Power Ranking the Projected Pac-12 Starting Quarterbacks
The Pac-12 is traditionally loaded with quality arms, and 2015-16 will be no exception, despite Marcus Mariota's departure. Nine of the conference's 12 projected starting quarterbacks started at least one game last year for their current teams, so the league should be overflowing with depth.
Among the top gunslingers in the league are USC's Cody Kessler, Arizona's Anu Solomon and Arizona State's Mike Bercovici. Who among those three is the best signal-caller in the West, and which team could potentially use an upgrade at quarterback?
In ranking the quarterbacks, every possible criteria was considered. Guys who put up better numbers and are returning starters get the edge over newcomers in general, while QBs in pass-happy offenses are hindered in certain cases because they are essentially "system quarterbacks."
Quarterbacks who won on bigger stages were also favored in the rankings.
12. Seth Collins, Oregon State
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A true freshman, Oregon State's Seth Collins is among the highest-profile newbies in the Pac-12. For now, that also means he's 100 percent unproven.
Collins is a 3-star prospect out of California and is ranked as the 47th-best dual quarterback of his class. Those aren't eye-popping rankings, but Collins has nonetheless impressed early.
Under Gary Anderson's new staff and his spread offense, David Lombardi of ESPN named Collins a breakout spring performer after he threw for 208 yards and rushed for 81 in the Beavers' final exhibition.
Collins is the favorite to win the starting job, but he still likely has a sizable learning curve—as is the case with nearly every freshman in the country.
11. Josh Rosen, UCLA
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The top quarterback in his recruiting class, Josh Rosen could immediately fill in after Brett Hundley's departure.
Rosen turned down offers from the likes of Florida State, Texas, Notre Dame and Michigan to enroll at UCLA, where he is now the favorite to take the reins as the program's starting quarterback.
UCLA does not have a spring game, so it's even tougher to gauge Rosen than most freshmen in the country. But for a freshman to be atop the depth chart of one of the most historically storied college programs speaks volumes.
Still, like Seth Collins at Oregon State, Rosen is ultimately an unknown in the college ranks.
10. Jeff Lindquist, Washington
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Jeff Lindquist earned one start last year, leading Washington to a slim 17-16 win over Hawaii in Week 1 while he filled in for suspended starter Cyler Miles.
With Miles having retired from football due to injury concerns, Lindquist is now in a battle for the starting job as the Chris Petersen era further cements itself in Washington.
Lindquist is battling K.J. Carta-Samuels and Jake Browning for the job, but we'll give the edge to Lindquist for now since he's the only guy with actual playing experience.
Against Hawaii, Lindquist went 10-of-26 for 162 yards and one touchdown. Not great numbers, but too small a sample size to make a fair judgement. Lindquist's biggest positive came from the fact Washington was down 10-0 in that game but came back to win.
Petersen needs a solid quarterback to center his program around, and Lindquist probably isn't the long-term answer. For now, though, he's the best option Petersen has.
9. Luke Falk, Washington State
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When Connor Halliday missed the tail end of last season due to injury, Luke Falk took the reins for the Washington State Cougars. Over four games—including three starts in the team's final three contests—Falk passed for 1,773 yards and 12 touchdowns while also coughing up seven picks.
His most active game was at Arizona State, a 52-31 loss where he threw four interceptions. That said, he threw the ball 74 times and finished with 601 yards while completing 60.8 percent of his passes.
With a full offseason to integrate into the starting job, Falk should see improvement in his sophomore campaign. However, how much a quarterback's success is diluted by Mike Leach's air-raid approach is hard to gauge.
8. Travis Wilson, Utah
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When Travis Wilson is firing for the Utah Utes, he's as effective as nearly any gunslinger in the conference. But consistency has been Wilson's biggest sticking point as a quarterback.
The inconsistency isn't all Wilson's fault, however. Entering his senior campaign, he will now work under his fourth offensive coordinator in Aaron Roderick.
Wilson was even benched in favor of Kendal Thompson last year, but an injury to Thompson made Wilson essentially the de facto signal-caller. He finished 2014 with 2,170 yards and 18 touchdowns coupled with five interceptions.
Utah is looking to break through into the Pac-12 elite after a promising season last year, and the Utes are hoping Wilson will be the man to take them there. However, one or two starts that feature Bizzaro Wilson may derail a once-promising career.
7. Sefo Liufau, Colorado
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The Colorado Buffaloes are a favorite among prognosticators to take a major step forward in 2015, and quarterback Sefo Liufau, a protege of the Mike MacIntyre system, is a driving force.
In his first full year of quarterbacking the slumping Buffaloes in 2014, Liufau was a silver lining. He finished the season with exactly 3,200 yards through the air with 28 touchdowns. His biggest black mark: 15 interceptions.
