20 for 2020 key college football offseason topics: No. 8. The top Power Five conference quarterback battles.
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With no spring football, the battles for the starting quarterback jobs are going to be more interesting than ever.
Whenever there’s college football again, it’s going to be a mad dash to figure out who’s ready to step up and shine at the most important position. Throw in the transfer portal and grad transfer aspect of this, and this list can and will change around wildly over the next several months.
Which Power Five quarterback situations are the most interesting? Here we go, starting with …
ACC: Duke Blue Devils
The Blue Devils went from Daniel Jones under center, to Quentin Harris, and the results were sensational …
For a while.
Harris was a dominant passing force over the first four games of the season, but the offense stalled as the year went on, and he finished with just 16 touchdown passes with 11 interceptions after throwing ten scoring throws in the first four games.
Harris is gone, and the heir apparent should be Chris Katrenick, the No. 2 guy last year who only completed 3-of-13 passes for 49 yards and a touchdown with a pick. He’s a 6-3, 215-pound passer with the upside to shine as David Cutcliffe’s quarterback, but it’s going to be a fight.
6-3, 190-pound redshirt freshman Gunnar Holmberg is an elite athlete, but who can do a little bit of everything, but he’s coming off a knee injury. Once practices kick in, his mobility will be a big part of the puzzle.
And then there’s the wild card. Clemson transfer Chase Brice.
The guy who saved the day two years ago for the Tigers in the win over Syracuse wasn’t going to see the light of day again as long as Trevor Lawrence could stay in one piece, but he’s looking to fill the void at Duke, take the gig, and potentially be a statistical star under Cutcliffe.
NEXT: Most Interesting Big Ten Quarterback Battle
Big Ten: Michigan Wolverines
The Michigan quarterbacks haven’t played up to expectations in the Jim Harbaugh era.
They’ve been fine, but while Ohio State has enjoyed talents like JT Barrett, Dwayne Haskins, and Justin Fields, Jake Rudock, Wilton Speight, John O’Korn, Brandon Peters and Shea Patterson haven’t been able to elevate the position for the Wolverines. That’s been the most puzzling part about the Harbaugh era so far.
The guy knows quarterbacks.
From working with Rich Gannon during his time with the Oakland Raiders, to helping take Andrew Luck to another level at Stanford, to seeing the upside in Colin Kaepernick with the San Francisco 49ers, Harbaugh has always been successful and coaching the position, and he’s never been afraid to make bold moves.
Now he has another quarterback decision to deal with.
If this Dylan McCaffrey‘s time? The 6-5, 220-pound junior has stepped in from time-to-time, but if was Patterson’s team over the last two seasons. McCaffrey can move, he’s got the arm, and he’s a McCaffrey – he can play.
However, the sky’s the limit for Joe Milton, a 6-5, 245-pound sophomore who hasn’t seen a ton of action, but he’s got the tools.
McCaffrey offers more experience and is the slipperier runner, but Milton has the next-level arm to push to the ball all over the field a bit more.
Also about to enter the mix is Cade McNamara, an elite high school producer out of Nevada with big-time passing skills, but be shocked if he doesn’t redshirt.
It’ll be McCaffrey vs. Milton when the time comes.
There’s going to be a huge discussion about the quarterback fight at Michigan. What else is new?
– Michigan Schedule & Analysis
NEXT: Most Interesting Big 12 Quarterback Battle
Big 12: Texas Tech Red Raiders
If everything is fine, Alan Bowman is almost certainly the Texas Tech starting quarterback.
But Bowman hasn’t been fine, getting rocked with a slew of injuries that kept him out of large parts of the last two seasons. From a shoulder problem to a tough issue with a collapsed lung, he has only been on the field for 11 games in two years, hitting 68% of his throws for 3,658 yards and 23 touchdowns with ten picks.
The 6-3, 210-pounder has good size, good decision-making ability, and the skills to run the Texas Tech offense and make it fly.
But considering the problems over the last two seasons, the team needs a reliable backup.
