College Football Teams Whose Next QB Will Be Better Than Current Starter
We're still months away from the 2015 college football season, but some teams with uncertain quarterback situations probably wish they could skip ahead to 2016. Others might be in good shape this fall, but the future holds far more promise.
No matter what a team's current quarterback scenario is, the possibility of what is coming down the pike are hard to ignore. Whether it's a player set to come in as part of the 2016 recruiting class or who on the roster is in line to be a backup or be redshirted this season, the next great thing at quarterback is among the most exciting concepts in college football.
And in some cases, a future quarterback is apt to be better than who is running the offense this season. This isn't necessarily a knock on the quarterback some teams plan on going with in 2015; it's more of an endorsement of their next great thing.
We've identified some teams that figure to have a much better quarterback in 2016 than this year, though this list is limited to schools that have a clear choice for next year that's different from this season's top candidates.
Arizona State
1 of 6
Likely 2015 starter: Mike Bercovici
Projected 2016 starter: Brady White
Mike Bercovici got an early audition for this season when Taylor Kelly broke his leg and missed three games, and he looked pretty good during that stretch. Going 2-1 as a starter, Bercovici threw for 488 yards in his debut and then went for 510 yards with five touchdowns (including a Hail Mary pass) to win at USC.
Now the job is all his, and the senior is being looked at as a leader on an Arizona State team that should contend for the Pac-12's South Division title yet again.
Yet Bercovici doesn't have the same kind of hype that his likely backup this season, true freshman Brady White, comes to Tempe with. White, a 4-star prospect from Santa Clarita, California, threw for more than 4,500 yards with 41 touchdowns as a high school senior.
White enrolled early and has already added 15 pounds of muscle, getting to 195 pounds on his six-foot frame.
"It was just a key point for me to get here early," White told Kevin Zimmerman of Fox Sports. "Throughout high school I was really looking into it. I always did extra classes, did summer work to get ahead, in order to be able to graduate early. I think it's a huge advantage."
Baylor
2 of 6
Likely 2015 starter: Seth Russell
Projected 2016 starter: Jarrett Stidham
Baylor is coming off two years of amazing production at quarterback from Bryce Petty, but now it's Seth Russell's chance to drive the Bears' offense. It could be a short trip, even though he's entering his junior year and has eligibility beyond 2015, because Jarrett Stidham didn't sign with Baylor to sit too long.
Stidham, the second-best dual-threat passer in the 2015 class, pledged to Texas Tech and signed a financial aid agreement in order to start school in January before decommitting in December. He picked Baylor a week later over offers from Oregon and others, enrolling a month later.
Though Stidham never indicated his reasons for backing away from Texas Tech, Daniel Paulling of 247Sports reported it was likely over playing time.
"A source close to the situation says Stidham's decommitment revolves around whether he'd redshirt his freshman year or play immediately," Paulling wrote in December.
Russell served as Petty's primary backup last year (and threw for 438 yards and five touchdowns in an injury-replacement start last September) and exited spring practice as Baylor's No. 1 quarterback on the depth chart. Stidham and sophomore Chris Johnson are listed as co-backups, but eventually Stidham is going to rise to No. 2 by himself and be in position to win the starting job in 2016.
Georgia
3 of 6
Likely 2015 starter: Faton Bauta, Jacob Park or Brice Ramsey
Projected 2016 starter: Jacob Eason
Georgia has been pretty spoiled at quarterback for the past decade, often without many tough decisions because one clear candidate has emerged each year to be the starter. If it wasn't multi-year guys like Matthew Stafford or Aaron Murray, the Bulldogs had longtime backups (Joe Cox, Hutson Mason) ready to take over in their senior year.
Now there's a bona fide quarterback competition in Athens, though to this point none of the candidates—junior Faton Bauta, sophomore Brice Ramsey and redshirt freshman Jacob Park—has stood out from the others in spring ball.
"It is going to be hard to figure out who is going to be the man right now, but we are getting closer," Georgia coach Mark Richt said Tuesday on The Paul Finebaum Show, per Kipp Adams of 247Sports.
Whichever guy gets the nod for the fall, it's likely to be only a one-year gig, since the top-rated quarterback in the 2016 recruiting class is committed to Georgia. Jacob Eason is rated No. 4 overall, and the pro-style passer from Washington has a chance to be the Bulldogs' next Stafford or Murray rather than another longtime backup who has to wait his turn for a shot at starting.
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LSU
4 of 6
Likely 2015 starter: Brandon Harris or Anthony Jennings
Projected 2016 starter: Feleipe Franks
LSU didn't sign a quarterback in this recruiting class, which means unless a graduate transfer comes along this offseason it is stuck with one of the two guys who underachieved at the position in 2014. And no matter what strides junior Anthony Jennings or sophomore Brandon Harris make this season, odds are they'll both be in jeopardy of getting beaten out for the starting job next year.
That's because a longtime pledge already has designs on what he can do with LSU in 2016.
Feleipe Franks, the top-rated dual-threat passer in the 2016 class, committed to the Tigers in June and since then has seen his chances of playing right away look much better, as both Jennings and Harris struggled mightily last season. The duo combined to complete just 50 percent of their passes as LSU had the worst passing offense in the SEC, and neither has done much this spring to indicate that's going to be different this year.
Franks threw for 2,249 yards and 28 touchdowns while adding 425 rushing yards and three scores as a junior at Wakulla High School in Crawfordville, Florida. In March, he was on a Baton Rouge radio station (h/t NOLA.com) and noted that when he arrives at LSU, his skills will enable the team to "open the passing game a little more."
Missouri
5 of 6
Likely 2015 starter: Maty Mauk
Projected 2016 starter: Drew Lock
Maty Mauk was billed as the next great thing when he arrived at Missouri in 2012, and after redshirting that year he showed what he was capable of by admirably filling in for James Franklin for four games after he was injured in 2013. But as the full-time starter last season, Mauk struggled mightily.
He hasn't looked much better this spring, and in the most recent scrimmage, he completed 12 of 22 passes for just 81 yards with two interceptions. Those are numbers that fall in line with his performance in 2014, when he averaged just 6.4 yards per attempt and was picked off 13 times.
If he continues to struggle, Mauk might not even hold onto his job this fall. That's because Missouri's next highly touted quarterback, Drew Lock, arrives in the summer.
Lock, a 4-star in-state prospect who threw for 63 touchdowns over his final two high school seasons, would probably need to have a monster preseason in order to beat out Mauk, no matter how off he has looked. All bets are off once the season begins, though, and in 2016 the job will be his to lose.
Ole Miss
6 of 6
Likely 2015 starter: Ryan Buchanan, DeVante Kincade or Chad Kelly
Projected 2016 starter: Shea Patterson
While Bo Wallace and his tendency to transform into a gunslinger at times could be frustrating to watch, he was still a very consistent and productive quarterback during his three seasons at Ole Miss. He threw for more than 9,500 yards and 62 touchdowns and was a big reason the Rebels' win total increased each year.
The three candidates battling to succeed Wallace will be hard-pressed to match that production and success, though junior college transfer (and former Clemson backup) Chad Kelly probably has the best shot to win the job over sophomores Ryan Buchanan and DeVante Kincade.
But none of them will be guaranteed to hold onto the job past this season—not when Ole Miss is set to bring in what Bleacher Report's Michael Felder calls "their quarterback of the future" in 5-star passer Shea Patterson for 2016.
Originally an Arizona commit, Patterson chose the Rebels in February over Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and USC. He's thrown for 72 touchdowns the past two seasons at Calvary Christian in Shreveport, Louisiana, with just seven interceptions in 422 attempts.
All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports, unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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