Projecting Every Pac-12 Team's Quarterback for 2015 Season
The year of the quarterback lived up to the hype as the Pac-12 conference saw records broken, mind-boggling amounts of passing yards and the league's first Heisman Trophy winner in a decade.
The spectacular aerial displays each week were a direct result of experience at the position with guys like Marcus Mariota, Sean Mannion, Brett Hundley, Connor Halliday and others having started many games in previous seasons.
2015 will be unique in that the aforementioned signal-callers along with Arizona State's Taylor Kelly have either exhausted their eligibility or declared early for the NFL draft. With a bevy of new starters entering the fray, the Pac-12 could experience a down year at the position, at least by its own lofty standards.
But coming back are more record-breakers, experienced backups and some extremely talented recruits who will do the best to keep the bar raised.
Some projections are obvious and won't cause discussion barring injury, while some programs have the quarterback spot wide open entering spring practice. Let's take a look at the likely starters for each team in 2015.
All stats via cfbstats.com. Recruiting info via 247Sports.
Arizona Wildcats
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Anu Solomon
Quarterback Anu Solomon had a sensational freshman season, although you wouldn't know it if you only watched the Wildcats' final two games against Oregon and Boise State. In the 51-13 loss to the Ducks, a hobbled Solomon managed just 34 yards through the air. In the Fiesta Bowl defeat to the Broncos, he had 335 yards, but those came with two interceptions and just one touchdown.
Neither of those lines sounds very impressive until you look at the one encompassing his entire year. It reads 3,793 yards passing with 28 touchdowns and nine picks. He twice passed for five scores in a single game and also tacked on 291 yards on the ground.
Solomon is poised beyond his years, has a solid arm and can move around enough to keep defenses honest. When fully healthy, he was as dangerous as any signal-caller in the league not named Marcus Mariota, and he's an obvious choice to start again in 2015.
Arizona State Sun Devils
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Mike Bercovici
Mike Bercovici isn't technically a returning starter, but he's just as easy to project at quarterback as those with a full year or two of starting experience.
The junior was thrown into the fire against UCLA after Taylor Kelly went down with an injury at Colorado, and though the Sun Devils suffered a blowout loss, the offense managed 27 points behind Bercovici's 488 yards through the air. A week later, that turned into 510 yards and five scores without a pick and a victory at USC.
After that, Bercovici didn't see significant action until the Territorial Cup, where he stepped in for a struggling Kelly and completed 14 of 22 passes in a loss to Arizona. The long and short is that he had the best arm on the team in 2014 and played well when given the opportunity. The sky is the limit as far as what he can accomplish next year.
California Golden Bears
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Jared Goff
One of the most exciting young prospects in all of college football is Cal's Jared Goff, a strong-armed quarterback with an NFL future that may come sooner rather than later. As a true freshman on a one-win team, Goff threw for nearly 3,500 yards but had only 18 touchdown passes.
In 2014, the yardage total swelled to nearly 4,000, his touchdown passes skyrocketed up to 35 and he had just seven interceptions. If you're wondering how those numbers failed to result in a bowl appearance, look no further than a defense that allowed almost 40 points a game.
All signal-callers make plays, and most can wow you every now and then. Goff has that rare ability to find a zone and stay there, making big-time throw after big-time throw all over the field.
I'm no draft expert, but his talents will be in high demand when he leaves college football, which could be in less than one year. He and (spoiler alert) USC's Cody Kessler will be vying for the first-team spot on the All-Pac-12 team in the preseason. And though Kessler will likely get it, Goff is the most talented quarterback in the conference.
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Colorado Buffaloes
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Sefo Liufau
Much like Goff, Colorado's Sefo Liufau saw the expected jump in production in his sophomore season, going from almost 1,800 yards and 12 touchdowns to 3,200 yards and 28 touchdowns through the air. Four more starts aided the effort. But he also saw his completion percentage jump up five points, so the improvement you want to see from year to year is happening.
Unfortunately, the Buffaloes managed just two wins thanks to a horrid defense, abysmal running game and, to be fair, Liufau's 15 interceptions. In his defense, outside of sure-handed Nelson Spruce there weren't many great options to throw to, but he'll have to cut back on turnovers and find ways to make the big play.
Liufau is the best quarterback Colorado has had in a long time, but it may take a few more wins for folks around the nation to notice. He's still pretty raw, but he can move around well and has a nice arm. He's squarely in the second tier of conference quarterbacks.
Oregon Ducks
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Morgan Mahalak
Projecting the starting quarterback for Oregon in 2015 means monitoring a very fluid situation because there are so many options for the Ducks in the post-Mariota era. Start with the experienced Jeff Lockie, the smartest quarterback on the roster as far as understanding the offense. Contrary to what Duck fans will often tell you, he's played pretty well in mop-up duty and completed 21 of 28 passes in 2014.
Then there's a pair of wild cards in Taylor Alie and Ty Griffin. Alie was a walk-on who earned the third-string spot in 2014, and Griffin is a dynamic athlete who transferred from Georgia Tech.
One of the presumed building blocks of the future is Morgan Mahalak, a former 4-star recruit with good wheels and a big arm coming off a redshirt year. Then there's the incoming Travis Waller, an even more hyped 4-star recruit with excellent mobility and a raw but developing arm.
In making the projection, we'll note that should Eastern Washington's Vernon Adams indeed decide to transfer, he becomes the likely starter. The same should be said about extreme long shot Kyler Murray, a 5-star uber-recruit who looks like De'Anthony Thomas in the open field but with a big arm.
The safe pick is Lockie, but we're going with Mahalak because he's spent a year in the system learning behind Mariota and has more talent and upside. Ultimately, the winner will be the guy who makes the fewest mistakes and is the most consistent in leading the offense. It will be an intriguing competition to watch as the outcome could go in any number of directions.
