D’Eriq King says ‘plan’ is to return to UM if season is canceled. And lots of OL nuggets

D’Eriq King knows there’s a possibility his first season with the Miami Hurricanes might not go as planned. The COVID-19 pandemic has already forced the Atlantic Coast Conference to reshuffle its schedule and no one is taking the 2020 season for granted.

As of now, the quarterback said “the plan” is to return to Coral Gables in 2021 if the coronavirus pandemic forces the cancellation of the 2020 season. Plans, of course, can always change, but the redshirt senior wants to get a chance to suit up for Miami.

“That’d be the plan,” King said, “but, like I said, I’m going to take it day by day. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but we had a pretty good practice today and I’m just focused on practice tomorrow.”

Last year, King took advantage of the NCAA’s new redshirt rule and shut it down four games into his senior season with the Houston Cougars. The decision opened up flexibility for King to transfer elsewhere for his fifth season and he settled on the Hurricanes in January. Miami officially named King its starting quarterback last month, less than two weeks before training camp began Friday.

With King in the fold, the Hurricanes enter the 2020 season without a quarterback controversy for the first time since former quarterback Brad Kaaya was a junior in 2016.

Lots of offensive line insights

Miami has used a different offensive line alignment in each of its first two practices, offensive line coach Garin Justice said. The groups, however, shed some light on where the position battles stand early in camp.

On Friday, the Hurricanes’ first-team offensive linemen were, from left to right, John Campbell Jr., Ousman Traore, Corey Gaynor, DJ Scaife Jr. and Kai-Leon Herbert. On Saturday, Miami’s first-team offensive linemen were, again from left to right, Campbell, Zion Nelson, Gaynor, Scaife and Jarrid Williams. Justice said he’ll make another change Sunday when he slots in offensive lineman Jakai Clark at left guard.

Gaynor is safely entrenched as the Hurricanes’ starting center. The rest of the line is fluid.

Scaife, who was the team’s offensive MVP last season, has primarily worked at guard so far, but he also has started at right tackle in the past. While Scaife’s flexibility is an asset, Justice said the junior fits best at guard because the team is deeper at tackle.

“He’s one of those ideal type of guys you want to recruit because really he could probably play all five,” Justice said. “That’s the type of guy you want to recruit because now it’s easy for us to get the best five guys on the field, so I think he fits best at guard for us. I think he’s probably a little more suited for guard, but also I think we’re a little deeper at tackle.”

Campbell apparently has the early edge at left tackle even after Nelson started there for the entire 2019 season. The new experiment for Nelson is at left guard.

Nelson was clearly overwhelmed in his freshman season, pressed into action at left tackle largely because of a lack of other options. Now Miami feels better about its depth there and Nelson, who is now up to 312 pounds after he arrived around 240 last year, could be an option at left guard. Justice isn’t ruling out the possibility he could start at left tackle, either.

“We’ve been trying Zion Nelson a lot at guard,” Justice said. “The way he’s progressed [with his weight], he’s a little bit more versatile, whereas last year he was a little bit lighter. It was hard for him to do anything other than the edge. Zion definitely is a viable guy at left tackle. We’re just trying to get him reps at guard just because he hasn’t had as many.”

Clark, who started 12 games at left tackle last year, is also still an option at left guard, he has just been working at center because the Hurricanes don’t have any other viable options to back up Gaynor.

Justice is also spending this camp assessing one of the best freshman offensive line classes Miami has had in years. Offensive lineman Jalen Rivers and Issiah Walker Jr. were both Under Armour All-Americans last year, and could be the future for the Hurricanes at tackle.

Walker, who might have to sit out this season after he transferred to Miami from the Florida Gators in May, could be the left tackle of the future, Justice said. Still, the freshman from Miami Gardens Norland is taking time to develop.

“We see that potential, we see that ability,” Justice said. “There’s no doubt that we believe he’s going to be a really good player for us, but there’s a lot of coaching that goes into a guy to get him ready to play. As far as his future, his career, we foresee him being a tackle — more than likely a left tackle — just because he does have a good athletic skill set and he does have good length, and brings all those things to the table. All those things are all different reasons why he was so highly recruited coming out of high school.”

Rivers, who was also a four-star tackle coming out of Orange Park Oakleaf, was with the Hurricanes in the spring and strictly worked at guard for the abbreviated spring practice.

“He’s a bigger body than Issiah. He’s more of a thumper in the fact of he’s just got more in his legs — he’s thicker in his legs, he’s a bigger mass guy,” Justice said. “Issiah’s probably a little quicker of foot, but Jalen’s going to be better at holding the point, holding the anchor, moving guys from point A to point B, so they have different skill sets. That’s why we kind of saw in the spring playing Jalen a little bit at guard. He’s playing tackle for us right now, but I don’t really know where he’s going to end up.

“Jalen, in a lot of ways, is a guy that could probably play all four positions, guard or tackle.”