Hurricane King: How Alabama Can Stop Miami's Dual-Threat Quarterback

Miami Hurricanes quarterback D'Eriq King might just be the toughest quarterback to start in a season opener against Alabama football in the Nick Saban era.

Since arriving in Tuscaloosa in 2007, Saban-coached Crimson Tide teams are 14-0 in season openers. With King being the 15th quarterback to take on the mantle of season-opening starter against Saban at Alabama, an 0-14 combined record of all previous quarterbacks who attempted the challenge is staring him right in the face.

When taking a look at the quarterbacks' numbers across those previous 14 seasons, only two quarterbacks threw for multiple touchdowns (Joel Stave of Wisconsin and Jawon Pass of Louisville). Only one threw for over 300 yards, that player being Clint Trickett of West Virginia.

Half of those 14 quarterbacks threw zero touchdowns, and another seven threw 101 yards or less.

So why is King any different from any of the previous quarterbacks that have come and gone in season openers of the Nick Saban era of Alabama football?

Why don't we let Saban himself explain:

"[King] executes their offense extremely well," Saban said in a press conference last week. "He’s very comfortable in how he manages the game for them. He gets them in plays that have a great chance to be successful for them. And he’s a good decision-maker, whether it’s the RPOs, the bubbles, the smokes, the plays that they run that complement the running game.

"I think this guy presents lots of issues because he’s a great player and a great athlete and he’s a great quarterback all rolled in one.”

Over the years, dual-threat quarterbacks have consistently given the Crimson Tide defense the most trouble. King poses that same threat and play style.

Last season, prior to injuring his knee in the Cheez-It Bowl against Oklahoma State, King completed 211-of-329 passes (a completion percentage of 64.1) for 2,686 yards and 23 touchdowns while throwing just five interceptions. On the ground, King rushed the ball 130 times for 538 yards, an average of 4.1 yards per carry. He also reached the end zone on the ground four times.

Alabama junior linebacker Christian Harris explained that King's dual-threat nature is what impresses him most in preparing to face him in Saturday's game.

“His ability to extend plays, make all kind of throws whether it’s on the run [or] in the pocket, get out of the pocket," Harris said. "He keeps his eyes downfield at all times and he really helps their offense a lot being able to extend those plays with him keeping his eyes down the field. He’s just all around a great quarterback so he’s definitely going to present a really great challenge for our defense and we gotta make sure that we’re on our toes.

"Trying to contain a quarterback like that is gonna be very tough."

This season, Alabama brings with it what it has been lacking over the past couple of seasons: experience. With eight of the team's 11 starters returning on defense, the Crimson Tide is well-equipped to take on King and his dynamic play style.

One element that has been added is an incredibly deep linebacker corps. Between Harris, sophomore edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., Mike linebacker Henry To'oTo'o and Sam linebacker Christian Harris, the Crimson Tide has a lot of speed and strength at all positions, and those are just the named starters.

With Alabama bringing so much speed on defense this season, the team seems almost perfectly suited to handle a dual-threat quarterback like King. Combining the speed at linebacker with a stout defensive line and a plethora of talented defensive backs, there's not many areas of the field left for King to expose.

King is very well aware of the talent that Alabama returns on defense and admits that his offense is going to have to make plays if it wants to leave Mercedes-Benz Stadium victorious.

"They play extremely hard," King said after practice on Tuesday. "If you sit back there and let them tee off, they’re going to get to the quarterback. [...] They don’t make many mistakes. We’re not going to have guys running wide open. We gotta make those plays and we gotta just keep pushing forward.

"We gotta just keep moving the ball. That’s all we gotta do.”

While Alabama has had spotty success against dual-threat quarterbacks over the years, its most recent matchup was a solid victory. In the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Ohio State, the Crimson Tide faced Justin Fields, one of (if not the) top dual-threat signal callers in the country. While he faced multiple injuries, Fields had one of his worst outings of the season, completing 17-of-33 passes for just 194 yards and a single touchdown.

The keys in that victory for Alabama were two-fold: aggressive play by the line and swarming to the ball by the linebackers and defensive backs due to speed. It will be those same two keys that will play a crucial factor in the Crimson Tide's game against the Hurricanes and King on Saturday.

“I think team speed on defense in this day and age in football is very, very important with all the people who run spread, who really are gonna make you cover horizontally as well as vertically, the entire field," Saban said. "And when you have great athletes that have great speed, especially at the quarterback position, that adds another element to that that you’re out here, spread out, trying to cover all these guys and now you’ve got a quarterback who’s got great ability to scrambling, extend plays, make plays scrambling throwing as well as running, that adds another element to it.

"King certainly does that extremely well."

King certainly presents the greatest threat at quarterback in a season opener of the Saban era of Alabama football. That might not exactly be saying too much, but that's not because of lack of talent on his part. King is perfectly tailored to take down the Crimson Tide should his highly-experienced offensive line and fellow skill players be up to the task. That being said, it's still a very high mountain to climb for the Hurricanes.

If nothing else, King is happy to have made a good impression on Saban and the Alabama defense.

"Nick Saban is the best coach of all time," King said. "He’s the greatest college football coach of all time, so you know, him talking highly of me — it’s pretty cool, you know?”

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