College Football Quarterback Battles That Will Last Through Fall Camp
Spring practice is starting to wind down across college football, with those schools that haven't finished their offseason workouts set to do so with scrimmages held over the next few weekends. When spring ball ends, some position battles will have been decided, but many will remain open and stay that way right up until the start of the 2015-16 season.
This includes several notable competitions at the quarterback spot, hands down the most intriguing position clash when it comes to fan interest. Choosing a QB is one of the most important choices to make, which often leads coaches to take as much time as possible before naming a starter.
Last year, schools such as Alabama, LSU and Virginia Tech were unable to decide who their quarterback would be until late in fall camp, either because not every viable contender was around until then or because spring ball didn't clear things up. Some of those same schools are in the same boat again this year, making for yet another stressful offseason.
Here's our look at some quarterback competitions that will continue on through fall camp.
Alabama
1 of 10
Last spring's quarterback competition in Tuscaloosa was in name only, as Jake Coker had yet to arrive from Florida State and was going to be given every chance to win the job during fall camp. This time around, Coker has had plenty of time to separate himself from a pack of inexperienced challengers, yet the senior is no closer to being named starter than he was at the beginning of practice.
Coker is one of five players getting a shot this spring, along with junior Alec Morris, sophomore Cooper Bateman, redshirt freshman David Cornwell and true freshman early enrollee Blake Barnett. Bleacher Report's Marc Torrence wrote that much of the reps have been divvied out in order of seniority, but in Alabama's most recent scrimmage, it was Cornwell making a jump up the chart to just behind Coker, a move that "signals that he has a very real shot at winning the starting job."
Cornwell, a 4-star prospect from the 2014 recruiting class, per 247Sports, missed much of his senior year of high school with an ACL injury and then broke his ankle during spring ball last year. Torrence wrote that there wasn't much buzz about him heading into this spring, but that seems to have changed and should make for an intriguing A-Day game on Saturday and then further competition this fall.
Georgia
2 of 10
Georgia wrapped up spring practice on April 11, and while a lot of questions about this year's Bulldogs team have been answered, one that remains completely up in the air is the quarterback situation.
All three contenders—junior Faton Bauta, sophomore Brice Ramsey and redshirt freshman Jacob Park—fared well in the G-Day spring game, combining to complete 31 of 49 passes for 437 yards with two touchdowns (Bauta and Ramsey) and one interception (Park).
Bauta and Ramsey appear to have made some distance from Park, though all are still in the hunt heading into the fall, continuing the first true quarterback competition Georgia coach Mark Richt has had in nearly a decade.
"I think it's still a race," Richt told Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee. "There's no question it'll go through summer and fall before we settle on one."
While picking a starter is important, there's no rush for a Bulldogs team that can be as reliant as needed on workhorse running back Nick Chubb early in the season while the quarterback settles into the job.
LSU
3 of 10
LSU isn't having a spring worthy of Throwback Thursdays, at least not intentionally. The fact it's trying to determine whether sophomore Brandon Harris or junior Anthony Jennings will be its quarterback for the second year in a row is by necessity rather than by choice, since neither did enough last season to warrant being handed the job outright.
The pair combined to complete only 50 percent of their passes in 2014—with Jennings hitting at a 48.9 percent clip with the bulk of the attempts—and led to the Tigers having the worst passing offense in the SEC. Their play was so unspectacular, it made LSU appear to be a solid destination for any graduate transfer quarterbacks looking for a fresh start, yet no such moves have occurred.
This makes Saturday's spring game a key moment in the competition, especially since Harris shined in last year's game but wasn't able to parlay that into enough fall-camp momentum to beat out Jennings. This spring, Jennings has looked to be the better passer, including when he threw for 200 yards and two touchdowns on 9-of-14 passing in LSU's last scrimmage, while Harris was credited with completing "a handful" of his 22 pass attempts, per the school's website.
While the presence of rising sophomore Leonard Fournette in the backfield helps take pressure off the quarterback spot to carry the offense, LSU still needs someone it can depend on. Spring ball won't be enough to determine who that is.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Michigan
4 of 10
Michigan's first spring under coach Jim Harbaugh ended nearly two weeks ago with an offensively challenged scrimmage in which only one touchdown was scored. Junior quarterback Shane Morris looked far better than true freshman Alex Malzone but not enough to lock him in as the starter for the 2015 season.
Even had he been spectacular, though, it wouldn't have been enough to warrant Harbaugh naming Morris his guy, not when the Wolverines have Iowa transfer Jake Rudock showing up this summer along with freshman Zach Gentry.
Rudock, a senior who graduated early and can play right away, started 25 games for the Hawkeyes the past two seasons but found himself second on the depth chart heading into the spring.
Morris is taking the impending competition with Rudock in stride, telling Nick Baumgardner of MLive.com, "they can bring in 100 quarterbacks, it not going to matter to me."
Notre Dame
5 of 10
No prediction is needed for Notre Dame, as coach Brian Kelly has already declared that senior Everett Golson and sophomore Malik Zaire will continue to battle it out for the starting job until the fall.
"They're both trying to get better and working to get better in the areas we've asked them to focus on,” Kelly said last week, per Keith Arnold of NBC Sports. "I can’t see where that’s not healthy, and it will continue to work to get us better as a football team because they're getting better every day."
The pair were in a competition last offseason as well, though it was more to ensure that Golson—who was coming off a season-long academic suspension—still had what it took to be a starter after leading the Fighting Irish to the 2013 BCS title game. This time around, the competition is far more intense, and the onus is more on Zaire to prove he can handle the responsibility of being a full-time contributor.
