The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Transfers leave teams without QB depth
The wave of quarterback transfers across college football has left several Top 25 programs without proven depth at that position.
When Florida State’s Deandre Francois, Georgia’s Jacob Eason and Texas A&M’s Nick Starkel all got hurt in their respective season openers, true freshmen ended up taking over the rest of the way. Florida State freshman James Blackman is now the 10thranked Seminoles’ starter for the foreseeable future with Francois out for the season due to a torn patella tendon. Georgia freshman quarterback Jake Fromm is expected to make his first career start Saturday when the 15th-ranked Bulldogs visit No. 24 Notre Dame.
Plenty of other schools are one bad break away from a similar dilemma, no matter how much they try to put quality backup plans in place. Six of the top 10 teams in the Top 25 opened the season with true freshmen or redshirt freshmen as their second-team quarterbacks. “Schools today are always trying to sign at least one quarterback per year because you know the nature of the position,” Southern California coach Clay Helton said. “You’re only going to be able to play one — and a lot of times kids will transfer so they have the opportunity to play.”
The threat of transfers is even greater nowadays.
Three of the top four quarterback prospects from the 2015 class already have switched schools, according to composite rankings of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports. Five of the top eight quarterback recruits from the 2014 class also have transferred.
“It’s challenging because these guys are hearing from so many different people, and our society now is to the point where everybody thinks the easiest thing is to take the path of least resistance,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “I think what we’re trying to do is understand that the guys have a special opportunity to play here at Penn State. Some are going to have to wait for it.”
Florida State lost plenty of quarterback depth when DeAndre Johnson was dismissed from the team in 2015 and former five-star recruit Malik Henry transferred after the 2016 season. The list of quarterbacks to transfer from Texas A&M over the last few years includes former five-star prospects Kyle Allen (now at Houston) and Kyler Murray (Oklahoma) as well as 2014 starter Kenny Hill (TCU). Florida State does have junior J.J. Cosentino backing up Francois. Texas A&M’s depth chart lists freshman Kellen Mond and junior Jake Hubenak — an Oklahoma State transfer — as co-starters.
Mike Farrell, director of recruiting at Rivals, wonders if the increased interest in recruiting played a role in recent quarterback transfers.
“In the early 2000s when recruiting coverage became mainstream, these kids all became household names and stars, and (they) felt embarrassed if they weren’t ‘the guy’ or weren’t treated like ‘the guy’ from the getgo,” Farrell said. “Then they would end up transferring to some other program that promised them the world as well.”
Teams are particularly vulnerable to quarterback transfers when an underclassman seizes control of the position.
After Jalen Hurts emerged as Alabama’s No. 1 quarterback early in his freshman year last season, three other Alabama quarterbacks transferred. Blake Barnett is now at Arizona State, Cooper Bateman chose Utah and David Cornwell selected Nevada. Southern California watched former five-star recruit Max Browne transfer to Pittsburgh after Sam Darnold took over.