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D'Eriq is down in La. participating in the Manning Passing Academy camp. The guys act as camp counselors for younger guys and then have the opportunity to work out not only with each other but with Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning.
Other QBs with him include Kedon Slovis (USC), Sam Howell (UNC), Matt Corral (Ol Miss), Bo Nix (Auburn), Michael Penix (Ind), Frayson McCall (Coastal Carolina), Desmond Ridder (Cinn), Dillon Gabriel (UCF), Anthony Brown ( Oregon), Phil Jurkovec (BC).
Some highlights of the interview:
-D’Eriq King has been in a group text with a bunch of other major college quarterbacks for years, some going back to the high school camp circuit. There’s one with Oregon’s Anthony Brown and Florida’s Emory Jones and Indiana’s Michael Penix and Liberty’s Malik Willis, among others.
In a time in which quarterbacks are so accustomed to competing with each other for jobs and swapping schools with each other through the transfer portal, this event can surround these guys with the one group of people who understand them: other quarterbacks.
King battled for the starting job at Manvel High in Texas with Kyle Trask, who was a friend. He beat out people he was friends with at Houston. Then he transferred to Miami and competed with three players he was close with.
“Every quarterback I’ve ever been with, even Kyle Trask in high school, we were super close,” he said. “We always pushed each other. Obviously, we want to play, but whoever gets the job we’re gonna root for them.”
“Because nobody knows what a quarterback goes through except another quarterback,” King told The Athletic.
Arkansas QB Layne Hatcher: "You may see a guy who doesn’t necessarily get time at one place and goes somewhere and is ten times the person he was. Like, what happened? Sometimes it’s just about going to the right spot with people believing in you.”
Hatcher was a three-star prospect who chose walking on at Alabama over smaller offers. He sat and learned behind Tua Tagovailoa in 2018 (and watched the dynamic between Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts before Hurts became a Heisman finalist at Oklahoma). Then, Hatcher transferred to Arkansas State where he became Sun Belt freshman of the year. Then, he split the job with another quarterback in 2020, who himself has since transferred.
Other examples with guys attending the MPA:
JT Daniels, (who was slated to come but had to cancel at the last second,) competed with Slovis for the USC starting quarterback job before transferring to Georgia, where he leads a preseason top-5 team. Jurkovec left Notre Dame after sitting behind Ian Book, so he went to Boston College, where he replaced Anthony Brown, who is now at Oregon, who replaced Tyler Shough, who is now at Texas Tech. Malik Willis was beat out by Bo Nix at Auburn, so he transferred to Liberty where he just went 10-1 and might become a first-round NFL draft pick.
It’s simply a world now in which you must be malleable. King’s story can sound like a cautionary tale or one of promise, depending on how you spin it. He’s one of the biggest stars in the sport, but he’s entering his sixth season in college football. In that time, he’s had four head coaches and five offensive coordinators.
“Just me learning a new system every year,” he said. “Winning two locker rooms over. I think that prepared me for the next level.”
