King to NFL? Kirk Herbstreit on how Miami at Clemson could affect UM QB’s draft status
ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit will be calling a Miami Hurricanes game for his third time this season, and he hasn’t been shy about his admiration of Canes quarterback D’Eriq King, who is small in stature but plays huge.
On Thursday, Herbstreit was asked during a Zoom video conference what his thoughts were on King in terms of the upcoming NFL Draft and if the huge No. 7 Miami at No. 1 Clemson game could have an impact on his status. The fifth-year senior can stay another season if he chooses, but if he continues to excel and enters the draft, here are Herbstreit’s thoughts:
“I would say first of all that in years past there’s been an obvious talent gap between Clemson and every school in the ACC,” Herbstreit said. “But in calling a couple of the Miami games this year, as we talked about, D’Eriq King gives them hope. He makes this feel different, makes Miami feel different to me. That position on any team impacts the personality and the confidence of a team and it’s been so long since Miami has had that position cleaned up where the defense believes in him, the offense believes in him.
“Anytime you play in a game like this, where a lot of people are going to be watching and you’re playing a perennial power, and maybe the most respected defensive coordinator in college football, it’s an opportunity. I really don’t think that D’Eriq will look at it that way. I sure hope not.
“Anybody who thinks about that would put too much added pressure on their play than they probably need to deal with. I think he’ll focus on his reads and just trying to put his offense to put points on the board. But it’s definitely one of those — what do you call ‘em, like a Mel Kiper/Todd McShay game, right?— where next April or whenever the draft is next year, this would be one of those games if he were to play well that they’ll be pulling film out and showing people, ‘Look what he did against Clemson’ and ‘Look at this play’ and ‘Look at that play.’
“The other thing is his skill-set. He’s a passer. He’s a quarterback, when I watch him going back to Houston, that happens to be athletic. He is not an athlete that’s trying to figure out how to be a quarterback.
“When I turn on Sunday [NFL] football, I really think I continue to see the trend going more and more and more toward the college model of quarterbacks that have the ability to make a lot of throws but also have the ability to put pressure on defenses by being able to escape and keep a play alive and run some form of an air-raid type of offense. We’re seeing a trend more and more in that direction and less and less of ‘Oh, he’s 6-5’ [or] ‘Oh, he’s 6-2’ [or] ‘This guy is 6-1.’
“I guess old-school people still look at it that way, but if you watch the NFL it’s becoming less and less a thing. Like if he’s making plays at 5-11 and he’s dealing with the offensive linemen he deals with at Miami and runs the system he’s running, I just don’t think it’s as big of a thing and a problem in 2020 as it was in 1995.
“Let’s see how he plays. And if he plays well, it’s definitely going to help his stock, that’s for sure.”
When Herbstreit was told that King said before the season he was measured at a touch under 5-10, he smiled.
“Maybe he’ll take the bar even lower down at 5-9 7/8,’’ Herbstreit said. “When we put him in cleats we’ll give him 5-11.’’
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 3:18 PM.
