Miami QB D’Eriq King’s college career likely over; backup Jake Garcia has surgery
Quarterback D’Eriq King returned to the University of Miami this season to “run it back,” start winning again and give himself a better chance at being drafted by the NFL.
Now, after injuring his throwing shoulder Sept. 18 against Michigan State, it appears the sixth-year senior’s storied college career is over.
Miami coach Manny Diaz revealed Monday on WQAM radio that King will undergo surgery, effectively ending his college career — unless he applies for a medical hardship waiver for 2022.
Diaz later told reporters on a Zoom videoconference that King would have surgery on the right shoulder “this week” and he had not discussed with King the prospect of returning next season. Diaz also said he expects King to travel with UM (2-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to help new starter Tyler Van Dyke from the sideline as Van Dyke makes his third start against the Tar Heels (3-3, 2-3).
“Here’s the situation with D’Eriq,’’ Diaz told WQAM host Zach Krantz, when asked if he was preparing Van Dyke to be the starter “maybe not just for this week but for the rest of the season just in case D’Eriq can’t come back.”
“Really, the day after the Michigan State game, we knew that odds are the injury he suffered in his shoulder would probably need a surgery to correct it,’’ Diaz said. “And if he had to have the surgery, that that would end his season. There was a narrow avenue that he could rehab and potentially come back and be able to play this season without needing a surgery. So, we were going down that road. That’s what D’Eriq wanted.
“That guy [King], as you saw in the Michigan State game, would do anything to get back on the field and be able to play for us. But we’re now however many weeks out, and I think in D’Eriq’s mind we’ve exhausted that opportunity, that possibility. So, he’s going to get the surgery on his shoulder and it’s Tyler Van Dyke’s team.
‘Van Dyke’s team’
“We saw Tyler grow up in the second half of that Virginia game. Our players respected that. They respected the toughness. … We all gotta get behind Tyler.”
Van Dyke is 25 of 41 this season (61 percent) for 473 yards and four touchdowns, with no interceptions. This will be his first start on the road.
When asked about vaunted true freshman quarterback Jake Garcia, who sustained an ankle injury on Sept. 25 against Central Connecticut State, Diaz revealed that “Jake had surgery on his ankle.”
“So, that’s going to be some time in November [that he can return], optimistically. That’s what we’re dealt. Obviously injuries have been a major part of the story of this team, especially offensively. But that’s football and it’s next man up.’’
King’s specific diagnosis was not revealed, but Diaz said it was “a structural shoulder issue” and that King “could not have played another position.’’
Miami offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee also spoke Monday, indicating that King could be healthy by the the time pro days and combines are run. “Somebody is going to give him a shot and someone is not going to be disappointed.’’
Added Lashlee: “It has crushed him to have to maybe say his college career is over. It wasn’t what he wanted. He did everything he could to try to find a way back, even after all he’s been through.”
Despite King’s unfortunate news, he has done well in the new era of name, image and likeness. Sports Illustrated college football writer @RossDellenger posted Monday on Twitter that King is “taking in estimates of at least $200,000,’’ per those within the NIL industry.
King’s injury
King, 24, was injured in the third quarter of the MSU game on a 1-yard rush in which he landed hard on his right shoulder. He jogged with Dr. Lee Kaplan into the Hard Rock Stadium locker room to have it checked, then returned without missing a play. He finished 38 of 59 for 388 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions and two fumbles. He was sacked three times.
When Lashlee was asked by the Miami Herald on Sept. 20, two days after King injured his shoulder, if he considered keeping King out of the Michigan State game when the quarterback returned to the sideline in time to finish, Lashlee said in a Zoom videoconference that he doesn’t make those decisions.
“That’s up to team doctors and to D’Eriq,’’ Lashlee said. “The doctors had a conversation with him. They came up to me and said, ‘Hey, this is the situation. He can play if he wants.’ They didn’t feel like he was in any greater harm. He wanted to play and the doctors OK’d it and that’s why he went back in. That wasn’t really my call. But the team doctors and D’Eriq felt strongly about that and I thought he played his guts out.”
King’s “run-it-back’’ slogan began a caravan of veteran Canes doing the same on the heels of UM’s 8-3 season, which ended with two losses — the first to North Carolina in an historically bad defensive performance to end the regular season; the second in the Cheez-It Bowl against Oklahoma State. King announced his intention to return to Miami three days before he tore the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus of his right knee in the bowl game His intense dedication to rehabbing the knee made it possible to return only eight months later for the opener against Alabama.
King’s numbers
In the first three games of 2021, King completed 81 of 122 passes for 767 yards (66.4 percent) and three touchdowns. He also has four interceptions and has fumbled four times. He has 40 carries for 96 yards, which includes the yardage he lost after being sacked nine times.
Last season, King threw for 2,686 yards with 23 touchdowns and just five interceptions in his 10 1/2 games before the injury. He also rushed for 538 yards and four scores. He completed 64.1 percent of his passes and had 3,224 total yards.
King, from Manvel, Texas, transferred from Houston to Miami in January of 2020. In 2018 at Houston, King set the American Athletic Conference record with 50 touchdowns — 36 passing and 14 rushing — his last two-and-a-half games with a torn meniscus in his right knee.
King’s career numbers: 8,378 yards passing with 76 touchdowns and 19 interceptions, and 2,055 yards rushing with 32 touchdowns.
“D’Eriq deserves better,’’ Diaz said. “But the good part is his story is not done being written. I know that D’Eriq King’s DNA is going to make him very successful. And his reward is coming.
“He’s going to be a success, I promise you that.’’
This story was originally published October 11, 2021 at 7:49 AM.
