Voice of Miami: D'Eriq King is 'Mr. Conviction' ahead of Alabama game
D’Eriq King is one of the most electrifying players in all of college football. Ahead of his much anticipated return from a devastating knee injury, he’s been gifted a new nickname.
“D’Eriq King is not a question at all. … You would not know that he was injured,” stated Joseph Zagacki, the voice of the Miami Hurricanes, per ACC Network. “Our QB going into Alabama is Mr. Conviction because he’s playing with conviction right now.”
Evidently, King’s confidence, ability and swagger have all been on display throughout the summer. If he lives up to his ‘Mr. Conviction’ nickname, the Hurricanes might have a shot against the Alabama Crimson Tide in their opening contest.
D’Eriq King in Miami’s latest scrimmage
On Saturday, Miami had another scrimmage in preparation for the beginning of their season. Following the contest, Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz mentioned that King got the team going on the offensive side of the football.
“I saw improvement from scrimmage one, which is what you would have suspected,” Diaz said after the scrimmage. “D’Eriq [King] got us going again offensively. Explosive play in a touchdown drive to get things going. But the night belonged to the defense. From start to finish, the one defense was pretty dominant tonight.”
While the defense played well, King didn’t play much. Still, in his time, he connected on a long pass play that his head coach was raving about.
“D’Eriq hit the long one, and obviously we didn’t get him a ton tonight,” Diaz said when asked about the quarterback play in the scrimmage. “But he hit the long one to Key’Shawn Smith which is encouraging to see.”
Aside from King, backup quarterbacks Tyler Van Dyke and Jake Garcia received a bulk of playing time on Saturday.
“He’s been phenomenal.”
Furthermore, Manny Diaz’s job as the head coach of the Hurricanes is easier when he has the electrifying King is at the helm of the offense. As ‘Mr. Conviction’ works back from a devastating knee injury, Diaz joined Big Noon Kickoff earlier this month to heap praise on the Hurricanes quarterback.
“He’s been phenomenal,” Diaz said, per CFB on Fox on YouTube. “It’s really remarkable to watch him through these first five practices. I mean, you want to talk about picking up right where he left off.
“It didn’t happen by accident. The guy worked as hard as I’ve ever seen anybody work since the day he came out of surgery. He started his PT (physical therapy) right away, he’s done everything they’ve asked and more. These first five days of practice, the way he’s thrown the ball and the way he’s taking off and running, he looks like midseason form from a year ago.”
Evidently, D’Eriq King continues to impress as the summer’s goes on. For Nick Saban’s sake, the Alabama Crimson Tide can’t take ‘Mr. Conviction’ lightly.