Spring Brought Clarity At Quarterback For Some College Football Teams, But Not All

The transfer portal opened Tuesday giving players a 15-day window to attempt to discover greener pastures. As far as quarterbacks are concerned, one or more of the teams noted below may have their depth chart altered, or at least bolstered, by the portal. Likewise, any number of noted QBs may be on their way out.

Until, and if, that happens, these teams were among those that went into the spring seeking answers at quarterback if not validating who the No. 1 will be. Some teams had their questions answered while others will, and not entirely unexpectedly, will have the competition resume when preseason camp commences in August.

Arkansas

In 2020, his first season coaching the Hogs, Sam Pittman had a veteran transfer in Feleipe Franks to lead the offense. He also had a second-year quarterback who went on to do many good things. K.J. Jefferson, though, departed for UCF after last season.

Pittman brought Bobby Petrino back to Fayetteville to be his offensive coordinator. Both like what they have seen in Taylen Green, who appears to have separated from a pack that includes veteran Jacolby Criswell and redshirt freshman Malachi Singleton. Green is certainly the most experienced after starting 22 games and totaling nearly 5,000 yards for Boise State. Criswell has appeared in 19 career games, including four with Arkansas last season (3 TDs) after three years with North Carolina.

Michigan

The defending national champs will, in many ways, have a new look. That includes at quarterback where the competition is sure to continue well into preseason camp. It features a seventh-year player with 199 career pass attempts and a quartet of younger candidates who have zero career starts among them. The old man of the group, Jack Tuttle, arrived from Indiana ahead of the 2023 season and threw for 130 yards while mopping up. His 87 pass attempts at IU in 2021 represent a career high.

First-year coach Sherrone Moore has also been looking at junior Davis Warren, sophomores Alex Orji and Jayden Denegal and early enrollee Jadyn Davis, a top-10 QB recruit. Warren has 14-career pass attempts in nine games, so he is the leader behind Tuttle. Orji has also appeared in nine games over two seasons, though he has attempted all of one pass while rushing for 123 yards (including a 13-yard run in the national championship game against Washington) and three TDs. Denegal attempted five passes last season. Do not assume Moore will grab a QB in the portal, though he may poke around for some experience.

Nebraska

Adrian Martinez, Casey Thompson, Jeff Sims, Chubba Purdy, Heinrich Haarberg, Logan Smothers and Luke McCaffrey all started at least one game for Nebraska in the past four years. While offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield is back for a second year under Matt Rhule, Glenn Thomas is the fourth QB coach in as many years. At least Thomas, like Satterfield, is another one of Rhule’s familiar and former Baylor/Temple assistants.

The hope in Lincoln, of course, is that is top-rated recruit Dylan Raiola, son of former Cornhuskers’ center Dominic Raiola and nephew of current NU offensive line coach Donovan Raiola, provides a sense of stability to the position while hanging around for a while. Sims (in portal) and Purdy (Nevada) started games last season and both departed leaving Haarberg as the lone experienced returnee. Haarberg made eight starts (5-3) last year and totaled 1,444 yards (967 passing) and 12 touchdowns before injuries got the best of him. At least he is a QB with Big Ten game experience.

Pitt

Beginning with Kedon Slovis’ final start of 2022, the Panthers have had five starting quarterbacks in their last 15 games. Opting out of a bowl game, as Slovis did, injury and ineffectiveness have led to a revolving door coach Pat Narduzzi wants to stop. The coach’s choice to lead the offense in 2024 is Nate Yarnell, who has all of three career starts. Yarnell started the final two games of 2023 after Christian Veilleux, a Penn State transfer, took over in mid-season for the injured Phil Jurkovec. He failed to move the offense before yielding to Yarnell, who started once in 2022 and threw for 595 yards and four touchdowns last season.

Veilleux made five starts and completed 51% of his passes with seven TDs and eight interceptions. Eli Holstein had a strong spring after arriving from Alabama where he redshirted as a freshman last season and has four seasons of eligibility.

South Carolina

Robby Ashford easily has the most experience having started at Auburn in 2022 before attempting all of 27 passes last season behind Peyton Thorne in what was Hugh Freeze’s first season coaching on the Plains. Ashford spent his first two years of college (did not play) at Oregon, so he has been around and brings experience, including SEC experience, to a room that is otherwise lacking. Other candidates are redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers, with all of four career pass attempts against Furman last season, though with a year in coach Shane Beamer’s system. Early enrollee and four-star New Englander Dante Reno committed to the program in the summer of 2022. He is the son of Yale coach Tony Reno.

Tulane

There is a new coach and there will be a new starting quarterback at Tulane with Willie Fritz (Houston) and Michael Pratt (expired eligibility) having moved on after leading the Green Wave to much succcess the past few years. Coach Jon Sumrall, who arrived in New Orleans from Troy, has a three-way competition that he has been pleased with this spring. Expect the battle between Kai Horton, Ty Thompson and Darian Mensah to continue in preseason camp.

Horton was Pratt’s primary backup last season and made his only two career starts early in the schedule when the latter was out due to injury. He has thrown for 824 yards and six touchdowns over three seasons. Thompson transferred from Oregon, which reeled in Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore following Bo Nix’s departure to the NFL. He threw for 456 yards in 17 games over three seasons as a backup with the Ducks. Mensah, a redshirt freshman who did not see any action last season, has impressed Sumrall with his work this spring.

USC

With Caleb Williams opting out, Miller Moss headed into last season’s Holiday Bowl with all of 59 career pass attempts in three seasons playing behind Williams as well as the Kedon Slovis/Jaxson Dart combo in 2021. He proceeded to light up Louisville to the tune of six touchdown passes. While it would seem Moss is next in line, coach Lincoln Riley brought Jayden Maiava on board from UNLV. Maiava took advantage of an injury to starter Jacob Brumfield early last season and led the Rebels to their most wins (9-5) since 1984 while snapping the program’s nine-year bowl drought. This is a situation that, if not literally, could be 1A and 1B on the depth chart well into fall camp if not longer.

UTSA

Regardless of who ultimately wins the job and takes over for Frank Harris, there will be a sense of continuity for coach Jeff Traylor. Eddie Lee Marburger is in his fourth year in the system and made his only career start against Army last season when Harris was injured. When it came time to name a starter for the Frisco Bowl after Harris opted out, Traylor went with Colorado transfer Owen McCown, who led the Roadrunners to a win over Marshall, the program’s first bowl victory.

Both QBs have been competing this spring, a competition that will likely carry into the fall. Marburger has thrown for 543 yards and five touchdowns in 11 career games and McCown, son of former NFL quarterback Josh McCown, has thrown for 1,042 yards and six scores in 11 career games. He started three games with the Buffaloes in 2022.