Oregon State Beavers
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Luke Del Rio
The only quarterback on Oregon State's roster to throw a pass in 2014 other than Sean Mannion was Luke Del Rio, an Alabama transfer and former 3-star recruit with a strong coaching pedigree. His dad, Jack, has been a mainstay in the NFL ranks at various positions.
What we saw out of Del Rio isn't nearly enough to make a complete judgement of his potential because he saw action in just three games and threw only 18 passes. What we do know is that he enters the offseason as the presumed starter. And without any dynamic, ready-made incoming recruits at the position, he's the obvious choice.
Because of his lack of experience, this could be a situation where one of the other signal-callers on the roster shows up to spring ball and blows away the competition. But sometimes the safe pick is the right pick, so look for Del Rio to open the 2015 season as Oregon State's starting quarterback.
Stanford Cardinal
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Kevin Hogan
Projecting Kevin Hogan as Stanford's starting quarterback in 2015 was a fairly easy exercise. He's won two Pac-12 championships, a Rose Bowl and has nearly three full years of starting experience.
Any doubt cast on the pick comes from the fact that the Cardinal went 8-5 in 2014 and took a major step backward, and Hogan threw just 19 touchdown passes. Three of the losses came by nine points total, but Stanford lost handily at Arizona State and Oregon and now loses a good chunk of its defense.
What that means is Hogan must become more of a playmaker and shed the game-manager label, especially without proven running backs like Tyler Gaffney and Stepfan Taylor. He filled that role nicely in the final few games of the season, but if Stanford starts off slow and Hogan can't add to his game, you may see some calls for backup Keller Chryst.
UCLA Bruins
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Josh Rosen
UCLA is another Pac-12 school that enters the offseason with a wide-open competition at quarterback. The most experienced player on the roster is Jerry Neuheisel, who filled in nicely for Brett Hundley on several occasions and completed 26 of 39 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns.
While Neuheisel showed the poise of a coach's son and looked more than capable of leading the offense, the dynamic players waiting in the wings are too much to ignore. The first is redshirt sophomore Asiantii Woulard, a former 4-star recruit once rated as the second-best dual-threat prospect in the country.
Then there's one of the best prospects we've seen in years in Josh Rosen, who's rated as the top prep signal-caller in the country. No star system is perfect, and nobody is a sure thing in the recruiting world. But Rosen is as close as it comes. Unless Woulard has made serious strides since his commitment two years ago, Rosen has an excellent chance to come in and start right away.
USC Trojans
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Cody Kessler
Along with Jared Goff and Anu Solomon, USC's Cody Kessler will return in 2015 squarely in the conversation for best quarterback in the league. And if we're going strictly by the numbers, it's hard to pick someone besides the Trojan.
Kessler had over 3,800 yards passing to go along with a whopping 39 touchdown passes and just five interceptions. It was arguably the best season in USC history, at least in the box score. But despite averaging three scores per game, Kessler had just seven touchdown throws total in the Trojan's four losses.
He had just one touchdown pass against UCLA, zero at Utah and zero against Arizona State. In other words, he dominated the inferior competition and was fairly average against the best teams on the schedule, excluding a strong performance against Notre Dame.
If Kessler can lead the Trojans to double-digit wins and play well in big games, he'll not only be the clear-cut best quarterback in the Pac-12, but he could enter the Heisman conversation as well.
Utah Utes
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Kendal Thompson
Our lone risky pick comes with the projection of Kendal Thompson as Utah's starting quarterback in 2015. The last time we saw Thompson he was marching the Utes down the field against Oregon before suffering a torn ACL.
The first clue is that in one of the biggest games of the season (against the Ducks), Utah chose Thompson as the starter even with a healthy and experienced Wilson vying for the spot. Another clue is Thompson's performance against good teams, like when he went 10-of-13 for 95 yards in a win at UCLA. He added on 83 rushing yards against the stout Bruins defense.
Travis Wilson will be the favorite to start, especially with Thompson's injury presumably holding him out for quite some time. Wilson can move too, but Thompson has dynamic ability. And if he's improved enough as a passer, he and Devontae Booker make for one of the scariest backfields in the league.
Washington Huskies
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Cyler Miles
Projecting Cyler Miles to be Washington's starter comes with a caveat: He won't maintain the position for very long. He threw for 2,397 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2014 and only had four interceptions, and he had 307 yards on the ground.
On the surface, there's nothing overly concerning about Miles' game except for the fact that with three All-Americans on defense the Huskies still lost six games. He wasn't consistent through the air and can't make the big throws. Without a dynamic running game, Miles loses his advantage.
Now include Jake Browning—a 4-star recruit with an NFL arm—in the conversation. He'll have more talent right away than any other quarterback on the roster, and he's already enrolled. Given Miles' experience he'll enter the season as the starter, but look for Browning to overtake him at some point during the year and never look back.
Washington State Cougars
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Projected 2015 starter: QB Luke Falk
Quarterback Luke Falk is the perfect Mike Leach quarterback. We know this because when Connor Halliday went down with an injury, Falk stepped in against an athletic USC defense and threw for 346 yards and two scores. His team still lost, but the poise he showed won over many.
Those still skeptical were forced to change their opinions the following week when Falk led the Cougars to their only Pac-12 victory of the season at Oregon State. In that contest, Falk had 471 yards passing and five touchdowns without a pick. Then, at Arizona State, he threw for a whopping 601 yards in a loss.
Some will point to the losses as reason to negate the gaudy numbers, but offense isn't the main problem for Washington State. Falk can fling it around just fine in Leach's system, and now he'll have an entire offseason as the presumed starter. Those who expected the passing attack to fall off in 2015 after Halliday's departure are going to be sorely disappointed.
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