← The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Football Talk
The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Football Talk
College Football QBs: Do you need a vet to win? The amazing QB experience returning in CFB in 2026
01:16:46
Of the 68 power conference college football teams, 58 are locked in with returning or transfer starters for 2026. Six look like they are planning to start homegrown new starters, and four are looking at real quarterback battles.
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Welcome back to the Bill and Doug Show. Doug Lamoris and Bill Landis. Landis, we are talking about how many veteran quarterbacks there are going to be in major college football this year. The Power 68. There's just a gazillion of them. And having now absorbed this research, are you surprised by how many old dudes we're going to have slow slinging the ball in 2026 in college football?
- [00:33]
B
No, for, for, for two reasons. One, that just seems to be the thing that everybody wants. And two, it was like kind of young last year. So yeah, this is just sort of the, the natural progression of things.
- [00:49]
A
We are, I think there you nailed it. There's, it's the. So many teams like, you know, Indiana wins the national championship with the Heisman winning quarterback who's going to be the number one pick in the draft. And they're not saying, okay, they, they didn't tell his brother to step up. Here you go. They told his brother to get lost. They didn't say that. I'm sure they said, alberto, we love you man, but he went to Georgia Tech. It's not going to be a new quarterback at Indiana. They want to got a guy who's been a three year starter. So it is. That's part of the new era. We just understand that now, right. That that's just how some subset of these winning teams are going to address quarterback more often than not. They go from one guy who's been a veteran to some other guy who's a veteran and they make their decisions in the portal.
- [01:34]
B
I don't, I don't. Is it a subset anymore? I don't know. It's like the whole sport, I think. Right? Like how the sport works. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll see. I guess Ohio State feels like it's a, it's like a, it's an outlier here with the way that it still wants to go about its business. I think, I think everybody more or less wants to fall into this pattern, I guess until there's proof that you can win otherwise. And I'm sure there will, that day will come. But, but that we haven't gotten yet.
- [02:03]
A
And like, we're not analyzing what's happening in the group of six quarterback situations. We're not analyzing what's happening in FCS college football situations. But they're, there's. So when we're just looking at it like this, there sort of is an unlimited supply of veterans because the tier one teams can bring in a tier two veteran quarterback. The tier two Teams can bring in a tier three veteran quarterback and you can always dip down. Right. That if you're in the middle of the Power 4, you can find a Group of 6 guy or an FCS guy who's been a starter. If you're Wisconsin, you go get the Old Dominion quarterback. Right. But then if you're Indiana, you go get the TCU quarterback. And so like that there's, there's. And if you're in the top tier, if you don't want to start a new quarterback, you probably never have to again if you don't want to. And Indiana might be the example of the program that doesn't want to.
- [02:58]
B
Yeah, I don't know about like Indiana certainly in that, in that mode right now. I, with time and more demonstrated sustainability, might they ever get off that? I think there was a time probably last year where I would have said like, of course, or maybe going into last year was like, they probably want to get to like a place where they can recruit and develop their own guys. But I don't know. I don't know that I believe that now because I don't know if I believe that about anybody anymore. I'm like fascinated to see what this all does to the freshman quarterback market and how the position's even recruited moving forward. Right. Because it's not any cheaper to get those guys out of the five star guys out of high school. But no one like patience is gone now. Like the by and large the patience to bring those guys in and actually develop them like from the program and from the players too. So it's a pretty volatile time I think in college quarterback play. And I thought that like three years ago, unsure of where it was going and it's even more volatile now.
- [04:00]
A
Is it one of those where, for instance, and I'm just trying to think of an example, I hadn't thought of this previously but like we look at something like the recruitment of Jared Curtis in this freshman quarterback class and he was committed to Georgia. It's like, okay, well that makes sense. He's a, he's the best quarterback, he's going to one of the best programs and he ends up flipping late to Vanderbilt. And now he's projected to be the starter at Vanderbilt unless Diego Pavia gets a 14th year and gets to play at Vanderbilt in 2026 as a 41 year old. So if that doesn't happen, then Jared Curtis is going to be the quarterback. And I think still initially when that happened, it's sort of like holy moly, Vanderbilt flipped a Five star quarterback from Georgia. That's crazy. But if we think about it like this, well, Gunner Stockton is going to be the starter at Georgia this year. Georgia has a good returning starting quarterback. Jared Curtis wouldn't have been the starter. So Jared Curtis can go to Vanderbilt start if it goes great and he loves it. And Vanderbilts, they're not a tier one team but they almost made the playoff last year. They're now. I'd view them as a tier two team right now. But still, if Jared Curtis, if his ultimate goal is to be the starting quarterback at Georgia, I'm not so sure his best path isn't to go be the starting quarterback at Vanderbilt for a year or two and then go to the starting quarterback at Georgia. It doesn't change the end game, it's just why would he go be the backup at Georgia? And honestly, I don't even know if Georgia's mad about that. Not that they have a wink wink, but if they love the kid, they won't give up on him and they'll be back channeling his doors off to get him to Athens eventually. And so instead of being like holy moly, look what Vanderbilt did, it's like, well, it's good for Vanderbilt. If they can keep for four years, great. If not, if they get him for a year or two and he's good and they get some promotion out of it, great. And then he can go to Georgia anyway. And this is the way of the world now.
- [05:51]
B
I don't, yeah, I don't know if that was. I don't think there's a, whatever a subplot to this where, where that is the plan. But it's certainly a possibility. I think, and I know it's be a heck of a thing for Georgia to treat an in conference team. It's like a farm system. But I do, I do think that's possible with the way that this stuff is going even like I know look at where the top quarterbacks in this year's recruiting class went. Like it's Houston, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, byu. Right. Like it's not, it's not Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama in the top five. Like there are four or five star quarterbacks. One of them went to Texas and the other three went to Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Houston. That's weird. But, but I think it's a little bit reflective of the situation where guys want to, want to get here and they want to play right away. And I think they know and those aren't bad programs necessarily, but I think they know that like that's not a bad place to start. And who knows what opportunities might be afforded to you a year or two down the road after you start early at those places. Now I don't know like, like Curtis is going to start. I don't know that Keyshawn Henderson is going to start at Houston, but I guess he could.
- [07:01]
A
Connor Wegman's back. I would guess no.
- [07:03]
B
I would guess no too. But Connor Wakeman also stinks.
- [07:05]
A
But.
- [07:06]
B
So let's see how that plays out. And then I guess like there's the Joey Aguilar thing with Tennessee that we have to wait to figure out before we figure out whether or not Faison, Brandon could potentially start as a freshman there. But yeah, I don't, I don't think you're going to see many five star blue chip quarterbacks anymore go to places where it's like pretty evident you're going to have to wait two years to start. And I frankly, I don't blame them. Yeah.
- [07:30]
A
So you treat and it is, is it not a win win for everybody? Like is if Vanderbilt's being used by Jared Curtis and George. It's like use us. Great.
- [07:40]
B
Yeah,
- [07:43]
A
great. And then when Jared Curtis leaves we'll, we'll go take, you know, some American Conference quarterback and bring him in to be this. Like everybody's using each other and I guess there's not a downside but we just have to, we have to keep thinking about it in a new way because you were not surprised. But I don't know if people would be surprised that by, by this projection. And all I did was go through the Power 68 teams and just think about who's probably going to be the quarterback. I'm not being some quarterback magician. I'm just reading what other people are writing about what's probably going to happen. And by my count, 68 teams, 31 are expected to start new transfers at quarterback in 20, 26, 27 are starting returning starters. So it's like this was our guy last year, he's still going to be our guy, but he has experience. And that's 58 of 68 that are, that are not doing the thing that you used to do, which is like we have a backup, our starter graduated or our starter left and now the backup's the starter. 58 of 68 are not doing that, are not in a position to need to do that. I have six teams that, that is the plan, including a place like Clemson for instance, where they have like a veteran guy who's been around forever and now they're going to elevate him. That's the plan. It seems that Kate Clubnik has gone and then four places where there's. You would view it as a battle, including at Alabama, but none of the people in the battle really have much experience at most of those places. So 58 of 68 kind of have it locked down and they, they don't have it locked down with the number two from last year. But you're saying like that's. Is. Do you think that's like the new norm? Part of it is the cycle and we'll get into that. There's a bunch of these good teams that are just happen to be cycling together but it's also maybe just the new norm. Generally speaking.
- [09:39]
B
I think it's, I do think it's the new norm.
- [09:41]
A
Now.
- [09:41]
B
I. Could this be a slightly extreme version maybe like you know, because last, I think last year that number of teams that was doing it like the traditional way was, was that that pool was a little larger and, and more importantly like larger kind of like at the top of the sport. So we'll see what those programs decide to do like moving forward. But I, I would imagine there's, there's at least a chance anyway that they kind of, they kind of stay on. Like we have a guy, we developed them, we developed the next guy kind of thing. But I don't think that number of teams anymore would ever exceed like I don't know, 15 or 20. Like I, I do, I do think like the majority of. Of the power conference teams are going to be in the position where a lot of them are going into this year.
