There is no secret who the most valuable player on the Miami offense is. It’s fifth-year senior quarterback D’Eriq King.
King, a graduate transfer from Houston, has averaged 233.5 passing yards and 50.2 rushing yards per contest through six games with the Hurricanes. He has also averaged 6.9 yards per carry, which leads the ACC among quarterbacks with at least five attempts.
In 2018, the 5-11, 202-pounder led the country in points responsible for with an average of 27.5 points per contest. He is also one of three quarterbacks in FBS history to have at least 35 passing touchdowns and 13 rushing touchdowns in a single season.
When asked which NFL player most resembled King, sophomore safety Jakeen Harris felt it was former Heisman Trophy winner and current Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray.
“He is very elusive out of the pocket,” Harris said. “He can get away and scramble around. We got to contain him because they have an RPO read option. He's very good though.”
Setting the edge and keeping King in the pocket was the consensus formula of how the Wolfpack plans to stop the Hurricanes quarterback in Wednesday’s defensive player availability.
Sophomore defensive end Savion Jackson, who will be tasked with helping the Pack’s defensive front set the edge on Friday night, echoed that containing King is the only way to limit his production.
“We just need to keep him in the pocket,” Jackson said. “He is really good on his feet, he's a quick runner. I feel like that is when he's not as accurate as he is when he's out and running. If we can keep him in the pocket and rush him that way, not letting him get loose or use his speed, that'd be the best way to go.”
After forfeiting 326 rushing yards to North Carolina in the Pack’s last contest, a 48-21 loss in Chapel Hill, NC State’s defense has used the bye week as an opportunity to regroup in the run game.
“We took it really personally,” Jackson said. “We came back from that loss and had a meeting with our defense. Just the little things from the UNC game, we took it to practice and we worked on every phase of the things that we didn't do right. I feel like we definitely fixed everything that we didn't do right in the UNC game.”
The Wolfpack’s rushing defense has been hot and cold all season. While NC State has given up over 314 yards on the ground in each of its two losses, the Pack entered the UNC game holding opponents to 101 rushing yards per contest in the three weeks prior.
Poor tackling was the biggest culprit. Against the Tar Heels, NC State had 27 missed tackles according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).
“In practice we've been making sure we all get to the ball, tackling all the way and wrapping up so we can simulate that,” Jackson said. “When we go to the game, it's the same thing we did in practice. We have also been working on our technique.
“Playing defensive end, I have to make sure not to rush past the ball and keep [King] in the pocket.”
Entering the contest after 13 days of rest should help matters in the tackling department. The Wolfpack badly missed junior safety Tanner Ingle, who didn’t play in the UNC game due to injury.
Redshirt sophomore linebacker Payton Wilson also appeared to get dinged up in the first half and didn’t seem to be at full speed after going to the injury tent in the first half in Chapel Hill.
Wilson is expected to play Friday night and Ingle is currently questionable.
“The bye week was very great because a lot of guys were banged up, even me a little bit,” Harris said. “It was great for us just to get a lot of guys back.”
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