QB CLASS POISED TO STOCK NFL TEAMS WITH TALENT
They come from different places and took wildly different roads. Some had private quarterback coaches. Others did not. A few seemed destined for greatness. Others were unknowns until a single pass, run, touchdown or victory put them on the map.
But this group, despite their varying backgrounds and different locales, are bound together by a single fact: From coast to coast, on the Power Five and Group of Five ranks, this year’s quarterback class might be the best in recent college football history.
Based on just the game film from last season, the crop of 2018 draft-eligible quarterbacks has the potential to be far deeper and more talented than the 2017 group that lacked a consensus No. 1 quarterback, an AFC scout who has begun studying the quarterbacks told USA TODAY Sports. The scout spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about prospects.
“It’s going to be a deep class,” the scout told USA TODAY Sports.
THE NO. 1 PICK: JOSH ALLEN, WYOMING
The following anecdote might not come as a surprise: Allen once told his roommate, former Wyoming wide receiver Joe Parker, that he’d be taken in the first round of the NFL draft.
But Allen didn’t make this prediction while his stock was growing in recent months or even last fall, when his rocket arm and pocket savvy led the wildly overlooked recruit from central California to pop up on the radar of NFL scouts and personnel executives.
He made this bold claim last spring, after having participated in 15 plays on the Football Bowl Subdivision level.
“If no one else is going to believe in you, at least you’ve got yourself,” Allen said. “I’m just an extremely confident guy, and I think I’m the best quarterback in the country. I don’t know why I believed it. It’s just the things I feel like I can do are better than what other people can do.”
He has the arm. The athleticism. The almost limitless room for growth. All that’s missing for Allen might be experience.
“I don’t want to be a quarterback that’s drafted in the first round and then four years later it’s like, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’ ” Allen said. “I want to play 15-plus years. I want to be known as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. And I know to do that you have to start well. The NFL isn’t going away. It’ll be there next year.”
THE HYPED ONE: SAM DARNOLD, USC
Darnold won’t don sunglasses and pull a hood over his head when walking to class on Southern California’s campus, even if his decision to avoid attempted anonymity will force the redshirt sophomore to sometimes stop for handshakes and high-fives with fellow members of the student body.
“That’s who he is,” USC coach Clay Helton said.
On the field and off, Darnold has become impossible to ignore.
Few players in recent memory have taken the Football Bowl Subdivision with such force. In the span of 10 games — from his first start, at Utah, through the Trojans’ win in the Rose Bowl against Penn State — Darnold has gone from a player known only inside the program’s doors to perhaps the most intriguing quarterback prospect in the country. NFL scouts have taken notice.
It all began to change with his debut against Utah, a game that turned the tide for the Trojans’ season and, perhaps, the program as a whole. Darnold has since been labeled the next great quarterback to come from one of the great quarterback factories in college football.
He follows a lineage that since 1998 includes Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Mark Sanchez and Matt Barkley, to name a few.
“I’m not worried about the hype or anything like that,” Darnold said. “But, yeah, I definitely realize that there is hype. I’m not blind to that. You’ve really got to put that in the rearview mirror and focus on what’s ahead of you.”
THE HEISMAN WINNER: LAMAR JACKSON, LOUISVILLE
He leaped over defenders. He juked left and right, leaving tacklers empty-handed, and then stepped deep into the pocket to loft a downfield pass, striking fear into opposing defensive coordinators equally aware of his running ability and arm strength. Then he did it again and again and again.
It was a season to remember — and one that will forever be remembered in one way, as part of the elite fraternity of Heisman Trophy winners.
So why does it seem as if Jackson is the most overlooked returning Heisman Trophy winner in recent college football history?
It might be that he’s playing at Louisville, which is making clear strides toward a major bowl yet lacks the cachet of a Florida State or Clemson, to name two rivals within the Cardinals’ division in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Or that his surge into the national conversation seemed so unpredictable. Jackson was good during the latter stages of his freshman season, but few could have predicted what was coming in 2016.
And as it stands, it’s hard to imagine Jackson joining Archie Griffin as the only two-time winners in Heisman history — because it has happened only once, for starters, but also because others have claimed his Heisman momentum since the start of the offseason.
But make no mistake: The Jackson who returns in 2017 will be even better than the one who took college football by storm a year ago.
