Miami quarterback D’Eriq King will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz told WQAM on Monday. King suffered the shoulder injury in Miami’s 38-17 loss to Michigan State on Sept. 18 and after missing the team’s past two games, has decided to move forward with the procedure. King’s decision solidifies redshirt freshman Tyler Van Dyke as the Miami starter after he filled in for King in the past two games — a 69-0 win over Connecticut State and a crushing 30-28 loss to Virginia.
“The day after the Michigan State game, we knew the odds were, with the injury he suffered in his shoulder, that he would probably need surgery to correct–and if he had the surgery it would end his season,” Diaz told WQAM. “There was a narrow avenue that he could rehab it and potentially come back and play this season without needing the surgery. We were going down that road and D’Eriq wanted to go down that road. In D’Eriq’s mind we have exhausted that opportunity and possibility, so he is going to get the surgery on his shoulder.”
Barring a medical redshirt that would allow him to return for a seventh season of college football, King’s college career will be over. The Houston transfer began the 2021 season — his second with the Hurricanes — regarded as a Heisman Trophy contender after rehabilitating from an ACL tear the he suffered during the Cheez-It Bowl at the end of the 2020 season.
King first burst onto the national scene at Houston in 2018 by throwing for 36 touchdowns and nearly 3,000 yards as a junior. After playing four games with the Cougars under then-first year coach Dana Holgorsen in 2019, King took a redshirt for what otherwise would have been his final year of eligibility. But instead of retuning to Houston for the 2020 season, he transferred to Miami and immediately helped lift the Hurricanes from a 6-7 record in 2019 to an 8-3 mark in 2020.
King passed for 2,686 yards, 23 touchdowns and just five interceptions last season while also rushing for 538 yards and four touchdowns in 11 games. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the season did not count against King’s eligibility, which gave him the option to return for a sixth season. His decision to play another year with the Hurricanes was met with celebration, but Miami started just 1-2 with King at quarterback. He completed 66.4% of his passes for 767 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions through the season’s first three games, but the Hurricanes failed to score more than 25 points in any of those contests.
Despite their 2-3 record, the Hurricanes are just 0-1 in league play and not out of the ACC Coastal race just yet. Saturday’s game at North Carolina looms large for the team, however.
Diaz will hope Van Dyke, a former four-star prospect, can take his play to the next level after completing 58.1% of his passes with four touchdowns and no interceptions in his first two starts. Another Miami quarterback, freshman Jake Garcia, is also injured and not expected to return until next month after he made his debut in a win against Central Connecticut State on Sept. 25.
