Here is the good news and bad news about Miami’s quarterbacks.
It seems like Carolina caught a tremendous break Monday when D’Eriq King, Miami’s skilled quarterback supposedly recovering from a shoulder injury, was ruled out for the season and will have surgery to repair his wing.
King has had a controversial career after transferring to the U from Houston, but he is/was still one of the most multi-talented quarterbacks in the country. And he had to be looking to return for the 3:30 game in Chapel Hill Saturday after the Tar Heels clobbered the Hurricanes last year, 62-26.
That’s the good news for Mack Brown’s program, which needs a win very badly. The bad news is King’s back-up is even lesser known than understated quarterbacks Jeff Sims of Georgia Tech and FSU’s Jordan Travis, two players whose passing stats did not jump off the page before they dissected the Heels defense.
The replacement QB for Miami coach Manny Diaz is freshman Tyler Van Dyke, who took over after King went down in the third game of the season. And their comparative statistics are interesting and portends a bit of danger for UNC’s chances at Kenan Stadium.
King was completing 66 percent of his passes for 767 yards and three touchdowns, but had four interceptions. Van Dyke is almost as accurate (61 percent), throws a better long ball and has four TD passes with zero picks. His QB rating is 190 compared to 121 for King.
And Diaz no longer has highly recruited freshman Jake Garcia in the on-deck circle. He is also sitting out until November after playing in only one game, completing 25 of 43 for two touchdowns and a 213 QB rating. The duo led the U to a 69-0 win over Central Connecticut.
The difference, however, considering the Tar Heels’ fallibility against dual-threat quarterbacks, is the 5-11 King was a bigger menace with the run-pass-option than the 6-foot-4 prototype Van Dyke.
Miami is 2-3 after Power 5 losses to Alabama, Michigan State and Virginia, the last two at home in Hard Rock Stadium.
The ‘Canes were off last weekend and will have had two weeks to prepare for the win-hungry Heels, who won’t lack motivation and may finally face a one-dimensional quarterback easier to defend.
Photo via AP Photo/Lynne Sladk.
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