D’Eriq King will be back for the Miami Hurricanes football program this season after right knee surgery; the quarterback will have added motivation.
King was among those players selected to the watch list for the 2021 Maxwell Award honoring college football’s player of the year.
King, one of the nation’s premier signal callers, enters his second season as the starting quarterback at “The U” after a productive campaign in 2020 where he was named a Maxwell Award semifinalist.
After sustaining a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee with 4:06 remaining in the first half of the Hurricanes 37-34 loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Cheez-It Bowl, King will return for a sixth season. Surgery to repair his knee was successful he is expected to be available for the start of 2021 fall camp.
Clemson Tiger’s quarterback last season, Trevor Lawrence, was the best in the ACC, but King made a name for himself. He threw for 2,686 yards and 23 touchdowns, and five interceptions.
Helping guide Miami to an 8-3 overall record and a 7-2 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play. King, who earned All-ACC Honorable Mention accolades a season ago, set Miami’s single-season standard for rushing yards by a quarterback with 538 and four scores in 2020.
The preseason recognition is the first for King, who joins safety Bubba Bolden (Bednarik Award), a preseason honoree.
The Maxwell Award has been presented to the College Player of the Year since 1937. It is named in honor of Robert “Tiny” Maxwell, a former standout at the Swarthmore College and a renowned sportswriter and football official.
Photo/D’Eriq King/twitter