- [10:32]
A
We had this same discussion a year ago about whether veteran quarterbacks and a returning. You know, our quarterback started games before he started for a year for two, for three. He has 12, 20, 25, 30, 35 start turners belt. We'll run through some of the most experienced guys for this year. Do you view that as an advantage or no? We've had this, we had this discussion last year. We'll continue it this year as we try to evaluate the best teams in college football in the preseason. Is quarterback experience something that is a plus?
- [11:07]
B
Yeah, I think so. It's not a guarantee, right? There are plenty of old bad quarterbacks or old average quarterbacks I think but I don't know even like you know, in the environment around them matters. I do think even like we just saw Carson Beck play for a national title. I think old average quarterbacks can get you that decent way in college football too. So yeah, I I think it's an advantage. I think there will be like the occasional young guy who comes pretty close to breaking through to the point where like, you know, it's fine that you're playing them. Like Julian saying was close to that last year. I think C.J. carr was that for Notre Dame for a lot of last season. But by and large I, I think, I think it's true that quarterback advantage or quarterback experience isn't, is an advantage. And I think everyone's racing to get it now based off of how the last two playoffs have gone.
- [12:00]
A
So let's talk about how different this is than last year. Last year, in the preseason, preseason top 25 in the AP, six of the top eight teams had a new quarterback or a mostly new quarterback. Texas was number one new starter in Arch Manning. Ohio State number three new starter and Julian Sand. Georgia number five new starter and Gunner Stockton. Notre Dame number six new starter in C.J. carr. Oregon number seven, mostly new starter and Dante Moore, who had started like half a season at UCLA but then had been at Oregon and sat out a year. So like, like not totally new, but new to Oregon and different circumstances. Certainly not a veteran in my book. And then Alabama had Ty Simpson as a new starter. He was older, but he had never started before. So that's six of the top eight had a new quarterback. And then you go down Michigan at Bryce Underwood with the true freshman. They were at number 14. So at six of the top eight, seven of the top 14 had new quarterbacks. And that to me, I remember thinking like, that's a big deal. And it's part of why I and a lot of other people, Penn State at number two and Clemson at number four were the different teams in the top eight last year where Penn State and Clemson with Drew Aller and Kate Klubnick each had third year starters back. And that felt like an advantage. And we were, I was sort of like going through like who's got, where's the veteran quarterback advantage? And as you're, as you're handicapping the 20, 25 college football season and then it turned out that it was, I think, not the only thing, but part of the thing to look for the veteran quarterbacks. Yes, you're looking for the wrong ones. And you weren't looking for Drew Aller and Kate Clubnik. You were looking for Carson Beck and Fernando Mendoza. But I, I do think even as good as Arch Manning and Julian sand and C.J. carr and Gunner Stockton and Dante Moore and Ty Simpson were, I, I do think you there were Some young moments, some inexperienced moments that, that maybe did hold those teams back just a little bit that made the idea of veteran quarterbacks are an advantage ring true. Even though all those guys were good. Like no, like, right. Nobody even Arch after his terrible start, like he, he didn't completely bomb. But I think there would be reason for all of those guys who were back saying Arch, Moore, Carr, whatever, Stockton, you would have more faith this year because of the bumps and bruises they took as first year starters. You would have more faith this year and, and I don't think it was a misread, it was like a misidentification of which veterans to believe in. But to me I'm, I'm still gonna give an edge to veteran quarterbacks for now. For now
- [14:51]
B
I think I would too. I, I do think it's important and this is with the benefit of hindsight. So like nobody was saying this last year, but I think now that we've sort of gone through it, like you could look at Cade Clubnick and Drew Allergies, like yeah, they're older, third year returning starters, but like how much of their situation has changed? Like I think you could have done like a more sort of like honest assessment of everything involved with both of their situations and come to the conclusion that they probably had plateaued. Like there what, there wasn't another level for them to get to. And not to say that means they were going to be bad but, but you know, were they actually going to be the guys that kind of like elevated to go in a national title? Whereas like Fernando Mendoza wasn't blowing the world away when he was a cow, but he was good. He had some like special moments a Cal and then you like put him in this Indiana system. Like of course he's going to get better, right? And even this, I would say the same thing for Carson Beck, right? Like you know, he put him around Malachi, Tony, he's got a great offensive line, they got a great running back of Mark Fletcher, they're not asking him to do too much. I think as part of that offense, like it was just a better situation for him too. So I think there are some lessons in there as we assess like this, this crop of QBs going into 2026. Like yes, old, old is great. I think old is important, but it's not like the end all be all and you can be an old quarterback in a bad situation, you can be an old quarterback who's like kind of in the same situation. Like I think like Rocco Becket, right? Like Rocco Beck was a solid quarterback for Iowa State, but why would I think that Rocco Beck would be anything different at Penn State than he was in Iowa State when all he's doing is playing in Iowa State offense while wearing a Penn State uniform. Right. So I think you have to be a little more discerning about figuring out where exactly the guys who are going to pop come from and not merely bank on experience, which I think is a trap that a lot of us fell into last year. When looking at Aller and Club Nick specifically.
- [16:44]
A
I do think part of is there's so many veteran guys to choose from. Right. That you especially as it works out this year, I, I do think you it's very natural to view anybody with a new quarterback and we'll talk about who that applies to as a little bit of a disadvantage because even if, like, even if this team's veteran quarterback doesn't hit all the way, like there's so many veteran options this year, I do want to look at the playoff real quick. The playoff from last year. Ten power four teams made the playoff. Four of them had guys who were in their third year as starters. Fernanda Mendoza at Indiana had transferred from Cal. Baron Morton at Texas Tech, who wasn't very good. Trinidad Chambliss, who had been at Ferris State and has started I think 24 games at Ferris State, wasn't the Ole Miss starter to begin the year but took over and was obviously a key to their season. And then Carson Beckett, Miami, who had started two years at Georgia, you then had. Marcel Reed was in his second year as a starting quarterback at Texas A M. John Matier was a second year starting quarterback. He had been at Washington State and transferred to Oklahoma. But here, here's the point that I want to make. I, it's. I don't. It might be unfair, but if you look at the, the first year starting quarterbacks who made the playoff, Julian saying at Ohio State, Gunner Stockton at Georgia, Dante Moore again kind of like a year and a half starting quarterback at Oregon and Ty Simpson at Alabama. We were sort of waiting for Julian saying maybe to elevate in the playoff. He went 22 of 35 with five sacks and a loss to Miami. Like didn't, didn't exactly elevate right. Gunner Stockton in Georgia. He was 18 of 31 in a loss to Old Miss. Like they put up some points but like I don't like. Would you expect Gunner Stockton in the same situation in 2026 to be better? I think maybe you would, right? Even though that game was Kind of a shootout. Like, I don't think they lost and Gunner Stockton saved them much of the year, but I don't know that he was great in the, in the loss that kicked him out of the playoff. Dante Moore, you know, they won two playoff games at Oregon, but then against Indiana, he threw a pick six to open the game, had a fumble in his own territory to set up another Indiana touchdown, and like, kind of melted down a little bit against a great Indiana defense. But I think sort of in that moment felt a little young. And then Ty Simpson, who wasn't young but wasn't experienced, was 12 of 16 for 67 yards against Indiana and then got hurt and like Indiana tore his arms off. And it like he. People think he might be a first round pick in the NFL draft, but like, in that moment, he'd never quite, you know, been in a playoff. He hadn't been in a moment like that in a playoff situation. Certainly they beat Oklahoma. I understand that. But in the game that knocked him out, it was like. Was the quarterback play what you needed? Probably. No. Does that mean anything? I'm bringing up like, hey, the first year starting quarterbacks didn't win the national title, and when they played good teams at the end of the year, they weren't awesome. It's like, well, yeah, they weren't awesome. They're playing great teams. They're playing great defenses. Is that anything?
- [19:36]
B
No, yeah, I, I think it's something. And also, if you, I think you could just look at stats and arrive at that conclusion. But really, if you, like, if you watch the way those guys played, like, they looked inexperienced. Right. They looked like. And not, not for the entirety of the game. Right. Like Julian saying had some, had some nice moments against Miami, but he looked a little overwhelmed at times. And I think that's probably true of all the guys you, you mentioned. So it's not just, you know, what was your completion percentage and how many interceptions did you throw? It's like when you drop back, did you look confident in what you were seeing and what was happening? And I think, you know, for a decent chunk of all those games where those guys ended up losing, I think you would say probably not.
- [20:17]
A
Yeah. Okay. I don't want to be unfair, but part of it is, man, think about all those guys who are back now and what they might do now that they've had all the good and bad experiences. So. So this, I think, is the most content. And again, I don't. You don't. People don't have to write this down. If you want to write it down. Great. I made a little spreadsheet, shared the spread. I successfully shared the spreadsheet with you.
- [20:42]
B
I'm looking at it right now. Yeah, you did, yeah.
- [20:44]
A
Can you sort. Can you sort ascending and descending? Right. It's not just a picture, it's an actual malleable spreadsheet. Look at me.
- [20:52]
B
That's right.
