Why Experience No Longer Matters for Starting QBs in College Football
It's almost time to hit the beach, lake or pool with your favorite college football preview magazine, soak up the sun and get prepared for the season.
If that magazine tells you "Team X won't contend because of uncertainty at the quarterback position," wind up, toss it into the water and turn it into fish food.
That's all it's good for.
First-year starters have won five of the last six national titles, and eight of the last 12 starting quarterbacks in college football's national title game were first-year quarterbacks.
| 2009-2010 | Greg McElroy, Alabama* | Colt McCoy, Texas |
| 2010-2011 | Cam Newton, Auburn* | Darron Thomas, Oregon* |
| 2011-2012 | AJ McCarron, Alabama* | Jordan Jefferson, LSU |
| 2012-2013 | AJ McCarron, Alabama | Everett Golson, Notre Dame* |
| 2013-2014 | Jameis Winston, Florida State* | Nick Marshall, Auburn* |
| 2014-2015 | Cardale Jones, Ohio State* | Marcus Mariota, Oregon |
That's not an aberration. It's a trend that you should pay attention to.
Quarterback is the most important and most visible position on the field, but it isn't always what makes or breaks a team's success. If there are talented players around—even ones who aren't experienced—that's still a recipe for college football success.
"Teams that win national titles can run the ball, play good defense and have good quarterback play," South Carolina quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus told Bleacher Report. "It takes a complete team, but good quarterback play always helps."
Mangus' team not only has a new quarterback taking the snaps this season after Dylan Thompson moved on, but has a new-look offensive line and needs to find a replacement for running back Mike Davis.
That might make it difficult for his Gamecocks to contend, but for other schools, a new quarterback isn't the end of the world.
Four of Bleacher Report national lead writer Ben Kercheval's post-national signing day top 25 boast new quarterbacks—No. 3 Baylor, No. 5 Alabama, No. 7 UCLA and No. 9 Oregon. Over at ESPN.com, it was more of the same, with No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Baylor, No. 6 Oregon, No. 8 Georgia and No. 9 UCLA all in the top 10.
What do all of those teams have in common?
Brilliant offensive minds either as the head coach or offensive coordinator (or both), and veterans all over the place.
Quarterback experience is nice, but in this day and age of exotic offenses, it isn't the most important thing.
Having a head coach and/or offensive coordinator who has proved over time to adjust his offense to fit his offense around the strengths of his quarterback—regardless of age and experience—is what will make or break a team's offensive success.
That means a team such as Auburn, which was on the periphery of the top 10 in each of the two rankings mentioned above, is dangerous with the combination of Gus Malzahn and quarterback Jeremy Johnson. Sure, Johnson still has to actually win the job, but he has proved over two years as a backup that he has the potential to be a superstar.
Malzahn adapted his offense to become even more of a multidimensional power-rushing attack to fit the dual-threat capabilities of former quarterback Nick Marshall, but he's also the same coach who produced a 5,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher and three 1,000-yard receivers as Tulsa's offensive coordinator in 2007.
Is Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich suddenly going to forget how to coach offense now that former quarterback Marcus Mariota is gone? If we've learned anything over the last decade, it's that the Ducks offense is plug-and-play at quarterback after Jeremiah Masoli and Darron Thomas each have led the program to success.
"I want to earn the starting spot, earn everyone’s trust, win games, win a Pac-12 championship, hopefully a Heisman and a national championship," potential Oregon starting quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. told Bleacher Report national lead writer Adam Kramer.
Florida State's quarterback situation is very much up in the air with Sean Maguire as the safe choice among several others, including true freshman early enrollee De'Andre Johnson and incoming freshman Deondre Francois. But head coach Jimbo Fisher has still recruited his tail off over the last five years and has a loaded roster that very much can continue to compete in the ACC and on the national scene.
Don't fall into the trap, look who has new starting quarterbacks and write those teams off.
That's just lazy.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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