by Louisville and Virginia Tech, before Miami’s sixth-place showing.
After Miami in the media preseason poll: Florida State, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Wake Forest, NC state, Duke, Boston College, Syracuse and Georgia Tech.
The ACC reported that 132 of the media panel’s 134 voters predicted the Tigers would win the conference and ACC title game.
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence was selected as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, and the Tigers led all schools with five players on the 27-member Preseason All-ACC Team.
Miami’s lone Preseason All-ACC Team member: tight end Brevin Jordan, who was a 2019 finalist for the Mackey Award.
▪ UM sent out a message Friday on social media to season ticket holders that “additional individual game tickets will be exclusively available to you on Sunday. Add on tickets to games you’re already attending or buy additional games. Each account can select up to six more tickets per game.’’
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 10:44 PM.