“I feel mature,” Jackson said this spring. “I feel like I’ve grown into the system more this year. I am ready to play.”
The thought of an improved Jackson is enough to lead those same defensive coordinators to throw their hands up in despair.
Quicker? Faster? Stronger? Each of those, not to mention he’s more experienced and better at reading defenses, assets that will allow Louisville to even further unleash the potential of its imposing offense.
“We worked hard on him playing under the center and doing things we like to do from under the center,” Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said. “We worked hard on throwing the ball down the field and him really improving on his progression reads and sets in the pocket.”
THE TRANSFER: TANNER LEE, NEBRASKA
Lee wasn’t recommended to Mike Riley once or twice but three times, from a trio of trusted sources close to Nebraska’s third-year head coach who praised the potential transfer from Tulane.
The first was Riley’s former colleague with the San Diego Chargers, Billy Devaney, who is now Nebraska’s executive director of player personnel. The second was the Cornhuskers’ wide receivers coach, Keith Williams, who held the same position at Tulane when Lee was the Green Wave’s starting quarterback. The third was ESPN reporter Chris Mortensen, who had seen Lee throw at the Manning Passing Academy in the summer of 2015 and came away impressed.
“It was the perfect fit for us,” Riley said.
Since arriving on campus last summer, Lee has commanded the Cornhuskers scout team — drawing raves from starting de- fenders in the process — learned the playbook and, this past spring, outdueled redshirt freshman Patrick O’Brien for the starting job.
Expectations are immense for a player who, as he’ll readily admit, struggled at times during his two seasons as the starter at Tulane.
But that’s one reason he embraced the chance to play at Nebraska, which was in need of a quarterback with Lee’s NFLready arm and pocket presence.
Said Lee: “I’ve definitely always dreamed of being able to play at a school like this. That’s always what I really wanted. Going back to being 12 years old, this is what you sort of envision.”
THE HEISMAN FAVORITE: BAKER MAYFIELD, OKLAHOMA
Shortly after the end of last season, Mayfield met with his thenoffensive coordinator, Lincoln Riley, to find an answer to the question that would define his offseason: What can we do in the next eight months to lift you — and thereby this team — to another level?
“That’s something that we certainly do progressively as we go through any given year,” said Riley, who was promoted to Oklahoma’s head coach after Bob Stoops’ abrupt retirement in June. “But, yeah, that was a big point this year.”
Don’t forget that Mayfield’s junior campaign in 2016 was easily one of the greatest seasons by a quarterback in college football history. He threw for 40 touchdowns, completed more than 70% of his attempts and set a Football Bowl Subdivision record with a 196.4 quarterback efficiency rating.
So it’s not broken. Why fix it? After back-to-back finishes in the Heisman Trophy top five, Mayfield should be viewed as the favorite to take home the award as a senior.
“The guy’s a thrower,” Riley said. “You pick out things every now and then, but the guy as a thrower is elite. There’s not many people who can throw the ball the way he can. He can make all the different throws and change his arm angle. He’s just a great thrower.”
THE PHENOM: JOSH ROSEN, UCLA
Rosen was viewed as a rare talent when he was a recruit, a quarterback seemingly destined for college and NFL stardom with an arm and mind-set so beyond his years it seemed inevitable that he would hit the ground running as a freshman at UCLA.
And he did. As a rookie in 2015, Rosen threw for 3,669 yards and 23 touchdowns, fulfilling the enormous expectations and promise that accompanied his arrival.
Then came his sophomore season, an injury-marred campaign that came to serve as a stand-in for UCLA’s struggles as a whole. A shoulder ailment limited Rosen to six games, none after Oct. 8, for one of the nation’s most disappointing teams. The Bruins finished 4-8.
“Sitting home and watching guys play on TV is kind of a bummer,” Rosen said. “You just really wish you were there to help them out.”
It might be that Rosen was pegged for greatness ahead of schedule.
It also might be true that the phenom needed to taste adversity to grow into what most expected he eventually would become: the most NFL-ready quarterback to grace college football this decade.
“A lot of it’s being older,” he said. “Everything evolves with time. I think I’ve grown more this offseason than in any offseason since I started playing football. I’ve learned a lot about what this sport means to me.”