Feedback on new Canes QB King from analyst who watched every game. And a Williams update.
Chatter on new Hurricanes quarterback D’Eriq King and the team’s QB situation:
▪ With King, the Hurricanes are not only getting a prolifically productive player who was Pro Football Focus’s second-highest rated quarterback in 2018, behind only Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray.
They’re also getting someone who’s serious about the job and a diligent worker, and one driven even more now — in his one remaining season of college eligibility — to prove he’s an NFL quarterback. That’s according to longtime Houston Cougars radio analyst Ted Pardee, whose son Payton was a receiver at Houston — and King’s teammate — the past three seasons.
“D’Eriq is a great guy, a super grinder and heavy preparer and one of those guys that really invests the time,” Ted Pardee, the Cougars’ radio analyst the past 15 seasons and son of former NFL coach Jack Pardee, said in a phone conversation on Tuesday.
“Not only does D’Eriq walk the walk, but he talks the talk. He does all the work the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator want him to do. Because of that, he’s been a huge success. He’s a quiet leader, too. He’s not one of these phony rah-rah guys and he’s not an attention seeker. He’s very much a guy who will let his play do the talking.”
▪ Ted Pardee said when Kendal Briles came to Houston as offensive coordinator in 2018, “D’Eriq was, candidly, a little nervous. Kendal and his dad [former Baylor coach Art Briles] recruited D’Eriq [out of high school] but said he wasn’t good enough to play quarterback. D’ Eriq was recovering from a knee injury and had to convince a new coach that he’s the man.
“He worked really hard that offseason and established himself as the guy. If you want to be the guy, you have to do different things to win the job. It’s not only making completions. It’s being the leader. You don’t get to go to the parties on Friday or Saturday night. D’Eriq took it dead serious. When Kendal Briles came in, he thought he might be at risk of losing his job. He doubled down.”
(The partying point made by Pardee is important because that was a negative with Jarren Williams, according to a UM teammate, with Williams breaking curfew before the FIU game to go out.)
King won the job that season, threw for 36 TDs (compared with just six interceptions) and ran for 14 touchdowns despite missing the last 2 ½ games with an injury and led the nation in “points responsible for per game” with an average of 27.5, four points ahead of the No 2 spot shared by Heisman finalists Kyler Murray and Dwayne Haskins.
And Ted Pardee said King will be even more laser focused because “he envisions himself as an NFL quarterback” and he knows there are doubters because of his listed 5-11 size.
“That’s been the main impetus for him to make this move,” Pardee said. “If he has a good year, he will have a shot.”
King, for his part, has said he looks up to Seattle’s Russell Wilson, another quarterback who’s under six feet.
▪ Here’s how Ted Pardee — who called every one of King’s games — views him from a skill set standpoint:
“The first thing that stands out is he’s just an incredible all-around athlete. He’s just as dangerous as a runner as he is as a passer. He’s an elite passer.
“In 2018, Kendal would run the same play three plays in a row — a deep, deep pass to wear out defensive backs. Against Rice, D’Eriq threw three 65-yard passes in a row. That’s where I felt he had a pretty live arm.”
What’s more, Pardee said King is “an elite decision-maker. He wasn’t a guy that threw a lot of interceptions [10, in 597 career pass attempts, compared with 50 touchdowns in the air]. He makes great decisions when processing information.
“The offense he had under Kendal Briles in 2018 was different from the previous offense; that was Major Applewhite’s offense and Tom Herman’s version of it. That’s the Urban Meyer branch. What Kendal runs is a branch of the Air Raid offense.
“What [UM offensive coordinator] Rhett Lashlee does, to me, is more similar to what Urban Meyer runs than the classic Air Raid guys. D’Eriq did just fine under that and had no problem learning that offense.”
During that 2017 season, he started the final four games at quarterback — after playing some receiver earlier — and threw or ran for 10 TDs, averaging 276 yards passing and 62 yards rushing (6.6 per carry) in those four games.
▪ One area where King must improve, according to Ted Pardee: “What he is going to need to do is when he runs the ball, he needs to learn to slide and protect himself. He’s got to run the ball because you don’t have an extra defender to defend the quarterback. He has to find a way to protect himself because he has had a couple injuries. He’s not a big guy.”
▪ Is the comparison to Kyler Murray or Lamar Jackson justified?
“The Kyler comparison is more in alignment because Lamar is big, very tall,” Ted Pardee said. “D’Eriq is 5-10, super quick, a lot like Kyler in that he can flush the pocket and make plays that other guys can’t because he’s so quick, so fast.”
▪ Pardee said his son spoke with King after he decided to enroll at Miami and one big reason King picked Miami is “he said he really liked coach Lashlee a lot. My son, last week, thought for sure D’Eriq was going to Arkansas [where Kendal Briles now works after a season at FSU].”
▪ What was the reaction to King deciding to redshirt after Houston opened 1-3 last season?
“Within the team, it was tough,” Ted Pardee said. “There was a little of bit initial hurt feelings with some of the seniors, some turmoil but it eventually smoothed out. One of our receivers, Keith Corbin, did that as well with a redshirt. But the players all rallied behind D’Eriq, and it turned out OK, because he said he wasn’t going anywhere.” (King obviously changed his mind.)
▪ What about King’s completion percentage dropping from 63.5 percent in 2018 to 52.7 percent in those four games last season?
“Part of his problem was he was getting pressure at home from dad,” Ted Pardee said. “He looked like he was pressing those games. Looked like he was never comfortable throwing the ball.”
▪ PFF says this about King: “King will be a Heisman dark horse once again in 2020 when he returns to action after sitting out the final eight games of [the 2019 season] and subsequently entering the transfer portal. King logged 133 dropbacks and threw six touchdowns despite averaging just 6.1 yards per attempt. King is a dynamic player with the ball in his hands, and he should return to the form we saw in 2018 when he’s back healthy.”
▪ How elusive is King as a runner? Consider he forced eight missed tackles in a loss to Washington State last season. As perspective, Dolphins running back Kalen Ballage forced six missed tackles all season.
▪ Using the NFL’s passer rating formula, Williams’ career passer rating is 108.9, and that doesn’t even take into account his big rushing numbers (253 carries, 1421 yards on 5.6 per carry).
WILLIAMS UPDATE
According to a source close to Jarren Williams, his initial mind-set — after hearing of King’s plans to transfer to UM — is to go through spring practice, see where he stands and then make a decision about his future, though it assuredly would require an injury to King for Williams to have any chance of starting.
But the source said the situation is fluid. And it wouldn’t be surprising if Williams leaves at any time.
Some inside UM have grown weary of public comments by Williams’ father since his arrival and immaturity issues with Williams, as well as the unevenness of his play. It remains to be seen whether UM will encourage him to move on.
N’Kosi Perry, Tate Martell, Tyler Van Dyke and Payton Matocha are the other scholarship quarterbacks on Miami’s roster besides King and Williams. A thinning at the position is expected and inevitable.
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