- [20:52]
A
Send it, send it on a text message. I find this. I. These numbers to me are, are a little like, holy moly. And so get ready for this. This is. And I, I should give credit for this, but I can't remember who I got it from. I was gonna. I thought, like, you know what, there's all these way too early top 25s that everybody does. You should do a consensus. You should find whatever the 6 to 8 to 10 to 14 that are out there and make a consensus. And then some guy did and I was like, oh, this is great.
- [21:22]
B
Yeah, so I took that. That's fine.
- [21:24]
A
But I can't remember who I took it from. So this is not. But that's the. This is. That's the top 25 I used. I'm now going to run through the way too early top 25 with their projected starting quarterback and how many career starts that quarterback has made in college football. Okay, we all good. Everybody get it. We know what we're doing here. Strap in. Here we go. Number one, Ohio State, Julian saying, 14 career starts. Number two, Indiana. Josh Hoover, transfer from TCU. 31 career starts. Number three, Texas. Arch Manning, 15 career starts. Number four, Georgia. Gunner Stockton. 15 career starts. Number five, Oregon. Dante Moore, 20 career starts, number six, Notre Dame. C.J. carr, 12 career starts. Number seven, Texas Tech. Brendan Sorsby, transfer from Cincinnati. 30 career starts. Number eight, Texas A&M, Marcel Reed, 21 career starts, number nine, Miami. Darian Mensah, transfer from Duke and Tulane. 27 career starts, number 10, Oklahoma. John Mattier. 24 career starts, number 11, BYU Bear Bachmeier, 14 career starts, number 12. LSU, Sam Levitt, transfer from Arizona State. 20 career starts, number 13, Ole Miss, Trinidad Chambliss, 29 career starts, number 14, Michigan. Bryce Underwood, 13 career starts, number 15. USC, Jade Maiva, 24 career starts, number 16. Alabama is the first team and the consensus way too early top 25. Who is not going to have an experienced returning starter or quarterback. It's either going to be Keelan Russell or Austin Mack who are battling for it. Russell was a five star freshman last year and didn't play. Austin Mack is a guy who followed Caleb Deboer from Washington. Neither of them have started a game. We get to the 16th team in the country before, we don't have a quarterback who's at least a one year starter. So don't hold your breath. Bama. Number 17, Penn State. Rocco Beck, transfer from Iowa State. 36 career starts. Number 18, Utah. Devin Dampier. 26 career starts. Number 19, Washington. Demon Williams Jr. 15 career starts. Number 20, Louisville. Who I was a little surprised is Louisville at The consensus number 20 preseason team. Great. Lincoln Keenholtz, transfer from Ohio State. Zero career starts. That's our second team in the top 25 without an experienced guy. Number 21, SMU Kev Jennings, 26 career starts. Number 22, Iowa. A battle probably between Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown. Zero career starts. Missouri Austin Simmons at number 23, transfer from Ole Miss, two career starts. Number 24, Houston. Connor Wegman, 26 career starts. Number 25, Vanderbilt. Jared Curtis, the freshman. We talked about zero career starts, but really what we're talking about the top 19 teams. Bill. 18 of the top 19 teams have a vet at QB. If you don't, if you don't have one, you're screwed.
- [24:20]
B
You're correct. I, I will. Hank Brown has started twice.
- [24:24]
A
Oh, congratulations.
- [24:26]
B
He started. He started two games at Auburn in 2024.
- [24:29]
A
I apologize to Kirk Ference and the
- [24:30]
B
other but two starts, not zero starts. Yeah, that's insane. That's like. That's. It's crazy.
- [24:41]
A
That's the show. That's why we're doing this show because that's crazy.
- [24:44]
B
Yeah, that's pretty, that's pretty wild. But it's good because we just know we can eliminate Alabama from any playoff consideration on February 19th.
- [24:55]
A
What's the. Can we start the clock on this? We're recording this at 11:35 Eastern on Thursday, February 19th and I am starting my Kaylin DeBoer countdown to firing clock. Here I go. I'm hitting it on my watch right now.
- [25:09]
B
Boop.
- [25:10]
A
Is there an app for that? Can we create that app? The Kalinborg Countdown to Firing. Oh my God. Is it too late for me to get a transfer quarterback from Division 6? Because we got a bunch of now also now we're also talking about like is Kelon Russell who was. Is a five star quarterback. He's like Keelan Russell's exact. Here's the thing. Russell is exactly what Julian saying was last year what CJ Carr was last year as like a second year guy who was a major recruit was a backup as a true freshman as is expected to elevate into a starting role in year two. Which actually at major college programs is exactly how it should work. But Kalyn DeBoer is sitting around saying, wait, I thought we all agreed this is how we did this. And everybody else is like, nah, we got Rocco Beck. Sorry. We got Josh Hoover. No, sorry. We're bringing back Julian sand and Dante Moore and C.J. carr and Gunnar Stockton and Arch Manning and all these guys who have done it before. You're on your own. Kaelin. When. When actually that's the old expectation and now right now he's there are on an island among the top 19 teams in the country. It's remarkable.
- [26:25]
B
It is. And it's not like, you know, they can make the, it. It's not prohibitive for making the playoff. I don't know Alabama schedule. I'm not going to pick whether or not they're making the playoff right now. But they're not. They're not. Yeah. So. But I do like I, I don't, I've, I'm not going to consider them to win a national title because they don't, they have, they don't have an old quarterback I think until someone in this new era and we're only doing it for 12 years. But like in the four team playoff like young quarterbacks did kind of break through and, and help their teams win. But in two years of doing this that hasn't happened. So until it does, I don't. I think I'm probably going to write off any team that has a first year starting quarterback when it comes to picking national title winners. Yeah.
- [27:08]
A
Career starts. Among the, the expected power four guys, they're going to be eight quarterbacks with at least 30 or more career starts. Joey Aguilar, if He gets his 17th year at Tennessee, they're suing everybody. I don't know. It'll go to the Supreme Court like again miss me with all this stuff but I guess he might be the quarterback if he's the quarterback. At Tennessee. He has 36 career starts. Rocco back to Penn State. 36 career starts. Jalen Rayner at Iowa State who's an Arkansas State transfer. 36 career starts. Noah Fafida, Arizona, 34 career starts. Byron Brown, transfer to Auburn followed Alex Golish, he was from South Florida. He has 32 career starts. Josh Hoover, Indiana, the TCU transfer, 31 career starts. Anth Calandria at Nebraska, UNLV and Virginia transfer, 31 career starts. Soaresby at Texas Tech, Cincinnati transfer, 30 career starts. There are 31 quarterbacks so this includes the eight 31 with at least 20 or more starts who are projected to start in the Power 4. There are 46 of 68 with 10 or more career starts. One of the things here, and I don't know, like, so not all transfers are created equal. The 31 expected transfer, the transfer is expected to start. Like, they're not in a battle. They kind of like were brought in to be the starter. Thirteen of those 31 were Power 4 starters last year. That's like Rocco backed. That's Josh Hoover. Right. Ten were lower level starters. They were starters either in the group of 6 or FCS. This is like Colton Joseph at Wisconsin, moving up from Old Dominion, that kind of thing. That's what we would have seen with Trinidad Chambliss in the past. Like Drew Mestemaker following his coach to go from North Texas to Oklahoma State. He fits in that category. That kind of thing. And then eight are Power 4 backups somewhere else who are now transferring to be the expected starter at their new place. This is like Lincoln Keenholtz going from Ohio State to Louisville. So that's one of those where I'm like, hey, you got your transfer. Like, I talk about that in a way that's like, hey, you brought in a transfer, you figured it out. Not every transfer is a slam dunk. Sure thing. So if you're Louisville and you're like, hey, you know, let's go get this Ohio State guy. We think Lincoln Keenholtz is a fine quarterback. It's not like Louisville's like, lock it down. Sign us up for the playoff. Lincoln Keenholz played 14 snaps at Ohio State last year. Let's roll. Right? So, yeah, like, we don't want to count every transfer the exact same way.
- [29:40]
B
I. Yeah, I think it's. I think it's very important to not do that. But that is. That's just good advice for transfers in general. Right. Like, we've had this conversation many times in the past, people. I think misconstrue. Misconstrue is a disconstrue action. Like action in the portal for actual additive moves. And it's like, just because you got a guy who transferred in does not mean he is better than what you had or that he is going to be good. So. Yeah, but I think like a lot of these older guys, it's. It's probably a fairly safe bet anyway that the floor is pretty high.
- [30:18]
A
Yeah, no, that's what I. So, like, it's one of those. I. Would you rather I get bringing in a veteran transfer who's played. I think if I'm gonna play a guy who's never, never played, I think I would rather play a guy who's been in my program who's never played. If you were a backup last year and now you're projected to be the starter. If I were the head coach, I'd rather have my own backup than somebody else's backup.
- [30:41]
B
I agree. Yeah.
