D'Eriq King was enjoying a Heisman-caliber season before a knee injury cut his year short. Now back at full health, King has the keys to Dana Holgorsen's high-powered offense.
by Dick Weiss for TheAmerican.org
The American Athletic Conference built a well-deserved reputation as a conference on the rise by hiring innovative coordinators and high-powered assistants like Tom Herman and Scott Frost who won New Year’s Six bowl games at Houston and UCF before moving on to established brand-name programs at Texas and Nebraska.
But Houston is helping change The American’s reputation as a resourceful stepping- stone conference with two major hires – first, head basketball coach Kelvin Sampson from the NBA and then luring new football coach Dana Holgorsen away from West Virginia.
Sampson coached the Cougars to the NCAA Sweet 16 last season. Holgorsen led West Virginia to seven bowl games in eight seasons, including each of the last five. He had had 21 players earn All-America honors and had 10 NFL draft picks in the first three rounds in the past seven years.
Holgorsen is one of the best offensive minds in college football. His passing and total offense stats have ranked in the top 10 nationally during a 14-year period since he became the offensive coordinator at Texas Tech in 2005. He had eight quarterbacks pass for 4,000 or more yards and 10 to throw for 30 or more touchdowns with 20 receivers finishing with 1,000 or more yards in a season.
Now, he is back home again at Houston, where he was a high-profile, record-setting offensive coordinator, who put up eye-popping numbers during his two-year tenure in 2008 and 2009 when the Cougars averaged 563 yards and 42.2 points per game. His offense ranked third in total offense in 2008 and first in 2009. His quarterback Case Keenum, led the country in total offense both years, totaling 403.2 per game as a sophomore and 416.4 yards his junior season.
And that was before Houston made a concerted attempt to upgrade facilities with the opening of state-of-the-art, 40,000 seat TDECU Stadium in 2014 and the unveiling of a new indoor practice facility last season.
“I don’t feel like I’m a stranger here,’’ Holgorsen said. “I know the campus. I didn’t have to meet everyone. I know all the high school coaches in the area.’’
Holgorsen’s presence alone makes Houston a contender in The American.
And he inherits one of the most exciting dual-threat quarterbacks in the country, 5-10, 195-pound senior D’Eriq King, who accounted for 50 — count them, 50 - touchdowns and 3,656 yards last season in just 10-and-a-half games before suffering a season ending knee injury against Tulane.
King, who began playing quarterback at age four, is a local hero from nearby Manvel High School who led the nation with an average of 27.5 points responsible for per game. He threw for 36 touchdowns with a passer rating of 167.0. He led the conference in total offense with 332.4 yards.
None of this should come as a surprise.
King was a first team all-Houston selection when he played for Manvel, a Class 6A Division II football power 15 miles outside the city limits. He passed for over 10,000 yards and rushed for over 3,000 during his high school career, including 42 touchdown passes as a senior. King originally committed to TCU but changed his mind after Ed Oliver, a defensive tackle and one of the five best high school prospects in the country, committed to play for Herman.
“A bunch of guys decided to follow his lead,’’ King said.
King entered his freshman year as a wide receiver, catching 29 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown. Herman left for Texas and was replaced by his offensive coordinator Major Applewhite. King took over as Houston’s starting quarterback with four games left in his sophomore season and just exploded onto the national scene last year under Applewhite. He was an electrifying runner who had a cannon for an arm and game changing speed.
King had a unique set of skills, but he may have been the most overlooked player in the country. Only three players — Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray of Oklahoma and NFL first-round draft pick Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State — were responsible for 50 or more touchdowns last year. This year, he will start the season behind Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama.
But there is little question he will be the most dynamic quarterback in a competitive league that has become known for its quarterback play, dating back to Blake Bortles of UCF, who went on to become the No. 3 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. The American also boasts Keenan Reynolds of Navy, who won the Sullivan Award and was fifth in the Heisman voting in 2015; Paxton Lynch of Memphis, who was a first-round pick of the Denver Broncos; Quinton Flowers of USF, who carried the Bulls to its best two-year run in program history; and McKenzie Milton of UCF, who twice finished in the top 10 of the Heisman balloting.
King looked like he headed for a monster season when he was named Walter Camp National Player of the Week after he threw for his third 400-yard game against USF with 419 yards and five touchdowns on 28-for-40 passing. He also added his second 100-yard rushing game with 132 yards and two touchdowns during a 57-36 victory at home.
King is healthy again and ready to go under his third new coach of his college career – a coach who is making plans to minimize risk to keep King on the field.
“I had to back him off a little bit,’’ Holgorsen said. “He’s a guy that wants to pull the trigger. He’s made comments to me that sometimes he feels like he needs to run a guy over to juice the team up. I was like, ‘No, you don’t need to do that. You need to get a first down and get out of bounds.’”
Holgorsen is not about to lose his ultimate weapon. ‘He probably won’t account for 50 touchdowns again,’’ Holgorsen said. “But hopefully we’ll score a lot more than that as a team.’’