Former college football star lands coaching gig

Former college football star D’Eriq King made his mark at the collegiate level across six seasons on two different teams. And now, he will be attempting to make his mark in the collegiate coaching ranks.

King started his college football career in 2016 with the Houston Cougars, where he was largely in a reserve role. He then gained the full-time starting job in 2018, which is where he really made his mark, throwing for 2,982 yards along with 36 touchdowns and only six interceptions.

He then transferred to the University of Miami, where he had varying success for two seasons with the program.

King then ultimately bounced around NFL rosters, but never ended up taking the field in an NFL game. His last stop came in the XFL this past season, where he played in a reserve role for the DC Defenders.

It now appears that King is officially putting his playing days behind him. And he will be doing so by venturing into the world of coaching.

According to Brandon Marcello of 247 Sports, King has been hired as the quarterbacks coach for the SMU Mustangs. He was an analyst for SMU this fall.

Former Miami and Houston quarterback D’Eriq King has been hired as quarterbacks coach at SMU, sources tell @247Sports. King was an analyst at SMU this fall. He was QB at Miami during SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee’s time as OC. (@CravenMike first report)https://t.co/2Lk8nanCbX pic.twitter.com/5Ur7Mtclwi

— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) December 21, 2023

As Marcello alluded to in his post of the report, King has ties to SMU’s current coaching dating back to his days at Miami. Current SMU coach Rhett Lashlee was previously an offensive coordinator at Miami while King was the team’s starting quarterback.

Only time will tell whether King’s talents as a quarterback will translate to being a good coach at the collegiate level. But it certainly can’t hurt that he has experience learning under Rhett Lashlee in the past.

[Brandon Marcello on Twitter]