- [30:48]
A
So some of these teams. Let's see who's playing. Who's expected to play a backup as their transfer. Starting quarterback, Ashton Daniels. At Florida State, it got. He was the Auburn backup last year. Right. Louisville, with Lincoln Keenholtz is going to do that. Davis Warren, the former, like, Michigan starter with a year they had no quarterbacks and then was the backup last year to Bryce Underwood. He's projected to be the starter at Stanford. Good luck to Stanford. Maybe they should drop football. West Virginia is expected to start Oklahoma. Backup Michael Hawkins, who has five career starts, but he wasn't the starter last year. Again, Missouri is projected to start. Austin Simmons, who was the starter at Ole Miss to start last year, got hurt. Trinidad Chambers took over. So he's. He was like the backup then the rest of the year. He has two starts at Ole Miss. Florida's projected to start this Georgia Tech backup. What is Florida doing? John Sumrall, I guess. Good luck to him.
- [31:40]
B
What is going on, people. People liked Philo a lot, though, at Georgia Tech. Right. He was just stuck behind Kane's King.
- [31:48]
A
Yeah. Kentucky is expected to start Kenny Minchi, Notre Dame backup. That actually, I think it's a smart move. Georgia Tech losing. Philo expected to start Alberto Mendoza, transfer from Indiana. So, I mean, it's just like one of those that. Again, it's not always a sure thing. Do you think we're gonna get, like, another Fernando Mendoza? And it's not just Fernando. Like, we've seen so many transfer quarterbacks when it was like Michael Penix and Bonix and those guys. It wasn't, you know, necessarily in year one. It was more like in year two that some of those hit. But would you expect that a transfer. If you could bet on this, a new transfer quarterback who is in year one at his new team will be a Heisman finalist.
- [32:30]
B
Yeah.
- [32:32]
A
So then it's like, name that quarterback. Right.
- [32:37]
B
Oh, I'm like. I'm, like, looking at this list and, like, it keeps changing and I'm wondering why. It's because, like, whenever you do something, it changes.
- [32:44]
A
Oh, yeah. We're collaborating. It's the collaboration button I'm sorting. Yes.
- [32:49]
B
Yeah, no, I think that. I think that will happen. And I. I have a guy who. I think it'll be.
- [32:54]
A
Well, give it to us. Who's this year's Fernanda Mendoza?
- [32:57]
B
Brendan Sorsby.
- [32:58]
A
Okay. Brendan Sorsby.
- [33:01]
B
Who?
- [33:01]
A
Again, the remarkable thing about this, the. One of the more interesting things of the Indiana Kurt Signetti story is that, like, Kurt Signetti arrived and Brendan Sourceby was like, I'm out. Or I don't even know exactly how that went down. Yeah. But for what Indiana did with Kurt Signetti and having Curtis Work and Fernando Mendoza give Indiana great quarterback play the last two years, they also could have just been like, we'll just keep Brendan Sorsby, see what happens with him. Because now Texas tech is paying $14 gazillion for Brendan Sorsby.
- [33:27]
B
Yeah. And it's not just. It's not the. It's not the price tag. It's. Even when he was at Indiana and Indiana was bad, Sworesby had some flashes. That's why we were excited when he went to Cincinnati. And I think he was okay there. Better than okay there. It was. And had had some really good moments at Cincinnati, too. But he's. He, for me, is a guy that, like. Like I mentioned earlier, like, he's been pretty good, has definitely had some flashes of high upside, but probably needs more around him to, like, really take that next step. And I think. I haven't studied Texas Tech's roster, to be perfectly honest, but with the way they spend money, I'm kind of making an assumption that'll have some better stuff around him. He did have good weapons at Cincinnati, but he's really athletic. He's got good size. Like, he's. He's definitely an NFL prospect. So I. I think he might be the guy who's. And. And like, I. The change of scenery I think is interesting, too. That's why, like, yeah, you know, I think you could pick Rocco Beck for this if you want, but I just, like, have a hard time seeing him being more than what he's been, which is, like, a fine quarterback, but he's not really in any kind of different situation other than he's going to be playing against better defenses more regularly than he was at Iowa State. So I think. So, like, if you're looking for a guy, I think swords would be a good pick. Obviously, you could say Hoover, because he's the next Indiana guy. I don't know. I might, like. I think I would fade a couple of them, too. Like Byron Brown, maybe even Darian Mensah. I don't know. Yeah, it.
- [34:58]
A
It's hard because you go through it and it's like, oh, man, 31 teams expect in the Power 4, expected to start transfer quarterbacks. And then actually, like, you start going through the names and it's like, Alonzo Barnett III going from James Madison to ucf, like, watch out. But also, like, I don't know. I'm nothing against Alonzo Barnett the third. Like, he actually, like, he made the playoff last year. Like, what am I talking about? That's a playoff quarterback. Right, But. And who would have thought that Trinidad Chambliss a year ago was going to be what he turned into? Right? But some of these, you know, like, DJ Lagway at Baylor, it's like, well, it kind of didn't work at Florida, so he had great potential, great talent, kind of failed his way to Baylor. And now is he going to be a Heisman finalist? I don't know. Like, Aiden Childs at Northwestern is the same kind of thing. The reason he's at Northwestern is because it didn't work out at Michigan State the way a lot of people, including us, would have thought that it might have worked out. Like, TCU's new quarterback to replace Josh Hoover is the Harvard quarterback. And on one hand, it's like, is the Harvard quarterback going to be awesome in the Big 12? But given the history of what we've seen at the quarterback position, the answer might be yes. Right?
- [36:02]
B
Yeah.
- [36:02]
A
Jaden Craig might be a name that every college football fan knows eight months from now.
- [36:07]
B
Yeah, I think wasn't. He was. I'm trying to remember. I think it was him. Like, when Harvard played Yale and people were kind of, like, going nuts about him. Like, this guy. This guy's gonna be a pretty hot commodity. So.
- [36:17]
A
Yeah.
- [36:18]
B
Yeah, I think so. I think, like, the. The guys who are, like, clearly out and that's obvious. I guess, like, the guys who are clearly elevating into a better situation are the ones I think you want to keep an eye out on.
- [36:28]
A
Not.
- [36:28]
B
Not the failed or borderline failed Power four guys who had to go elsewhere because their former team didn't want them anymore. Right.
- [36:37]
A
Even.
- [36:37]
B
Even if they're. Even if they're big names. It's like, I don't. I don't know. Like, again, like, change of scenery certainly can help, but I don't. Like, is DJ Lagway any better off at Baylor to the point where he's going to be something different than what he was in Florida? I would. I would guess not. So I'M not. Again, I don't dismiss them entirely, but yeah, there's, there's, you can get, you can get carried away pretty quickly with some of the quarterback movement just based off of like, names and recruiting pedigree. And it's like, well, did you watch them play? I think there was anything there that was actually impressive. Whereas, like some of these guys, especially once we're moving up, it's like, yeah, like, you have to hope that the, whatever the, the production translates up a level or up multiple levels. But I, I would rather, I think, be in that situation than hoping you can like, reignite lost potential from a guy who just wasn't as good as people thought he was going to be.
- [37:32]
A
Yeah. So I, I do think the most impactful part of this is going to be the returning starters. So why don't we run through the Power 4 expected returning starters at quarterback who have all made at least 12 career starts. And there's a couple lower, like Mason Heinzel, a pit made eight starts last year, but he's a returning starter to me. Steve Angeli at Syracuse made five stars before he got hurt, but he is a returning starter. I'm gonna. The returning starters at their same school and you just say like, how about you say your expectation for them? Is it like, okay, good or great? We don't want to say bad, okay, good or great for every guy. And then we'll run through it this way. Joey aguilar at Tennessee, 36 career starts. If he gets the eligibility lawsuit settled. What do you think of Joey Aguilar, Tennessee?
- [38:17]
B
I would, I would say, like, okay, he was, he was decent for Tennessee last year. I think they can be okay to good. Yeah.
- [38:23]
A
He would be in his seventh year of college and his fifth year as a starter if he gets the eligibility. Noah Fafida, Arizona. What's that?
- [38:31]
B
I said Dr. Aguilar.
- [38:32]
A
Dr. Aguilar. Congratulations to him. Good luck with your lawsuit and all your lawyers. I hate college football lawyers. No offense to them. I would like to throw them in the ocean. I understand that lawyers need to exist and everybody needs representation, but I'm just saying on a gut level, when it comes to college football, I would like to throw all lawyers in the ocean so they would drown, just so they would float away and I don't have to watch them on Twitter anymore. Let's go to the next one. Noah Fafida at Arizona, fifth year college player, fourth year as a starter, 34 career starts. What do you think of Noah Fafida?
- [39:04]
B
I would say, okay, like Good when He had Ted McMillan and Jacob Cowling, but he doesn't. He doesn't have either one. And it's been a few years since
- [39:14]
A
he has some flashes. Like, again, like, it's, It's. You know, there's going to be somebody in here that pops. I don't think it would be impossible for him to be a guy that really pops in the year four as a starter, but we'll see. Trinidad chambliss, Ole Miss, sixth year college football, third year as a starter, 29 career starts. Assuming, like, his lawsuit doesn't get overturned or whatever, like, you think he's going to be a dude this year.
- [39:36]
B
Yeah, if he plays like I would, I think he's got a chance to be, like, in the. In the great tier, like, one of the better.
