Miami football must answer these questions in pursuit of success in 2020.
There was palpable hype around Miami football entering the 2019 season, the first under head coach Manny Diaz for the Hurricanes. He landed big-name transfers, said all the right thing and had everyone believing in this team. Then came a 6-7 season that fell miles short of expectations. Now Diaz is tasked with proving that the hope he instilled was not just a pipe dream.
Perhaps with a more tentative approach entering 2020, there is reason to really like what’s happening in Coral Gables with Diaz coming into year two. He landed former Houston quarterback D’Eriq King and former Temple defensive end Quincy Roche, the top two transfers on the market, and both should be impact players. But is it enough with what else the Canes have?
Let’s look at what Miami football is facing this season by highlighting and elaborating upon the five biggest questions that the Hurricanes are up against in the 2020 college football season.
5. Is D’Eriq King ready to rule South Beach?
Let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way: King is not Tate Martell. Last offseason, Diaz brought in the latter as a transfer and a former highly touted recruit that seemed in line to take the starting job without much resistance. Instead, he couldn’t do that and the Miami offense was downright bad, even worse than it was in 2018, a season that helped spark a coaching change and the Martell transfer.
Unlike Martell, who had almost zero track record to his credit when he arrived with the Hurricanes, King was one of the most electric players in college football while at Houston. As a junior in 2018, King threw for 2,982 yards with 36 touchdowns and only six interceptions in 11 games while also rushing for 674 yards and 14 scores. He was the truth.
King’s dynamic playmaking ability as a dual-threat quarterback offers Miami a potential trump card on offense that they haven’t had in quite some time. Yes, it’s a jump in competition from the AAC to the ACC but its one that King simply has the physical talent to make. The question is if he will.
For me, this may fall more on former SMU offensive coordinator and new Miami OC Rhett Lashley and how the spread offense takes in Coral Gables. But when it comes to the physical gifts of a quarterback to spark the offense, King has it all as he comes to town.