Ward, Evans among American’s top QBs
More than half of American Athletic Conference programs are working with returning starting quarterbacks while others have questions to answer at the position.
Here is how the AAC quarterbacks are ranked entering spring football practice:
■ 1. Houston: Greg Ward Jr. was a secondteam All-AAC selection last season after finishing third in the league with 3,936 yards of total offense with 37 touchdowns while leading the Cougars to a conference title and a win over Florida State in the Peach Bowl. Ward’s nine turnovers last season is tied for the lowest among returning starters in the AAC.
■ 2. Tulsa: Dane Evans flourished under first-year head coach Phil Montgomery last season, completing nearly 63 percent of his career-high 485 pass attempts for 4,332 yards and 25 touchdowns while leading the Golden Hurricane to their first bowl appearance since 2012.
■ 3. USF: Quinton Flowers impressed in his first season as the Bulls’ starting quarterback, combining for 3,281 total yards of offense with 34 total touchdowns while leading USF to its first winning season and first bowl game since 2010. His development in 2016 will be key to this team’s success.
■ 4. SMU: Matt Davis may not be a household name outside of the state of Texas, but the SMU quarterback helped the Mustangs go from 11 points per game in 2014 to nearly 28 in 2015 — the team’s first season under coach Chad Morris.
■ 5. Temple: P.J. Walker set a school-record with 2,972 passing yards while also setting marks for total offense with 3,179 yards and 21 total touchdowns while leading the Owls to their first double-digit win total since1979. His 10 turnovers last season tied for second fewest in the conference for returning starters in 2016.
■ 6. Cincinnati: Gunner Kiel and Hayden Moore combined for 4,711 total yards of offense and 26 total touchdowns for the Bearcats last season. Cincinnati will have to deal with the departure of offensive coordinator Eddie Gran and quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw.
■ 7. UConn: Sophomore Bryant Shirreffs started 12 games last season, including the team’s 16-10 loss to Marshall in the St. Petersburg Bowl. He finished the season with 2,581 total yards of offense while combining for 12 total touchdowns as the Huskies earned their first bowl bid since 2010.
■ 8. UCF: A combination of injuries and inexperience on offensive set Justin Holman back in 2015, with the Knights’ quarterback completing just 50 percent of his passes for 1,379 yards with just seven touchdowns and 14 interceptions in just nine games. Holman will step into a new offensive system under first-year head coach Scott Frost and will compete with backups Bo Schneider, Tyler Harris and newcomers McKenzie Milton and Garrett Kruczek.
■ 9. East Carolina: Blake Kemp’s decision to transfer leaves new head coach Scottie Montgomery with a quarterback competition heading into spring. Kurt Benkert, who missed all of last season while recovering from a knee injury, and transfer Philip Nelson, who hasn’t seen live game action since 2013, are the only returning players with any extended playing experience.
■ 10. Navy: The departure of Keenan Reynolds leaves a huge hole at quarterback for the Midshipmen. The talented signalcaller accounted for nearly 44 percent of the total offensive plays in 2015, with backup Tago Smith accounting for just 3 percent in a limited role. Nonetheless, Smith is preparing to take on the starting role in 2016.
■ 11. Memphis: New coach Mike Norvell won’t have the luxury of having Paxton Lynch on his roster next season, so the first order of business for the new Tigers coach is finding a quarterback. Redshirt sophomore Clay Holgorsen saw limited action as Lynch’s backup in 2015, making him the most likely candidate out of a trio of signal callers on the roster this spring.
■ 12. Tulane: Tanner Lee saw the writing on the wall and decided to transfer after Willie Fritz was hired as the Green Wave’s new coach. Fritz ran an option-style offense while at Georgia Southern and Lee’s skill set didn’t fit that philosophy. The Green Wave is expected to have an open quarterback battle this spring.