- [39:42]
A
Kansas State. Avery Johnson, fourth year in college, third year as a starter, 27 career starts. You and I have spent a lot of time talking about Avery Johnson in our career as podcasters. Like, is it gonna happen?
- [39:54]
B
I think. I think probably not. Not to the extent that we thought it was going to. I. I would say probably just. Okay.
- [39:59]
A
Okay. SMU. Kevin Jennings, made a playoff two years ago, fifth year in college, third year as a starter, 26 career starts. Kevin Jennings, what do you think?
- [40:08]
B
Like, borderline good. I like his. His flashes have been pretty solid, but he was. He was actually like, quite good the year they went to the playoff. And then. Yeah, didn't. Didn't seem to elevate last year, so maybe more.
- [40:19]
A
Okay, you kind of expressed this already. Houston. Connor Wegman, fifth year in college, third year as a starter, 26 career starts.
- [40:27]
B
Just. Okay.
- [40:28]
A
Utah. Devin. Dan Pierre, the transfer. I feel bad for. Devin Dampier. Transfers from New Mexico with his oc, plays for Kyle Whittingham, Then Kyle Whittingham goes to Michigan and takes the oc, but doesn't take him because Michigan already has Bryce Underwood. So now Devin Dampier is sort of like at Utah without the guy that he followed. But I think he is still a good quarterback. Fourth year in college, third year as a starter, 26 career starts. How's he going to do with Morgan Scally as his head coach?
- [40:55]
B
I think he could be good. Yeah. I. I don't. I. I don't know what exactly what Utah's doing on offense in terms of schematics, but if it's anything like the system that Dampier's been in, he's already demonstrated that he can be productive at two different programs at two different levels. So why couldn't they keep doing it.
- [41:11]
A
UCLA. Nico Yamaliaba, fourth year in college, third year as a starter, 25 career starts. What do you think Nico might do?
- [41:19]
B
Pretty good. I think, like, I don't. I kind of like Nico. I don't know why, but we're all
- [41:28]
A
the way back around on the Nico backlash. And we talked about this on around the Big Ten that we did on Monday on this channel, on this podcast feed, this YouTube channel with Audrey Snyder and Matt Fortuna. We certainly would direct you to that show. But just thinking about Dark horses, Bob Chesney has a coach that a lot of people are excited about, and. And Nico just, I think, left. The way he left Tennessee for ucla. It was kind of one of the first things like that that felt like, man, this is all about money. What's wrong with college football? And now we're just getting more accustomed to, like, everything's all about money. What are you talking about? Like, what did Nico do that so many other guys in this sport wouldn't do? And then they, you know, they beat Penn State last year, and it's like, they get like. Like this. This could be a. Like, the redemption story of Nico Yamaliava with a new coaching staff, a coach that a lot of people like. And by the way, he is a pretty good player. You can definitely see this emerging as a college football story this year, right? Possible.
- [42:31]
B
Yeah, I think so. I. And I just think I, I. I gained a decent amount of respect for Nico. Like, watching him battle through a pretty tough day against Ohio State when he was at Tennessee and, like, got his helmet cracked twice and. And was getting knocked around, and, like, the way he kind of put his body on the line when UCLA beat Penn State, like, he was making some. Some tough plays. And I just think there's. There's a. A thought that, like, because of all the nil stuff and the way that his, like, kind of journey has gone thus far, that he's, like, a little bit of, like, a diva or whatever who doesn't care about winning. And it's like, oh, I think. I think he cares a lot about winning. Like, he's not the perfect quarterback, but I think if he. If he was in a situation where team was competitive and, like, like, actually, like, in the mix for something, he'd be a guy who, like, elevates, and I think, like, plays pretty well in the big moments.
- [43:17]
A
Yeah. Watch that. Watch Nico. That could be interesting this year. Oklahoma. John Matier, fifth year in college, third year as a starter, 24 career starts, made the playoff last year and year one at Oklahoma.
- [43:28]
B
Yeah, I good. I think he's just so limited as a pastor that I can't, I don't think I could say like this guy's going to be a great quarterback, but he's, he's got great running ability, he's tough. Like he'll do some of the stuff I was just talking about with like with Nico, but I think at a higher level. So he's good. It's a high floor.
- [43:45]
A
I think, I think some of the preseason hype last year for mater to Oklahoma got a little out over at skis because the previous Washington State quarterback Cam Ward had gone to Miami. McKinnon, number one pick in the draft and it's like John Mateer and it's like, okay, Cam Ward's Gamble Ward. This is not, this is not Cam Ward. South Carolina. Lenora Sellers, fourth year in college, third year as a starter, 24 career starts. I think maybe like a year ago people would have thought Lenora Sellers was maybe gonna pop and go because he was going to be a first round draft pick in the NFL and instead like it didn't go great but now the result is you have a really talented quarterback back for year three as a starter.
- [44:24]
B
Yeah, I think he's, I think he's good with the potential for great.
- [44:28]
A
Yeah, I think that's a good call. USC Jade Maeva, fifth year in college, third year as a starter, 24 career starts. This was on the show we did on Monday around the Big Ten. This was my guy of like the guy in the Big Ten who has the chance to have, you know, the greatest influence on the Big Ten race this year. What's your Jade? My other take.
- [44:47]
B
Yeah, similar I think maybe this to Sellers. Not like for different reasons but it's like good plus right. Like I think like he, he demonstrated last year, he's got some substance to him. I'm curious to see what, what that step might look like now. He's, you know, he doesn't have Makai Lemon to throw to anymore and like their receiver situation is, is a little different than it was last year but it's quarterback friendly offense, we all know that. So I think he's, he's got a chance to pop for sure.
- [45:13]
A
NC State. C.J. bailey, third year in college, third year as a starter, 22 career starts. Any deep T.J. bailey thoughts?
- [45:20]
B
No, I, I, I have, I frankly have not watched him a ton. I know people like him. I know there was, I think a lot of curiosity of like might he leave NC State. So I don't know. I, I don't want to lie and say I have, you know, major C.J. bailey thoughts. So I'll just say, like, I'll say potentially good. I don't know.
- [45:46]
A
Texas A M Marcel Reed, year four in college, year three, is a starter, 21 career starts. Like, not great at the end last year, right?
- [45:53]
B
Yeah, he's another guy's just like a little shaky as a passer. Dynamic athlete, though.
- [46:00]
A
Good, good.
- [46:00]
B
Plus, I think, like, that's, that's more like a material kind of situation for me.
- [46:04]
A
Okay, next up is. Is it Dante Moore? I think It's Dante Moore, fourth year in college, two and a half years as a starter, 20 career starts. Like, I don't know. I'm trying to look this up. Dante Moore is 13 to 1 to win the Heisman, which is the sixth best odds, actually tied for the fourth best odds on FanDuel. CJ Carr, the Notre Dame quarterback who we'll get to in a second is 8 to 1. Arch Manning at Texas, plus 950. Josh Hoover, Indiana 11 1. Jeremiah Smith, Julian sand, both from Ohio State, 13 to 1. Dante Moore, 13 to 1. I, I think certainly you could make the case of like, Dante Moore perhaps about to take over college football in 2026, but also like, what percent certain are you that that's going to be what happens?
- [46:54]
B
I. Yeah, I don't, I don't think I am, like, more certain about him than I would be about a couple of other quarterbacks in similar positions. Right. So he's definitely got a chance to be excellent, though, like, and he was pretty good for a lot of, a lot of last year, like, Shake shaking in the postseason. But also, you know, like, the, some of the throws he made on the road at Iowa were, at the end of that game were pretty damn impressive. So there's a lot there. Yeah, I don't know. He's like. He's not my favorite guy, but I definitely think he's. He's got a chance to be in that great category.
- [47:29]
A
Georgia, Gunner Stockton, fifth year in college, second year to starter, 15 career starts. Kind of a baller last year, man. Gotta say.
- [47:35]
B
Yeah, it's another guy. Yeah, I, I don't know that he blows away, but I kind of like him too. Good, I think, I think. Good again with the potential to be something more than that, but like a very solid quarterback this year.
- [47:48]
A
Arch Manning, Texas, fourth year in college, second year to starter, 15 career starts. I know there's been sort of stuff, some stuff about Like I was Arch too over hyped or whatever. And it's like we don't overhype a player before the player. We're serving fans and the idea of like Arch Manning might be really good. He was a five star quarterback who's the number one quarterback in the country. He's from like the number one quarterback family of royalty in the nation. And we're going to write and talk a lot about Arch Manning. I find like that's unfair to the player. I think it's, I find that ridiculously silly because I feel like you can't handle the fact like that, that like people are saying you're going to be good. Like your great burden in life is a bunch of people writing and saying that you're going to be good. It's insane to me. We don't cover players and coaches for the players and coaches. We cover them for the fans. We don't work for the players and coaches. If you can't handle people saying you're good, that's not us Problem. Sorry for a bit.
- [48:45]
B
Yeah, I don't disagree.
- [48:47]
A
It's gonna be great. It's like now it's like, it's like right that, yeah, Arch is like hiding in plain sight.
