Maryland Football: D’Eriq King could give Terps just what they need

D’Eriq King entered the transfer portal on Monday but could he give Maryland football that boost that it needs or will he stay south for 2020?

Former Houston Cougars Quarterback D’Eriq King is set to visit two Power Five teams plagued by inconsistent quarterback play over the next few days, following his announcement on twitter earlier this week that he was entering the transfer portal:

Since then, sources close to King and programs around the country have revealed that he has planned visits to two schools that could greatly benefit from his impressive athleticism — Miami and Maryland. The two teams had somewhat similar seasons in 2019. Both were led by first-year coaches, both took in promising transfer quarterbacks at the start of the season, and both had lackluster offensive performances.

Miami, coached by Manny Diaz, hoped that Ohio State-transfer Tate Martell could pick up the slack in the QB room but wound up not being able to win the starting job and rode the bench for the bulk of the season.

Maryland, led by Mike Locksley, was looking to Josh Jackson of Virginia Tech to be the answer they were looking for at the head of the offense, but after a promising first two games of the season the offense sputtered out.

Both teams find themselves right back where the 2019 season started — in need of an answer at the quarterback position.

King could offer a lot of explosiveness to either team. He has shown a lot of production during his career at Houston, but under new head coach Dana Holgorsen he decided to sit out early in the season to use his redshirt status. The Hurricanes are coming off of a 6-7 season that ended in a shutout 0-14 loss to Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl. The issues they had on offense were clear, and the defensive-minded Diaz needs to find answers that will not leave his defensive units struggling to keep games under control.

The Terps are coming off of an even worse 3-9 season where Locksley, who engineered an extremely impressive offense at Alabama as offensive coordinator, struggled against any defense with a pulse. Both teams have looked bolster their offensive units in the early offseason through recruiting and transfers, but are lacking that marquee quarterback that could fix their woes under center.

Could D’Eriq King be sold on the idea of returning Miami to their once-great ‘The U’ heights? Or will he be wooed by the renowned recruited Mike Locksley, who just landed a top five-star wide receiver? Or will he just do the smart thing and go to LSU who just so happens to be in need of a quarterback after winning the national championship on the back of another transfer QB?

We’ll just have to wait and see, but either way it’s a rare exciting time to be a school panicking about getting someone who knows how to chuck a football.