D'Eriq King (born August 24, 1997) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

who is the

quarterbacks coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, associate and assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordina ...

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

. He played college football at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

before transferring to the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

where he played

Early years

King attended

Manvel High School Manvel High School is a public high school located along Texas State Highway 6 in the city of Manvel, Texas, USA. It is a part of the Alvin Independent School District located in northern Brazoria County and is classified as a 6A school by the ...

Manvel, Texas Manvel is a city in Brazoria County, Texas, United States. As of July 2023, the population was 17,621, up from 9,908 at the 2020 census. History The population increased from 9,908 to 17,621 from 2020 to 2023, and in November 2021 there wer ...

. He began his sophomore year as the eighth-string quarterback, claiming the starting spot a few weeks after the first game. During his senior season, he broke the career Texas 6A passing touchdowns record of 117 set by

Kyler Murray Kyler Cole Murray (born August 7, 1997) is an American professional football quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Following one season of college football with the Texas A&M Aggies, Murray played for the ...

the year before. During his high school career, he passed for over 10,000 yards and rushed for over 3,000, throwing for 140 touchdowns and rushing for 48. He originally committed to

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

(TCU) to play college football but changed to the

College career

Houston

King entered his freshman year at Houston as a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

after injuries plagued the receiving corps during fall camp. He played in 10 games and made four starts, recording 29 receptions for 228 yards and a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. He played quarterback and receiver as a sophomore in 2017. After leading a comeback win against

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

, he took over as the starting quarterback for the final four games of the season. For the season, he completed 90 of 139 passes for 1,260 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. He also added 379 rushing yards with eight touchdowns and had 29 receptions for 264 yards and two touchdowns as a receiver. King entered 2018 as Houston's starting quarterback. His junior season was cut short when he suffered a non-contact knee injury in the eleventh game of the year. On the season, he passed for 2982 yards, 36 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He also rushed for 14 touchdowns; Kyler Murray and

Dwayne Haskins Dwayne Haskins Jr. (May 3, 1997 – April 9, 2022) was an American professional American football, football quarterback. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons and played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes f ...

were the only quarterbacks with more total touchdowns that year. King returned as starting quarterback for his senior season after recovering from the previous season's injury. However, after the team's first four games, King announced he was going to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

for the remainder of the 2019 season.

Miami

On January 20, 2020, King announced his transfer to the

. On September 4, King threw for 179 yards and a touchdown in a 44–13 road loss to No. 1 Alabama at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium to open the 2021 season. King was named Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar by ''Diverse: Issues In Higher Education''.

NIL venture

On July 1, 2021,

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

student-athletes were allowed to receive compensation for use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL) for the first time, and King was one of the first athletes to take advantage of the new rules, signing deals with

College Hunks Hauling Junk College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving is a North American junk removal and moving company with headquarters in Tampa, Florida. The company provides waste management, junk removal, local and long distance Moving company, full service moving and off ...

and a few local businesses to the Miami area. He and

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

quarterback

McKenzie Milton McKenzie Milton (born October 10, 1997) is an American college football coach who is the quarterbacks coach for the UCF Knights football, UCF Knights. He was formerly an offensive analyst for the Tennessee Volunteers football, Tennessee Voluntee ...

became the co-founders and public faces of Dreamfield, a company specializing in booking live appearances for student-athletes. Dreamfield will also offer

non-fungible token A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchai ...

s (NFTs), digital art works that cannot be duplicated and are purchased with

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

College statistics

Professional career

New England Patriots

King signed with the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

as an undrafted free agent on May 9, 2022. He was waived on May 16.

Carolina Panthers

On November 14, 2022, King was signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

of the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

. King was expected to be assigned to the

DC Defenders The DC Defenders are a professional American football team based in Washington, D.C. The Defenders compete in the United Football League (2024), United Football League (UFL) as a member of the XFL Conference. The team was founded by Vince McMaho ...

of the XFL on November 15 before the signing occurred. He was released on November 22.

DC Defenders

On December 12, 2022, King was assigned to the

of the XFL after being released by the Panthers. King did not sign a Letter of Intent to return in 2024.

Professional statistics

Coaching career

On June 8, 2023, King was hired by

to serve as an offensive analyst. On December 20, it was announced that King would be promoted to the position of quarterbacks coach.

References

External links

Houston Cougars bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, DEriq 1997 births Living people Players of American football from Brazoria County, Texas American football quarterbacks American football wide receivers Houston Cougars football players Miami Hurricanes football players New England Patriots players Carolina Panthers players DC Defenders players SMU Mustangs football coaches