- [48:55]
B
Yeah, I, I think he, I think he's likely to be, to be great this year. I thought, I thought you saw him grow over the course of the season and, and was definitely playing better at the end than he was early. Now they also weren't playing Ohio State late, so maybe if they played Ohio State again, he would look not quite as good. But I, I thought you saw it start to come together for him.
- [49:15]
A
Second half of last year, Washington Demon Williams Jr. Third year in college, second year as a starter, 15 career starts. Tried to leave contractually. They said if you try to leave, I don't know, we're gonna throw you in the gulag or whatever the, the Big Ten contract was that kept him at Washington. Talked it through. I mean, again, it's one of those things. You're still kind of young, you're responsible for your actions. It's a confusing time. What do you think Devon Williams Jr. Might be for the Huskies?
- [49:43]
B
Good, I think, I think he was probably not quite as ready as I thought he was going to be as a true sophomore last year. I don't think he, like, he wasn't awful by any stretch, but especially in the games against the better teams, you know, he looked a little limited I think at times. So I'm curious to see what that might look like this year when he doesn't have Denzel Boston to throw the ball to anymore. Right. So.
- [50:07]
A
Yeah. And Jonah Coleman handed.
- [50:09]
B
And Jonah Coleman's gone. Yeah. And. And who's the other running back? He also, he also transferred.
- [50:13]
A
Right.
- [50:13]
B
The one that we like.
- [50:14]
A
Yeah. Adam Muhammad. Right.
- [50:18]
B
So I know they had. There was at least one freshman for Washington receiver who ended up being pretty good last year. So it's like he's, he's got weapons. Right. And he's with a good offensive coach. So I think he'll be decent, but I don't. I don't know that he's going to elevate into like that green tier.
- [50:32]
A
Julian saying Ohio State, third year in college, second career, second year as a starter, 14 career starts.
- [50:39]
B
Yeah, I think he's got the chance to elevate into that great tier. It's interesting. I'm in the middle of, like, writing a thing right now about Ohio State's receiver situation because, like, Jeremiah Smith is awesome and will be awesome, but it's pretty uncertain behind him. So I don't. He was a. It was a nice situation for Julian last year to have Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. And Ohio State, I think, is going to need some other weapons to emerge
- [51:02]
A
for
- [51:04]
B
just the offense generally to take a next step forward. But, but I, But I think Julian, having gone through what he went through last year, well, we'll take that next step. And I think he's going to be at the upper end of this conversation.
- [51:16]
A
And by the way, if you want some more Ohio State coverage from us, and for instance, the thing that Bill is working on as a written piece, you can join us on our substack. Bill and Doug osu.substack.com We just did a Wednesday show asking our Substack subscribers, what are the new standards in this era for Ohio State football? How many years in the next 10 should Ohio State beat Michigan? How many years should Ohio State make the playoff? How many years should Ohio State win the national championship and the next 10. Like, I thought it was an interesting conversation with great input from our folks. Bill.
- [51:46]
B
I agree. And we invite anyone who might be interested to come be a part of our little community there and help us shape those kinds of conversations.
- [51:56]
A
Yeah. And also help us make money. Helps Purdue, Ryan Brown, fourth year in college, second year as a starter, 14 career starts. I don't know. Like, I kind of think that I wouldn't be surprised with Barry Odom and the fellas in the year two if they kind of figure it out a Little bit.
- [52:13]
B
I think like Ryan Brown is like an okay quarterback who is good for Purdue, right?
- [52:18]
A
Yes.
- [52:18]
B
I think Purdue could be a lot worse off than, than Ryan Brown, who's got, who's got some athleticism.
- [52:24]
A
Yeah. Bear Bachmeyer at BYU is one of these true freshmen like Bryce Underwood, like some our JKs at Cal, these guys who like all of a sudden it's like, hey, you're the starter. So he's back. Year two in college, year two as a starter, 14 career starts. And like again like I think BYU is, is they kept. Kalani Sataki is like absolutely. View. They lost Jay Hill, their defensive coordinator, which is kind of a big loss. Right. But BYU is there. I can remember. It's just fascinating to me to think about BYU their first year in the Big 12. You and I on our show then were like, I don. Know if this is going to work out for byu. This might be a bridge too far.
- [52:56]
B
Kalani Sataki said he wasn't sure if it's going to work out. We don't have the roster to be in the Big 12.
- [53:03]
A
And then they figured it out and it was like a one year adjustment period. It feels like they are committed to athletics and they're going to be able to compete. And like I don't know if Bear Bachmeyer is going to be a four year starter at byu, but like he was pretty darn good as a true freshman and I'm going to be fascinated by this group of true freshmen who started last year who are now going to be back. It's like, okay, is it go time? What do you think of Bear Bachmire?
- [53:26]
B
Yeah, I think I, I think it'll be good this year. I and he's like, I think BYU's gotta like maybe lean in a little more to what Bear does well and that's maybe to say like maybe run him a little more. But I think yeah, he's got a pretty solid baseline to work from. I, I could see him taking. I don't. Again, I wouldn't say he's gonna go into this Heisman candidate tier, but I think he's definitely got a chance to elevate and be a pretty solid quarterback this year.
- [53:57]
A
Same question. Bryce Underwood at Michigan, second year, second year as a starter, 13 career starts. Like is it go time for Bryce Underwood?
- [54:03]
B
Yeah, I think his situation is a little different. Right. I like, I would say as a true freshman, moving up to starting as a true sophomore, he does have the chance to, to elevate maybe into that upper, upper tier and this offense with Jason Beck has been good for quarterbacks, as we mentioned earlier, what it did for Devin Dampier at New Mexico and at Utah. So I don't know if it's going to be exactly the same thing because I don't think that Underwood's going to run nearly as much as Dampier did. But Underwood's also, I think, a more gifted passer with a much higher ceiling, just generally. So, yeah, they're putting some stuff around him. Right. I think. I actually think, like, looking back, Bryce Underwood did a pretty admirable job as a true freshman starter considering, like, the environment that he was in. And this one, this year feels like it's going to be certainly more stable. But I also think a situation where, like, there's just going to be more around him from a scheme and personnel standpoint that he really could take a job.
- [55:02]
A
If you're watching on YouTube, we just scratched our heads at the same time. It was kind of silly.
- [55:06]
B
I don't know.
- [55:07]
A
Like, you scratched your head and it made me think, like, yeah, I need to scratch my head, too. Maryland, Malik Washington, same situation. True freshman starter last year, 12 career starts. Like, this is really important for Maryland football. They've made some changes. They're going to have a new offensive coordinator. Like, again, we just, like, we keep listing these guys you played as a true freshman that you had some good moments, but, man, like, this is. You're so important to the future of your program in year two and year three, because part of the point of playing as a true freshman is taking lumps that pay off later. And is that going to happen with Malik Washington in Maryland?
- [55:42]
B
Yeah, I think so. Although they're. They just, like, changed ocs, right? Like, Pep Hamilton.
- [55:47]
A
Yeah.
- [55:48]
B
He's, like, taking a new role with. With Maryland. Right. Who was the OC last year. So I don't. I don't know. There's a. Clint.
- [55:53]
A
Clint Tricket. Is that right? Clint Trickett.
- [55:55]
B
I think that's right. NASCAR driver. Yeah, I. I'm a little, like, iffy on Maryland generally. To the like, I wonder, like, is Malik Washington gonna have, like, all of what he needs around him to continue to grow at the pace that, you know, Maryland fans would like him to. I'm a little unsure of that, but he's got a lot of talent, so I think it's a pretty. Pretty good situation considering what, like, the rest of Maryland is right now. Yeah.
- [56:22]
A
My greatest failure as a podcast host is the ongoing inability to say this name correctly. Cal JKS. Your guy. True freshman last year, second year in college this year, second year as a starter, 12 career starts. Give it to the people.
- [56:37]
B
Jaron Kiave, Sanga Politella.
- [56:39]
A
He's gonna be with Tash lapoy as the new head coach there. Coming over, former Oregon defensive coordinator. Like, I. I wonder, Cal, I mean, if you ran through the Power 68 and we're like, I don't know, who are the. Who are the. The six most forgettable teams in the Power 68? When you have a program like Cal that says west coast as it gets, and you're in the acc and it's like, I don't know, but I don't. Like, I don't know. Tasha Poi on this. Like, this quarterback's the real deal, right? Isn't he? He's your guy, man. He's.
- [57:07]
B
Yeah.
- [57:07]
A
Games last year he did.
- [57:09]
B
Yeah. And he had some, like, not so awesome games. But the thing with, like, I think it's. It's borderline unfair. Maybe it's not even borderline. I think it's unfair to expect a freshman to just be, like, awesome in every single game. Yeah, but you want to see him be awesome in some games, and he was awesome in some games. New head coach, like you said, their. Their new offensive coordinator, I think, is a guy they hired from the Bucks who's, like, coming back to college. I'm, like to run a version, I'm assuming, of that Bucks offense.
- [57:38]
A
That's.
- [57:38]
B
That's pretty good. So, yeah, I think he's. It's hard, right? Like, I don't know. Like, Cal's weird because they're in California and they're in the acc and they're usually playing when people are asleep. So, like, I don't know how much JKs might, like, capture the imagination of the country, but he's got a ton of talent, and, like, he's a guy that was like. I would tell people, like, stay up to watch him because he's going to be pretty. Pretty exciting, I think, this year.
