With reports that Ryan Hilinski will be starting for South Carolina and Kedon Slovis for South California, more true freshman quarterbacks are getting their name called early.
Hilinksi is reportedly taking the spot of senior Jake Bentley, who is expected to miss six or more weeks with a broken foot, according to WACH FOX 57’s Mike Uva.
Last week, three true freshmen started at quarterback for Power Five teams, Boise State’s true freshman QB took down Florida State, and TCU’s Max Duggan got snaps as well.
Who are all these youngsters leading NCAA teams?
Hank Bachmeier, Boise State
Boise State isn’t a Power Five school, but Hank Bachmeier just completed an 18-point comeback against Florida State and threw for 407 passing yards. He will not be excluded from this.
That performance is nothing new for the former four-star recruit.
At Murrieta Valley (California), Bachmeier broke out as a sophomore by throwing for 3,892 yards with 46 touchdowns and just three interceptions at a 75.2% completion rate while rushing for 679 yards and eight scores.
Over his four-year starting career, Bachmeier threw for 13,150 yards, 156 touchdowns, 30 interceptions and completed 67.5% of his passes.
He rushed for 2,190 yards and 32 touchdowns.
After making the CIF-SS Div. II championship game in 2016, Murrieta Valley moved to Div. I.
Bachmeier was ranked the No. 6 pro-style quarterback by the 247Sports Composite Rankings.
Jayden Daniels, Arizona State
Jayden Daniels posted a legendary career in California. Over his four years at the helm of Cajon High School (San Bernardino, California), he set a CIF-SS record of 14,007 passing yards and 170 touchdowns.
On the ground, Daniels ran for 3,645 yards and scored 41 touchdowns.
Over his final two years, he threw for 122 touchdowns to just nine interceptions, had more than 6,000 total yards both years and appeared in both championship games.
Ranked as a four-star prospect by 247Sports, he was labeled the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback, No. 3 player in California and No. 35 player in the class of 2019. Daniels played in the Under Armour All America Game.
In Daniels’ first game at ASU, he completed 15 of 24 passes for 284 yards and had three total touchdowns in a 30-7 win over Kent State.
Max Duggan, TCU
TCU is on a bye this week, so the team has time to figure out whether true freshman Max Duggan or graduate transfer Alex Delton will start game two.
But Duggan led scoring drives in Week One that electrified TCU and its fan base.
Duggan was named the Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year after passing for more than 2,100 yards 24 touchdowns and running for 1,200 yards, according to his TCU bio.
Lewis Central (Council Bluffs, Iowa) went 11-1 but fell in the semifinals.
Duggan was a three-sport athlete at Lewis Central, according to MaxPreps, also playing baseball and basketball.
Labeled a four-star prospect, Duggan was ranked as the No. 5 dual-threat quarterback in the 2019 class and the top player in Iowa by 247Sports.
Ryan Hilinski, South Carolina
Hilinski came out of high school as the No. 2-ranked pro-style quarterback in the 247Sports Composite Rankings, behind just Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler.
The four-star QB led Orange Lutheran (California) to the playoffs by completing 64.2% of his passes for 2,771 yards and 29 touchdowns to 10 interceptions as a senior.
He was a finalist for the All-American Bowl Offensive Player of the Year, and appeared in the bowl.
Over Hilinski’s three-year varsity career, he threw for 8,102 yards, 74 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. He rushed for 11 more touchdowns.
Sam Howell, North Carolina
The 2018 ALL-USA North Carolina Offensive Player of the Year set the state record for total yards with 17,036, ranks second in passing yards with 13,415, and had 205 total touchdowns in his high school career.
Sam Howell led Sun Valley (Monroe, North Carolina) to the playoffs all four years he was the quarterback and got to the Final Four in 2017.
Howell was ranked as the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback and No. 93 player in the class by 247Sports.
He was also a star baseball player, hitting .414 with a 1.045 OPS and 31 RBIs and going 6-0 on the mound with a 0.73 ERA in his senior year.
In North Carolina’s opening game last weekend, Howell introduced himself to the fan base by leading a fourth-quarter comeback over South Carolina. He completed a 98-yard drive in 2:20 with a 22-yard touchdown, then completed the two-point conversion. He later completed a 95-yard drive in 3:17, finishing with a 17-yard touchdown pass that gave UNC the 24-20 lead, which they would hang on to.
Box Nix, Auburn
ALL-USA quarterback Bo Nix started Auburn’s season with fireworks, coming back from a 21-6 deficit with five minutes left in the third quarter to completing the game-winning 26-yard touchdown strike with nine seconds left to take down No. 11 Oregon.
Less than 10 months ago, Bo Nix was playing in front of a couple thousand people on a high school field in Pinson Valley, Alabama.
Tonight, Nix threw a game-winning TD pass in front of a capacity crowd on national television against the No. 11 ranked team.
WHAT. A. MOMENT. pic.twitter.com/0sKYFdieNp
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) September 1, 2019
Nix was named to the 2018 ALL-USA First Team after throwing for 3,496 yards and 48 touchdowns to go with 351 rushing yards and six scores on the ground.
Over his final two years of high school, he led Pinson Valley (Alabama) to a combined 18-1 record and back-to-back championships.
Nix set state career records with more than 12,000 total yards of offense yards and 161 career touchdowns.
He was listed as a five-star prospect and No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the 2019 class by 247Sports.
Kedon Slovis, USC
Kedon Slovis stepped into the USC game over the weekend to replace J.T. Daniels, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear.
Slovis went 6-for-8 for 57 yards, including a 41-yard strike, and one interception as he helped USC hang on to beat Fresno State 31-23.
Over his two years as the full-time starter at Desert Mountain (Scottsdale, Arizona), Slovis threw for 5,535 yards, 50 touchdowns and 11 interceptions at a 63.3% completion rate.
He was ranked by 247Sports as a three-star prospect and the No. 26 pro-style quarterback in the 2019 class.
While Slovis doesn’t have the four- or five-star rankings as the others, he’ll try to prove rankings don’t matter throughout the year. In fact, he and Daniels will go head-to-head when USC visits ASU on Nov. 9.
