Miami quarterback D’Eriq King said after a 48-0 victory over Duke on Saturday night that he was one of the Hurricanes players who contracted COVID-19 during the program shutdown.
King became infected by the virus several weeks ago, and was able to return to practice this week to play against the Blue Devils. Miami paused football activities on Nov. 16 after a spike in cases and was unable to play for two straight weeks. Coach Manny Diaz had the coronavirus as well but ended his isolation period in time to prepare for this game.
King threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score for the 10th time in his career as the No. 10 Hurricanes improved to 8-1. When asked about his experience with the coronavirus, King told reporters via video, “I’m blessed and healthy and I’m back out here playing ball.” King added it was lonely as he isolated and he watched a lot of Netflix to pass the time.
Before the Duke game, Miami played Virginia Tech on Nov. 14, a game that was on the brink of being canceled as the Hurricanes dealt with the opening stages of a coronavirus outbreak. By that Monday, they had more cases, necessitating the pause.
Miami still had 15 players unavailable on Saturday, including multiple starters on defense. Yet the Hurricanes put forth their most complete game of the season.
“We were taken away from each other for almost two weeks and didn’t really get back as anything resembling a football team until this past Monday,” Diaz said. “They wanted to finish and that’s why at practice this week, the enthusiasm was outstanding. If you think they’re having fun, it’s because they are. Obviously, winning is fun and we’ve done a lot of that this year, but I give all the credit to the personalities that we have in that locker room.
“We just have a great mixture of personalities that really enjoy playing for one another.”