- [58:05]
A
Opening weekend, JKs against UCLA and Niko Yamaliaba. Two new head coaches. Tash Lapoy versus Bob Chesney.
- [58:15]
B
Love that.
- [58:16]
A
We'll watch that. Yeah. Yeah, we'll watch that. Clemson in week four for Cal. And again, it's like, what does that look like? It's like, we had it two years ago when everybody was going nuts for Cal and Fernando Mendoza and Cal helped set. I mean, like, Cal contributed to the national championship last year and the Heisman winner like this, like. Because part of the other thing here, too, is when you think about Barebach Meyer at byu, Bryce Underwood at Michigan, Malik Washington at Maryland, and JKS at Cal. Four places that played true freshmen for all of last year. And to some degree, Mason Heinzel took over as a starter at Pitt, made eight starts. They all played these true freshmen and they kept them all for year two. They did not get swooped. Miami didn't come in and say, hey, thanks for playing JKs for 12 games. We'll take him now for the rest of his career. And I do think there has to be, because we've had this conversation when we do our Ohio State shows and write on Ohio State content, we kind of think you just wrote something about Ohio State freshman the other day. It's like, do. Do you need to play freshman? And I think you and I kind of both agree. It's like, man, Ohio State lost some guys that didn't play much as freshmen. Should you play them more? But we've certainly heard from some fans that say, well, but if you play the freshman and then they look good, then it encourages other teams to come in more and come try to lure those guys away. So I don't know what the right balance is with freshmen, but I would imagine when you're Kalani Sataki and you're. And you're, You're. You're Mike Loxley and you're Sharon Moore and the cow coach, like, didn't get to stick around to see what happened, but, like, is there not a danger a little bit in playing these freshmen because you're, like, debuting them to all of college football and when everybody's always a free agent, you know?
- [59:58]
B
Yeah.
- [59:59]
A
Showing your hand.
- [60:01]
B
Yeah, maybe. But I also think, like, I, I don't think that was the case with, like, Bryce Underwood in Michigan. I don't know. I think that. I think the, the sweet spot where I would be concerned is, like, you play them enough for people to notice how good they are, but they're, like, not guaranteed to really be a starter the following year. It's like, as long as it's clear that you're playing a lot as a freshman, you're going to continue to play a lot. I think you stand a pretty good chance of, of keeping those guys.
- [60:28]
A
Okay.
- [60:29]
B
So I don't, I don't know that I would live in fear of, okay, starting fresh. Like, if you think a freshman is ready to start or contribute a lot and is in line to start, I think, like, undoubtedly as a sophomore, I think you're probably okay. More often than not,
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A
Last two guys who are returning starters with at least 12 career starts. Drake Lindsey at Minnesota is a third year guy, second year as a starter. I've kind of been on the Drake Lindsay bandwagon. His good buddy Coy Parish is like, yeah, these guys are all about Minnesota. Then Coy Parrot is like, see you later. I'm going to Oregon. Stuff happens. I'm. There were times like certainly we saw Drake Lindsay against Ohio State last year and he just didn't look ready. Right. Like he's a big pocket passer. He's maybe isn't going to solve a lot of problems with your legs. I think when you're young, if you get in trouble and you can solve some problems with your legs, it makes it a little bit easier. He is sort of more your classic drop back guy. But I'm, I'm wondering if there's a, I'm wondering if it, if he might be able to make a pretty decent step this year.
- [62:19]
B
I think he could. I wonder if Arkansas hired Ryan Silverfeld. Right. And they're, they don't have like a tremendous quarterback situation going into this year. I wonder if they tried to get him to come back home to Arkansas. So I think, I think it's good that Minnesota kept him.
- [62:33]
A
I agree.
- [62:35]
B
Yeah, I think there's something there. I think, you know, is he gonna become a first round pick? I, I don't know that I'd say that. But I think he could be a pretty good Big Ten quarterback.
- [62:45]
A
Yeah.
- [62:46]
B
And I would, yeah, I would expect him to, to make a little bit of a jump this year. Yeah.
- [62:52]
A
And then the last guy who fits in this category, I think you could argue certainly in the mix is the most important player in College Football in 2026 and it's CJ Carr at Notre Dame who is a third year player is a second year starting quarterback made 12 starts last year because Notre Dame didn't make the playoff. And they said, no thanks on the ball, doesn't have a conference championship game, so only played 12 games. They lost their first two games. Like, I don't think that was on C.J. carr, but I thought maybe he had a couple like, young moments early on. They're going to open. We talked about this on the Monday show. They opened with Wisconsin at Lambeau Field and they are the favorite to win the national championship as we speak right now. They do. They lost Jeremiah Love, which is a huge loss, but they supplemented that receiver. They have a lot back, I think otherwise. And C.J. carr is a Heisman favorite. His team is a national title favorite. And it feels like maybe he's ready for that because again, we go back, we were talking about CJ Carr, his first spring game at Notre Dame. And I think everybody kind of anticipated he would be this good. And I think he's this good.
- [63:59]
B
I. So we're not doing this exercise. I guess we could probably should. Like, I know people are like, putting out their list now of like top 10 returning quarterbacks in college football. My list might start with CJ Carr if I had to make one right now.
- [64:14]
A
We can do that later. We have time. We could also do it. We could do it after spring football maybe.
- [64:18]
B
Yeah, I think. I think it's better to do it after spring.
- [64:20]
A
Yeah, we could do it in May or June when we have a little bit more to evaluate. So those are the returning guys with at least 12 career starts. Just again, what. What I characterize as new starters kind of from inside the program that, that are kind of. You figure these are going to be the guys. Alessio Mila Jova. God, I watched six videos to make sure I could say it right. The Michigan State quarterback. And now I can't remember how to say it.
- [64:48]
B
Is it Milovojevic?
- [64:51]
A
Yes, he started four games last year, but I'm considering him a new starter. He's the expected starter at Michigan State with new coach Pat Fitzgerald. Julian Lewis at Colorado started two games last year as a true freshman, the expected starter for the Buffaloes. And Deion Sanders, Mississippi State. Camario Taylor started one game last year as a true freshman, the expected starter. Those are all like pretty new guys, right? And Jared Curtis at Vanderbilt, the expected starter as a true freshman. And Dan Mahan at Duke is the expected starter as a second year guy because dairy meant to just left and they don't know what else to do. And then Christopher Vezina is Sort of like stands alone almost in power conference college football as this is like what Ty Simpson was last year is like a guy what Gunner Stockton was last year as a guy who's not young but has no experience because he's been sitting behind Cade Clubnik. He's a fourth year college football player. He's made one career start and it's kind of who Clemson is rolling with. And again, Bill, like this is a kind of a, of a situation that once upon a time was not that unusual. Hey, you got to wait three years for your chance, but we still believe in you and then you get your chance. And I think it's like one team that's doing it and it's Dabo Sweeney doing it like the old school way. And I don't know if that makes Dabo foolish, if it makes Dabo noble, but there are very few teams in this spot. But it's what the Tigers are doing.
- [66:14]
B
I don't know. I think it might end up making a foolish. I have no idea. When you, when you, when we first talked about doing the show and you were like, like just giving me like Cliff Notes version of, of the data that you found and you told me that Chris Vezina was going to be Clemson's quarterback, I like did a double take because I was not surprised because it's Dabo. But still, it's like that's what they're doing.
- [66:32]
A
Really.
- [66:32]
B
Like the guy. Yeah. Who couldn't beat out Kate Columbnick is going to be their starter now. So. And maybe that's the wrong way to look at it, but yeah, it speaks to like Dabo's taking transfers now. We all know that. But I don't know if that's the way I would have rolled if I were Clemson.
- [66:48]
A
But I would imagine, like, we don't know, we're not studying Clemson inside and out. But it's like if Dabos, like, you know, we owe it to this guy. We need to be loyal. But also, I don't know, should they have gone and should they have been in the market for Darian Mensah? Darian Mensah, you know, or Kate. Kate and Hauser from East Carolina who's transferring to be the Illinois starter? Or should, should they have gone after Josh Hoover from TCU or should they like, where, like, should they have been in a Sam Lovett sweepstakes? Right. Like they just. But that doesn't feel like where they are. And again, on one hand, it's like if Christopher Fazina is a guy that you like and he's put in the time and you think he's going to be good. Great, right? Isn't that great? On the other hand, like I don't know if you could find $5 million laying around. Sam Levitz ready to go. So I don't. But it's just crazy to me that this is just so few situations like this anymore. And then I had four teams that it's like it really. You don't know exactly. Alabama, two in house guys, Keelan Russell and Austin Mack battling for the job. Arkansas, there's an in house guy in K.J. jackson and then A.J. hill. I think I have this right. Followed Ryan Silverfield from Memphis. He was like the big recruit at Memphis last year. Didn't play but he followed. Kansas is replacing Jalen Daniels who was a starter there forever. They have a three way battle including a guy who was the Rice starter last year battling with two in house guys. And then Iowa, Jeremy, Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown. As you said, Brown's made two starts. Has Heck Linsky never has. They're both transfers but they both were at Iowa last year as backups. Right. Hank Brown came from Auburn, Heck Linsky came from Wake Forest and it feels like that's what they're going to do. They didn't go out to get another guy after they got Mark Gronowski for one year. So. State of quarterbacks, man. The bottom line is like it's one of those I think like if you are following your team and you think oh man, we have a veteran quarterback, we're good to go. That's the baseline. Like congratulations on having a veteran court. It's not an edge, it's a necessity. Just the way the sport has worked out this year.
