In a huge roster move, it was reported minutes ago that former Houston Cougars QB D’Eriq King has informed Hurricanes coaches that he is transferring to the University of Miami after a visit to Coral Gables!

A dynamic 5’11” 195lb athlete, King has a wealth of playing experience, and excellence, to his credit in his college career. King started his career at Houston as an “athlete”, playing mostly receiver but also taking snaps at QB. In his first 2 years, King had 58 catches for 492 yards and 3 TDs, while also returning kicks for the Cougars. His passing stats were minimal as a freshman, but increased as a sophomore, when injuries (and ineffectiveness) forced King into more action at the position.

Following a near 1,300 yard, 7 TD, 2 INT season as a sophomore in 2017, King EXPLODED when he was back at his HS position — QB — full-time in 2018. 2982 yards passing on 63% completions with 36 TDs, 6 INTs, and just 14 sacks, to go along with 111 carries for 674 yards and 14 TDs propelled King and the Cougars into the national spotlight. For his efforts and performance in 2018, including the combined 50 TDs he was responsible for on the year, King was a semi-finalist for the Maxwell Award, given annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the country. Pretty good, if you ask me.

In 2019, Houston had dreams of continuing their upward trajectory as a program. However, early losses to Washington State and Tulane put the Cougars at 1-3 after 4 games. And, with the new RS rule in place, King (and several other Cougars players) decided to step away from the team to redshirt for the year, and leave 2020 as his final collegiate season. While King said his intention was to return to Houston in 2020, many people (myself included) viewed his decision to RS as the end of his time in Houston. After reiterating his desire to stay with the Cougars throughout the season, King finally came clean and entered the transfer portal and began to communicate with other programs.

As expected, King was in high demand across the country. A player with nearly 7,000 yards of total offense and 82 total touchdowns (50 passing, 28 rushing, 3 receiving, and 1 Kick Return if you’re counting at home) to his credit already, King is a player who should be able to step into a new situation and be the grad-transfer leader that has been seen multiple times recently across the college football landscape. After taking several visits, and talking to multiple schools, King made the decision today to come to Miami after cancelling his planned visit to Maryland.

King wasted little time in making his decision, and that’s a good thing. The final day to register for classes at the University of Miami is THIS TUESDAY, so in order to participate in Spring Practice (and just generally be part of the team he hopes to lead onto the field this fall), King needed to decide now to have the time needed to have his application accepted and registration completed to be a UM student before the end of business on Tuesday afternoon.

This is big get for the Canes. Yes, there are talented QBs in the program currently — N’Kosi Perry, Jarren Williams, Tate Martell, Peyton Matocha, and Tyler Van Dyke — but none has the elite level of performance in college that King can boast (at multiple positions, no less).

King brings passing acumen and running skill to a Miami offense that has been starved for such a level of performance for many years. We can talk about a “QB battle” between the 6 (at present) players in the QB room, but let’s be serious: Rhett Lashlee went out and got one of the best CFB QBs in the past couple of years to run his offense. King did not come here to sit: he came here to play, and (hopefully) get Miami back to the business of winning 10+ games.

We’ll have much more on this move over the next few days. But right now, you should be celebrating because this is a HUGE addition to the roster at a position of great need.

Welcome to the U, D’Eriq!!