Those 15 picks relegated Liufau's quarterback rating to 131.8, which put him just 12th out of 14 qualifiers in the Pac-12, according to ESPN.
With Colorado's defense being among the worst in the nation last year, however, Liufau was constantly asked to go out and pass the ball in heavy doses in veiled attempts to keep the Buffs competitive.
If the guys around Liufau can pick up the slack, the game should slow down and his numbers will improve in all areas, including wins.
6. Vernon Adams, Oregon
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The quarterback who people will arguably be watching the most in the Pac-12 in 2015-16 is Eastern Washington transfer-turned-Oregon Duck Vernon Adams—the man pegged to replace Marcus Mariota.
Adams, a senior who is immediately eligible after playing at FCS Eastern Washington a season ago, will only have one year to leave his mark in Eugene. However, the simple fact he's being plugged into a program that has produced a slew of quality quarterbacks over the last decade works in Adams' favor.
He also has experience playing against Pac-12 teams. Adams nearly led his squad to an upset against Washington last year, where the Huskies eventually prevailed 59-52. In that game, Adams tossed a whopping seven touchdowns and completed 31 of his 46 passes for 475 yards.
That game is the best barometer—albeit a small sample size—for pegging Adams' capabilities. And that bodes well for the Ducks.
5. Kevin Hogan, Stanford
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The curious case of Kevin Hogan has been the tale at Stanford for three seasons.
The narrative may have been cleared up at the end of last season, when Hogan went on a tear in his final two starts. Against UCLA on the road and against Maryland in the Foster Farms Bowl, Hogan tallied 423 yards and four scores on 30-of-39 passing.
That proved to be a kind footnote to a year that saw Hogan rack up 2,792 yards and 19 touchdowns passing. Those numbers, coupled with his 65.9 percent completion rating, ranked him fifth in the conference last year in passer rating at 145.8.
How Stanford fares in the Pac-12 this year is still a mystery, but a senior gunslinger at the helm will surely give head coach David Shaw peace of mind going into fall camp.
4. Jared Goff, California
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One of the most efficient quarterbacks in the country despite being just a sophomore last year, Jared Goff finished with 3,973 yards through the air along with 35 touchdowns and just seven picks.
That's a 5-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
He was by far the most instrumental piece in Sonny Dykes' retooling of the Golden Bears offense, which averaged 38.3 points per game last year. Now as a junior, even just mirroring his numbers from a season ago should allow Cal to see drastic improvement in the win column.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune (h/t Josh Dubow of the Associated Press), Goff is a projected first-round draft pick whenever he decides to bolt for Sundays.
For now, he'll settle for being one of the elite quarterbacks in the country despite being in a system that will inflate his numbers.
3. Anu Solomon, Arizona
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One of the most electric athletes in the Pac-12 before a late-season ankle injury hampered him, Anu Solomon was the only quarterback to score a win over Marcus Mariota a season ago before the national championship game.
In that early October win over Oregon, Solomon was quiet but efficient. He finished with 287 yards, a touchdown and a pick on 20-of-31 passing.
In total, Solomon finished 2014 with 3,793 yards and 28 touchdowns to just nine interceptions.
With a full year under his belt, Solomon should be poised to be among the league's best quarterbacks and could have the type of breakout sophomore season that Jared Goff experienced at California, especially with Rich Rodriguez as his head coach.
2. Mike Bercovici, Arizona State
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When Taylor Kelly went down with an injury and missed three games, it was Mike Bercovici who took over for the Arizona State Sun Devils. He played so well during that stretch that some wondered whether he should remain the permanent starter.
His biggest moment came against USC, when Bercovici tossed a Hail Mary that found Jaelen Strong for the last-second win. In total, Bercovici finished 2014 with 1,445 yards passing with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions. He completed 115 of 186 pass attempts.
Bercovici already has the wherewithal to compete on the biggest stages the Pac-12 has to offer, so expect the new bona fide starter to hit the scorching hot Arizona State turf running.
1. Cody Kessler, USC
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Of course Cody Kessler tops the list of Pac-12 starting quarterbacks. Was there any doubt?
The USC gunslinger, who will be a senior this fall, finished second in the league in quarterback rating at 167.1 last year, trailing only Marcus Mariota. He also threw for 3,826 yards and 39 touchdowns while only racking up five interceptions.
A solidified preseason All-America candidate, Kessler was the essence of consistency last year. He threw for fewer than 200 yards in just two games, and USC was 2-0 in those contests against Stanford and Arizona. He also never threw more than one interception in a game.
Perceived early in his career as the heir to the USC quarterbacking throne, Kessler may finally be entering the promised land of elite signal-callers who called themselves Trojans.
All recruit rankings according to 247sports unless otherwise noted.
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