- [68:52]
B
Yeah, I think like I don't know, I think we will, we should publish this list. I think maybe we'll publish it on our sub stack so people can get eyeballs on it.
- [69:03]
A
Yes.
- [69:03]
B
But like you ran through everyone like all of them here. But like it's, it's. To see it in writing is like pretty, pretty wild to see how experienced these quarterbacks are.
- [69:14]
A
So let me do this real quick. This is the Big Ten expected starting quarterbacks in the Big Ten that the quarterback history of the Big Ten has at times been checkered. But we also feel like quarterback play in the Big Ten is getting better. Correct?
- [69:30]
B
Correct. Yeah.
- [69:31]
A
Okay. All right. So these are the sort of expected guys, Big Ten. It's a little bit of a repeat here. But just to think about it, in this Context. Penn State. Rocco Becket, transfer From Iowa State, 36 career starts. Indiana. Josh Hoover, transfer from TCU, 31 career starts. Nebraska. Anthony Calandria, transfer from UNLV, Virginia. Before that, 31 career starts. Kate and Hauser at Illinois, transfer From East Carolina, 26 career starts. Aiden Childs at Northwestern, transfer From Michigan State, 20 career starts. Colton Joseph, transfer from Old Dominion, 20 career starts. Dylan Lonergan at Rutgers, transfer from Boston College. Previous to that, at Alabama, like, actually didn't work out at Boston College. But, like, we kind of liked. We were kind of excited when Dylan Lonergan wound up in Boston College originally. Right?
- [70:24]
B
Yeah, well, I. I just, like, ended up not paying a whole lot of attention to what was going on there. I know that we had him and Grayson James is like, did he just, like. Like, did he play poorly when they gave him the chance or did he just never.
- [70:34]
A
He played poorly. And then bc, like, brought in a guy from Saginaw Valley State or something. So I think it wasn't like, it just. It kind of wasn't great for Dylan Long in there. So now the returning guys. Niko Yamaliava at UCLA, 25 career starts. Jaden Maeva, USC, 24 career starts. Dante Moore, Oregon, 20 career starts. Damond Williams, Jr. Washington, 15 career starts. Julian Sand, Ohio State, 14 career starts. Ryan Brown, Purdue, 14 career starts. Bryce Underwood, Michigan. Michigan, 13 career starts. Malik Washington, Maryland, 12 career starts. Drake Lindsay, Minnesota, 12 career starts. Alessio. Say it again. Milovojevich, four career starts at Michigan State. And then the Iowa battle. So the only, like, the only team that kind of doesn't know their guy probably is Iowa. And the only two teams that don't have a starter with at least 10 career starts is Iowa and BC. But, like, that's a pretty good, like, you think about saying and more. And Underwood and Maeva and Nico and Daman Williams as guys who are returning. Drake, Lindsay, Malik Washington. And then you added Becket and Hoover and Childs and Colton Joseph. Like, I don't. Like, that's a. That's a pretty good Big Ten quarterback crop, isn't it?
- [71:49]
B
Yeah, I'm just. I was actually trying to, like, we can't. You can't say definitively, obviously, until they start playing, but I think it's. It certainly looks like on paper it's got the chance to be about as strong as maybe the Big Ten's been to the quarterback. Especially if you think, like, we have the conversations a lot. Right? Like, like, if you're defined by your. Your middle tier or whatever. But, like, if the middle tier of Big Ten quarterback play is like, Malik Washington.
- [72:12]
A
Right.
- [72:13]
B
That's. That's pretty good. Because the top. That has a chance to be elite. Like. Like the top, whatever. Like saying more. I think, yeah, I would have to throw Hoover in there. I think I would throw Underwood in there. Like, that's strong. That's like, you're talking about guys. I think, like, will. Will. Can and will contend for the Heisman Trophy.
- [72:32]
A
Yeah.
- [72:33]
B
Yeah, it's pretty solid. I don't know if there's a. Maybe a historical thing we could do. Yeah. Back at Big Ten quarterback play and how this one stacks up. But. But, yeah, it looks pretty strong.
- [72:45]
A
And I think you can even think about what is the expected level of quarterback play at that Big Ten school compared to what the standard is of quarterback play at that Big Ten school. Right. And is. Are you anticipating something that is above the standard at the standard or below the standard? And it's just like one of those. Again, it's like, okay, Aiden Childs didn't exactly work out at Michigan State. Right. But, like, what he potentially can bring to Northwestern, that is like the. The talent that's there for Aiden Childs is above the typical standard of Northwestern quarterback play.
- [73:19]
B
Yes.
- [73:19]
A
Right.
- [73:19]
B
Yeah.
- [73:19]
A
And like, what Nico Yamalia is doing at UCLA for everything he is and isn't, like, it is above the recent standard of UCLA quarterback play. Right. And like, again, like, what. You know what Rocco Beck's gonna do? Like, as Drew out. You know what? I have not. Where is Drew Aller being projected as an NFL quarterback right now?
- [73:39]
B
Oh, actually, I don't know, because he's. Because it's not first round, so it's like, they don't talk about him. Yeah. Let me see if I can find them.
- [73:46]
A
But, like, there's a chance that, like, no Rocco Beck. I actually think Rocco Beck has a shot because I feel like, like, when Rocco Becket had good receivers, he was good to go. Like, they. I think their receivers weren't as good. Clearly they weren't as good last year because Iowa State lost two NFL receivers. And then, like, if Penn State can just get it situated, like, they're gonna have good tight ends. I mean, other less good running backs. I don't know. I actually am kind of intrigued about what Rocco Beckt is going to do this year. But again, like, recent history, Wisconsin, like, Colton Joseph is going to be ahead of the recent standard of Wisconsin quarterback play. Right. Like. Like, it's just like, there's a lot of teams that are like for their. Malik Washington is ahead of the recent standard of Maryland. Like Talia Tonga by low is good. I think Malik Washington can be better. Right. So like that's the thing we're talking about that like there is opportunity that a lot of Big Ten teams are kind of on their front edge of how good their quarterback play can be.
- [74:36]
B
On the consensus big board on NFL mock draft database, Drew Aller is 106. 106.
- [74:45]
A
Okay. So it's like a fourth round pick.
- [74:49]
B
Fourth round pick, like supplemental pick, like third round pick.
- [74:53]
A
Okay. All right, well good luck to him. So we just like this is, this is something, this is like a baseline. Like let's just get this information out to the folks kind of discussion. So like again, as you can see, we didn't do. Who do you think is going to be better? Nicole Maliava or Rocco Beck? Like, but we needed to get this out here first to have this discussion. But then I think like as we get into the summer after spring football's over, what's the best quarterback conference going to be? Who are your quarterback dark horses? Who are the top 10 quarterbacks in the sport? Which schools like again are above their standard at quarterback or at the standard or below it? Like we can have all kinds of things. We're analyzing it a little bit more, but we had to get to the facts because the facts be crazy.
- [75:38]
B
The facts are crazy. Yes. And I, I don't know. I don't know. I guess it'll be this way for. Until something drastic happens with the way this, the sport puts its rosters together. I think you're gonna see a whole lot of 30 and 20. Well, I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe this, whatever. Maybe when we look back in five years, this, this will be perhaps the peak of experience quarterback play. Because it does. To see this many guys who are starting with 20 career starts is nuts. Yeah.
- [76:10]
A
I mean and there. But, but it also was like guys, the money is keeping them in school. Right. So that's part of it. And even if it's like, well I'm not going to stay at my place, I'm going to go transfer somewhere else for my last year, you know, because I can, I can make more money here than I'm, I'm not gonna be a first round pick like financially. And there's just so many guys. There's a couple seventh, there's a seventh year guy, there's a couple six year guys, but there are so many fifth year quarterbacks it's unbelievable. So, all right, that's it. Thanks you guys for letting us throw a bunch of numbers at you. We will write about this in our substack Bill and Doug osu.substack. we'll lay out the numbers so if you don't want to try to remember them all in your head, if you don't want to write them down yourself, we'll have it at our site. You can come join us as a subscriber over there. We'll continue to talk Ohio State on this channel. We'll continue to talk Big Ten Northern National College football on this channel. We'll continue to bring you around the something. So two Mondays ago it was around the shot it was about Ohio State basketball. This past Monday it was around the Big Ten, it was about Big Ten football. We're going to get back to around the Shoe more specifically about Ohio State football, but we appreciate you guys consuming whatever we put out. For now, he's Bill Landis, I'm Doug Lemurice, and that was the Bill and Doug Show.
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B
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