D'Eriq King details grueling return from injury

D’Eriq King has high expectations as the unquestioned leader and starting quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes ahead of the 2021 season.

With the high preseason rankings and optimism surrounding the former Houston signal caller, it’s easy to forget the Hurricanes passer is coming back from a brutal injury.

Andrea Adelson of ESPN highlighted the short period between the injury, and the series of events that led that King to leave his hometown of Houston and to a new, unfamiliar place that was counting on him healthy when football season began.

When 2020 began, his mother was fighting breast cancer. He transferred from the University of Houston to Miami, leaving his hometown for the first time in his life. Shortly afterward, his father, Eric, died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Then the pandemic shut down campuses across the country. King didn’t get a full offseason to learn his new offense or teammates. He battled COVID-19 himself during the season. Now this.

He couldn’t help but wonder, “Why me?” and “Why now?” Instead of driving home to Houston to spend extended time with family during winter break, as he had planned, King headed back to Miami for surgery for a torn meniscus and torn ACL. Normal recovery time was nine months at the earliest, so doctors could not guarantee whether he would be cleared to play in eight months’ time for the highly anticipated season opener against Alabama on Sept. 4 in Atlanta.

Andrea Adelson of ESPN

Still, with a loaded Miami roster that seemingly felt like King was the missing piece, his goals were clear.

“When I tore it that night, I knew I was going to play the first game; there was no doubt in my mind I was going to come back,” King said.

Journey to full health for 2021

According to Adelson’s feature, King gave ESPN a window into his rehab, from Day 1 ’til now, including two-a-day sessions, underwater training, gravity-altering treadmills and meticulous film study on his cutting and running.

The behind-the-scenes work should give Miami fans, and college football fans as a whole, a new appreciation for the Hurricanes’ quarterback.

Joe Girardi, a physical therapist for Miami’s football program who worked extensively with King, videotaped every single move King made so they could study it together afterward on the big-screen TV in Girardi’s office, according to ESPN.

“We’ve had to pull him back more than push him forward,” Girardi said of King. “He’s been able to really just keep progressing. There hasn’t really been any setbacks. It’s really that slow-cooking process and trying to continue to take one step forward — and not go one step forward, two steps back.”

The missing piece for Miami?

The dual-threat quarterback has posted impressive stats during his long, but successful college tenure.

This will be King’s sixth year taking collegiate snaps. After four years at Houston, the now 24-year-old transferred to Miami where he completed 211 passes for 2,686 yards and 23 touchdowns plus 538 yards and four scores on the ground last season. King threw just five interceptions.

After nine practices, the Miami Hurricanes had their first scrimmage of 2021 on Sunday night. Veteran quarterback D’Eriq King, who suffered a torn ACL in last year’s Cheez-It Bowl, appears to be ready to go for the year.

“Guys played hard, but the story is it’s great to see D’Eriq King,” Miami head coach Manny Diaz said in a post-scrimmage press conference posted to YouTube. “I thought he was phenomenal running the offense. 12-for-16, 124 [yards], two touchdowns, extended plays with his legs. Guy’s a tough guy to defend.”

Diaz has been high on King for all of fall camp. The story is certainly one to follow all season long.