D’Eriq King will sit out the rest of the season as the Houston quarterback will redshirt with the intentions of returning next year. It’s all sorts of wrong.
I am all for college athletes doing what’s in their best interest. I want them to be paid for putting their bodies and health on the line to produce mega-millions for the universities they play for. I want them to be able to transfer to any school that will welcome them without sitting out one season. I am all for players jumping to the NFL when they are projected to be high picks. I am an advocate for them. However, I can’t advocate for the decision made by Houston quarterback D’Eriq King who made the decision to sit out the rest of the season to do what’s best for him.
“After carefully thinking through this process with my family and Coach (Dana) Holgorsen, I have decided the opportunity to redshirt this season gives me the best chance to develop as a player, earn my degree and set me up for the best success in the future,” King added in the statement. “I’m looking forward to being a part of the success of this program going forward.”
This is an unprecedented move in college football made possible by the recent four-game redshirt rule where players can play up to four games and still redshirt to preserve a year of eligibility. It was a move that coaches advocated for so they could have added depth and get players a little bit of experience without costing them a year. In theory, it sounds like a great rule, but King and Holgorsen are exploiting a loophole in the rule and it’s not good for college football.
“This decision is the hardest I’ve made my whole life,” King added. “It was me, my family, Coach (Dana) Holgorsen got involved and it was best for my future and my college experience.”
King is one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He’s a superstar who just broke Tim Tebow’s record with his 15th straight game with a passing and a rushing touchdown. He’s one of the most electrifying playmakers in the nation, but he’s shutting it all down after a 1-3 start and abandoning his teammates in the process.
My conflicted feelings stem from thinking about the other players in the Houston locker room. How does King tell the seniors he’s turning his back on them after going to battle together for the last few years because it’s not in his best interest?
If I was a senior on that team, I wouldn’t have ever questioned King’s work ethic or importance to the team. After quitting four games in and taking his ball and going home when faced with a little adversity, I am questioning a lot about him.
This is a decision that benefits King and Holgorsen to the detriment of everyone else in the Houston locker room. I wanted to stay in college forever and never leave. Part of King’s decision is rooted in his college experience and I respect that.
But try explaining to the seniors on this team they will have to play out the rest of the season without their star quarterback because it’s not in his best interest.
It’s in Holgorsen’s best interest to essentially punt on this season, his first back in Houston, so he can have King next year when the team might be in a better position to win.
“At the end of the day, I think people understand that we need to get older and redshirting is not a dirty word and that’s been my stance since I got here,” Holgorsen said. He also complained about how the roster was handled by the previous Major Applewhite regime.
So why then didn’t he redshirt him before the season started? He’s trying to retroactively make up for the perceived errors of the last regime.
This isn’t redshirting a four-star recruit as a freshman so he can put on 20 pounds of muscle and get acclimated to the speed of the college game.
This isn’t even about King putting himself in a better position to help his NFL future.
Despite King’s prowess on the football field, he’s not going to be an NFL quarterback at his size. The league made an exception for Kyler Murray who barely measured in at six-feet and a tick over 200 pounds because of his connection with Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
The NFL is not going to make another exception for the 5-10, 195-pound King.
Had King said he was going to redshirt so he could focus on finishing his degree, I would totally understand. Academics are important and he’s looking out for his future. I would never criticize a student-athlete for prioritizing the student part of that. His teammates and fans would miss him on the field, but they could at least understand his motivation behind the decision.
If King was dealing with a nagging injury that just wasn’t getting better and he needed to shut it down to get surgery or let it heal, everyone would understand.
If the relationship between King and Holgorsen was untenable they couldn’t work together the rest of the year and he wanted to transfer, everyone would understand.
Heck, even if he said he was going to redshirt so he could transition to playing a different position that would help his NFL future, it would be understandable. After all, I want players to be able to get their paper.
This just feels wrong and I’m so conflicted about it permeating into other programs across the country. Teams that start 1-3 and are in danger of missing a bowl game and had their conference championship hopes dashed could see a mass exodus of redshirting with players looking to preserve a year and transfer for better opportunities.
Full-blown free-agency will be upon us.
What’s to stop players on a team that loses their big non-conference game in the first two weeks from shutting it down when their playoff hopes are lost?
Players having options is great. Players exploiting this loophole could end up doing more bad than good.
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