Examining College Football's Surge in True Freshman QBs

Recruiting classes often provide hope of a brighter future, though for quarterbacks, that has typically meant a couple of years down the road. But there's a trend emerging as the 2018 season arrives.

About nine months after Jake Fromm guided Georgia to the national championship game—during which Tua Tagovailoa came off the bench in the second half and propelled Alabama to the crown—a handful of first-year signal-callers have earned starting nods.

The most notable, without question, is JT Daniels at USC. Clay Helton recently named the prized 2018 recruit the starter—in other words, the successor to Sam Darnold.

Additionally, the Big Ten is loaded with young quarterbacks. Nebraska chose Adrian Martinez, Minnesota tabbed walk-on Zack Annexstad and Rutgers picked Artur Sitkowski. In the ACC, Wake Forest is going with Sam Hartman. Pac-12 school UCLA listed Dorian Thompson-Robinson as a co-starter.

That's a whole lot of inexperience at the most important position.

Yes, there will always be freshman quarterbacks who start, and that could be the case at Clemson and Georgia in 2018.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

Considered the top two overall prospects of the recent recruiting cycle, Clemson's Trevor Lawrence and Georgia's Justin Fields arrive with immense hype. Neither will start the opener, but both are expected to play. They might—Lawrence more than Fields—join the lineup as the season continues.

In past years, that's been the trend.

Last season, both Fromm and James Blackman (Florida State) took over following early injuries to the starter. That later applied to Braxton Burmeister (Oregon). Sam Ehlinger (Texas) and Kellen Mond (Texas A&M) stepped in after losses.

Charlie Brewer played a major role at Baylor but didn't throw a pass until October, and Tagovailoa logged limited action until a rather important January game.

In 2016, Texas had a true freshman starting in Week 1. Otherwise, Jacob Eason (Georgia), Jalen Hurts (Alabama), Justin Herbert (Oregon) and two South Carolina QBs worked into the spot. Shea Patterson (Ole Miss) and Zach Smith (Baylor) were injury replacements.

As a result, the change to several true freshmen in 2018 appears sudden.

But, as always, context matters.

Scott Frost is overhauling Nebraska's offense, and all of the previous quarterbacks—the Huskers now have one scholarship QB, Martinez—fit a different style. Thompson-Robinson should factor into the lineup for Chip Kelly, who's brought a new system to UCLA.

Minnesota also only has one signal-caller on scholarship, and walk-on Annexstad took advantage to win the competition. His high school teammate, Sitkowski, won Rutgers' job, but the program has lacked a steady quarterback for several years.

Hartman will open the season for Wake Forest since anticipated starter Kendall Hinton is suspended for three games.

But none of those programs are expected to compete for even a conference crown in 2018, effectively making USC the outlier. Daniels, who reclassified from 2019 to 2018, won the competition over Matt Fink and Jack Sears during camp.

Perhaps it helped Daniels that in 2016, Helton tabbed veteran Max Browne over Darnold, a glaring decision in hindsight. Daniels clearly has the best potential, and USC doesn't have the luxury of easing into the schedule. Within the first month, the Trojans take on Stanford, Texas, Washington State and Arizona.

That's a brutal opening stretch for the star freshman.

Nevertheless, all things being relatively equal—previous experience and current skill level—the younger, more promising player should start. That's the case at USC, but not Clemson or Georgia, both of which have College Football Playoff-qualifying quarterbacks in Kelly Bryant and Fromm.

If anything changes at Clemson or UGA, it's simply the continuation of the existing trend that midseason replacements happen. Plus, injuries will open unexpected doors for others.

The biggest difference that could turn 2018 into a year "overrun" with true freshmen is the new NCAA rule regarding redshirts.

Since the tweak allows four games of participation without sacrificing a redshirt, it should lead to more appearances—especially during cupcake season. Prime candidates include Spencer Sanders (Oklahoma State), Jack Tuttle (Utah), James Foster (Texas A&M), Jarren Williams (Miami) and Cammon Cooper (Washington State). None of them are likely to become full-time starters, though.

In reality, 2018 isn't hugely dissimilar to past seasons.

The emergence of Fromm and Tagovailoa shoved freshmen into the spotlight, and a perfect confluence of circumstances has led several first-year quarterbacks to hold No. 1 jobs. Without question, that number is striking and rare.

Still, the recent explosion doesn't mean it's about to become the norm.

All recruiting information via 247Sports. Stats from NCAA.com, cfbstats.com or B/R research. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.