Golson is a known quantity in that department, albeit one that struggled with turnovers much of last season, while Zaire only saw significant action in Notre Dame's final two games of 2014. This spring, he's looked good, but he's also perturbed his coaches by checking out of plays at the line for no apparent reason, according to JJ Stankevitz of CSNChicago.
Ohio State
6 of 10
When a quarterback competition has three participants, but only one is fully able to perform, is it really a competition? It is when all three are of the quality that Ohio State has at its disposal for 2015, when the Buckeyes will be defending their national championship under intense scrutiny.
That thorough examination has been going on since moments after the title game victory over Oregon, when questions first began over which passer—senior Braxton Miller, junior Cardale Jones or sophomore J.T. Barrett—would get the nod from coach Urban Meyer. Jones nearly dropped out of the race but chose to return to school, and because of injuries to Miller and Barrett, he's had spring ball nearly all to himself.
Neither Barrett (broken ankle) nor Miller (shoulder surgery) will play in Saturday's spring game, though Barrett has progressed far more quickly than expected and did participate in some drills as he works to return to the level that had him as a dark-horse Heisman candidate last fall before getting hurt.
Meyer told ESPN's Austin Ward that Miller's rehab is going well, too, meaning "that progress would put the entire trio on track for an epic training camp in the fall."
For a competition that has all the makings of a reality show, it's only fitting it will go down to the final episode before a winner is declared.
Oklahoma
7 of 10
Oklahoma's spring game was held last weekend, but not one of its four quarterbacks showed enough during that scrimmage to indicate he has a leg up on the competition for the starting job this fall.
Juniors Baker Mayfield and Trevor Knight, sophomore Cody Thomas and redshirt freshman Justice Hansen all played in the game, with Thomas getting the surprise nod as starter, and while each had his good moments, they also all struggled at times.
Mayfield was 10-of-13 for 176 yards and a touchdown, per Brandon Chatmon of ESPN, but he also threw two interceptions. The Texas Tech transfer, who sat out last year after starting eight games for the Red Raiders in 2013, was a superstar in the 2014 spring game but then failed to win his appeal to be eligible right away.
Knight, last year's starter for most games, completed just six of 13 passes for 78 yards with a pick, while Thomas and Hansen also had their ups and downs.
Oklahoma has switched to the Air Raid offense, which it used previously in the past and which Mayfield operated at Texas Tech, yet so far the transition hasn't gone smoothly. Thus, fall camp will be required to determine who gets to run the attack.
Oregon
8 of 10
Oregon will be the last of the power-conference teams to wrap up spring ball, holding its spring game on May 2. But even with the later-than-average finish, the Ducks will be no closer to finding their successor to Heisman winner Marcus Mariota due to an incomplete candidate pool.
Junior Jeff Lockie has been out in front to this point, but Mariota's backup has only been battling sophomore Ty Griffin, redshirt freshman Morgan Mahalak and true freshman Travis Jonsen. Lockie's main challenger doesn't arrive until June, when Vernon Adams completes his coursework at Eastern Washington and can come over as a graduate transfer.
Adams has been one of the most prolific passers at the FCS level the past three years, and in his two games against FBS teams (both of whom are on Oregon's schedule as Pac-12 rivals), he threw for a combined 886 yards and had 13 total touchdowns.
"The dual-threat QB is an ideal fit for Oregon's up-tempo spread offense," Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman wrote in February.
Rutgers
9 of 10
It only felt like Gary Nova was Rutgers' quarterback forever, though in actuality it was from 2011 to 2014, during which he started 41 games and finished second in school history in passing yards and first in touchdowns. Now, the Scarlet Knights are in the process of finding their next Nova, but they're in no hurry to choose between sophomores Chris Laviano and Hayden Rettig.
Laviano was Nova's backup last year, appearing in five games but completing just 11 of 28 passes for 107 yards and an interception. Rettig sat out the 2014 season after transferring from LSU, and because of a redshirt in 2013, he hasn't played in a live game since high school.
Rutgers' first scrimmage on April 11 didn't provide much clarity in the battle, as both quarterbacks looked good overall but also struggled during two-minute drills, per Joshua Newman of the Asbury Park Press.
"I think we've got a long way to go. I think we've got a long way to go still," Rutgers coach Kyle Flood told Newman.
Texas
10 of 10
A sudden announcement that Texas would be switching to a spread offense in 2015 seemed like the beginning of the end of Tyrone Swoopes' tenure as starting quarterback. A more pro-style passer, and one who's struggled in his time with the Longhorns, Swoopes then faced the onus of being unfamiliar with the offense his team was installing while redshirt freshman Jerrod Heard had thrived in that format in high school.
Then Swoopes seemed to take command during the early part of spring practice, showing an understanding of the offense that indicated he was ready to lead again this fall. Yet recent progress by Heard has made it so both quarterbacks will get first-team snaps during Saturday's spring game, per Jeff Howe of 247Sports, meaning the competition isn't close to being over.
"Jerrod has taken tremendous strides here in the last week or so," Texas coach Charlie Strong said, per Howe. "He's really closed the gap, so it's going to be interesting to get through Saturday and get to fall camp."
Heard won two state titles running a spread offense at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas. The knock on him was whether he'd be able to handle the passing part of the attack, but recent practice performance has shown he needs to be evaluated more, and that will require much, if not all, of fall camp.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