Jett Duffey had his moments last year, and he brought a mobility to the position that Bowman doesn’t have, but he transferred away from the program.
Enter Maverick McIvor, a 6-3, 195-pound redshirt freshman with dual threat skills and the talent to be exactly what head coach Matt Wells is looking for. However, he to be healthy, too, coming off a foot problem that knocked him out for all of last year.
That means Texas Tech needs a third option, and it doesn’t have one – yet.
6-5 freshman Donovan Smith is another mobile passer with a world of upside, but he didn’t play a whole lot in high school an he’ll need a whole lot of time and seasoning.
So what to read out of all of this? There’s room for a transfer to potentially come in and bring a little depth.
– Texas Tech Schedule & Analysis
NEXT: Most Interesting Pac-12 Quarterback Battle
Pac-12: USC Trojans
With the exception of Arizona State with Jayden Daniels and Cal with Chase Garbers, the entire Pac-12 seems to be up in the air when it comes to the respective quarterback situations.
USC’s, though, is going to be the most interesting.
Last year at this time, JT Daniels appeared to be all set and ready to make the offense fly. The superstar recruit who skipped his senior year of high school to take over the job in 2018 got his growing pains out of the way, and last year the right offense was about to kick in.
Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell was going to wing the ball all over the yard, and that’s exactly what happened as Daniels had it …
For most of one game.
Daniels hit Fresno State for 25-of-34 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown and a pick before getting knocked out for the year with a knee injury. In stepped Kedon Slovis, and he turned out to be a fantastic fit for the offense, too.
The freshman was banged up for parts of the season, but he finished completing 72% of his throws for 3,502 yards and 30 touchdowns with nine picks, closing out the regular season with four 400+-yard days – and four touchdown passes in each of them – in the final five games.
Jack Sears chose to transfer this offseason, but senior Matt Fink is still around, and Daniels is on his way back to try winning back his gig. He’s supposedly healthy, he’s changing his number from 18 to 10, and he’s going to be ready to show what he can do.
Not having spring practice isn’t a bad thing – his knee is getting more time to heal.
But is Daniels’ knee going to be 100% ready? Slovis was also knocked around a bit too much – he missed time with a concussion – and there has to be as many options as possible to play around with considering what happened last season.
Welcome Mo Hasan, a 6-3, 205-pound passer from Miami who went to Vanderbilt, didn’t get a whole lot of time, and is transferring in to at least bring a little more depth.
NEXT: Most Interesting SEC Quarterback Battle
SEC: Alabama Crimson Tide
It was the talk of the college football world two years ago …
Tua Tagovailoa or Jalen Hurts? As it turned out, both were pretty good – there was no wrong choice.
Last year, it was Tagovailoa’s team to run, but the depth was a major concern after Hurts went off to dominate for Oklahoma.
Fantastic, Tagovailoa was in the midst of another fantastic season before going down with a college career-ending hip injury. A silver lining in the disaster was the time as the No. 1 starting guy Mac Jones was able to get in two of the biggest games of the season.
He threw two huge interceptions for scores in the loss to Auburn, but he also cranked up 335 yards and four touchdown passes. In the Citrus Bowl against Michigan, he came up with a solid 327-yard, three touchdown day with no picks.
He might not be the most talented quarterback on the roster, but he’s put in the time to step into the starting spot with a big leg up.
Taulia Tagovailoa isn’t the passer his brother is, and he’s not built the same way, but with a little bit of experience and dual-threat skills, he’ll get every shot to make his own name with the program.
6-5, 220-pound Paul Tyson is a big passer who’ll be in the rotation for a backup job – he’d have to be lights out to beat out Jones. However, super recruit Bryce Young could be way too good to keep out of the starting job when the season kicks off against USC – the team Bama stole him away from.
The 6-0, 190-pound do-it-all star prospect from Pasadena might not have been the top quarterback recruit in the 2020 class – Clemson’s DJ Uiagalelei is either No. 1 or 1A along with Young – but he wasn’t far off.
