Big CFB Programs with the Toughest QB Decisions Entering 2022

College football programs across the country are evaluating the talent on their rosters heading into the 2022 season. One of the most important positions that coaching staffs are looking at is within the quarterback room. 

As we look forward to 2022, there are a number of teams that will have to make big decisions regarding their starting quarterback. Some have to decide between veteran QBs and ones that recently transferred into the program. Others have talented true freshmen coming onto their team that might be good enough to start early on. 

Let's run through which programs have the toughest quarterback decisions to make in 2022. 

Florida Gators

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Outside of Kyle Trask's two years as a starter, Florida has been struggling to find consistency at quarterback virtually every season since Tim Tebow left in 2009. Heading into 2022, new head coach Billy Napier has a pair of quarterbacks that saw plenty of playing time last season in Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson. 

Jones was the starter for most of the season in 2021, but he struggled to play consistently well throughout the year. He finished the year having thrown for 2,734 yards and 19 touchdowns with 13 interceptions, rushing for another 759 yards and four scores. 

Richardson finished the year with 529 passing yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions and 401 rushing yards and three touchdowns. During his lone start in 2021 against Georgia, he finished with just 82 passing yards and two interceptions along with just 26 rushing yards in a 34-7 loss. 

In the 2022 recruiting cycle, Napier has also added Ohio State transfer Jack Miller III, who played in just six games over two seasons in Columbus. Miller was a 4-star QB prospect from the class of 2020 and the No. 13-ranked pro-style prospect. Florida's 2022 class also includes 3-star QB Max Brown out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, while the Gators have redshirt freshman Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, a former 4-star QB prospect from Florida's class of 2021, as well as former 3-star QB Jalen Kitna.

Although Jones was reportedly set to transfer away from Florida, per Pete Thamel for Yahoo Sports, he is still with the team for now. Napier addressed the current QB situation in Gainesville, including the uncertainty surrounding Jones, in a recent press conference: 

"I'm going to work with those guys exclusively every day," Napier told reporters. "So, when the team struggles or the player struggles, it's important that you take ownership of that as the teacher, and, certainly, we'll have that approach, right? But we have a lot of work to do to get ready to play winning football, right? And, certainly, a lot of that has to do with the quarterback position. So, as far as Emory's concerned, he's been great so far."

Napier has some talented guys on his roster and a big decision to make. And if Jones were to transfer away from Florida, that would make his QB decision a bit easier. For now, Jones is still with the team and in the mix to earn the starting job again in 2022.

Texas Longhorns

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Unlike the Florida Gators, the Longhorns' starting quarterback from 2021 is no longer with the team. That would be Casey Thompson, who opted to transfer to Nebraska following the end of the 2021 season. Fortunately for head coach Steve Sarkisian, he has a number of talented guys on his roster to choose from for 2022. 

One of the biggest names added to Texas' quarterback room was former Ohio State Buckeye Quinn Ewers. Ewers, a former 5-star QB prospect and the No. 1 overall signal-caller from the class of 2021, lost out to Heisman finalist C.J. Stroud for the Buckeyes' starting job prior to the 2021 season. Ewers played high school football at Southlake Carroll in Texas. 

But Ewers won't be the only Longhorns QB with a chance to start. He'll likely compete against Texas' class of 2022 signee Maliik Murphy. Murphy is a 4-star QB prospect who was the No. 12 quarterback in the class of 2022 out of Gardena, California. As a senior at Junipero Serra High School last season, Murphy threw for 2,973 yards and 22 touchdowns with nine interceptions.

Ewers and Murphy will also join a quarterback room that includes Hudson Card, a former 4-star QB prospect. Card started in two games last year for Texas before Thompson took over for him. Card redshirted in 2020, so he will enter 2022 as a redshirt sophomore.

Clemson Tigers

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Clemson's starter from 2021, DJ Uiagalelei, will be back in 2022, but could head coach Dabo Swinney be open to a little QB competition? It's no secret that Uiagalelei's first season as Clemson's full-time starter didn't go as well as Tiger fans would have hoped. 

Uiagalelei finished the season having thrown for 2,246 yards and just nine touchdowns with 10 interceptions. After previous seasons of record-setting QBs such as Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson, the play under center wasn't quite like it had been in seasons past. 

Uiagalelei is the presumed starter heading into 2022, but Clemson's 2022 recruiting class is headlined by 5-star QB prospect Cade Klubnik. Not only was Klubnik ranked as the No. 1 overall QB prospect, he was 247Sports' top-ranked prospect out of the state of Texas. 

The true freshman's high school career included three state titles, and he threw for 7,426 yards, 86 touchdowns and just seven interceptions in his career. Klubnik was also impressively the first starting signal-caller in the state of Texas since Kyler Murray to go undefeated in the highest classification while winning consecutive state titles. Swinney hasn't hesitated to start true freshman QBs before—both Lawrence and Watson started during their true freshmen seasons coming out of high school. 

Also in the mix for Clemson's starting job in 2022 will be graduate transfer Hunter Johnson. Johnson, a former 5-star prospect from the recruiting class of 2017, actually started his career at Clemson. He signed with the Tigers in 2017 before transferring to Northwestern in the spring of 2018, shortly after Lawrence stepped on campus. Johnson made eight starts over three seasons for Northwestern before heading back to where his collegiate career began.

Texas A&M Aggies

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Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher will have a number of quarterbacks to choose from heading into 2022. The Aggies' starter for the majority of 2021, Zach Calzada, has since transferred to Auburn. 

Calzada was the Aggies' backup at the beginning of the 2021 season for the first two weeks of the season. Haynes King started TAMU's first two games of the year, throwing for 300 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions before suffering a season-ending leg injury. The QB out of Longview, Texas, is a former 4-star QB prospect from the class of 2020. He was 247Sports' No. 5 dual-threat QB prospect from his class, too. Since Fisher named King as the Aggies' starter last season, he might have an advantage in the QB competition heading into 2022. King won't be the only QB competing to start, however. 

The Aggies also were joined by a quarterback with SEC starting experience this offseason in Max Johnson. Johnson transferred to TAMU after spending the last two seasons at LSU. Johnson played in six games for LSU as a freshman in 2020 and was LSU's starter last season. He threw for 2,814 yards and 27 touchdowns with six interceptions, winning the starting job after teammate Myles Brennan broke his arm before the season began.

TAMU's 2022 recruiting class made history on National Signing Day earlier this month. Fisher's class went down as 247Sports' highest-ranked recruiting class ever. Included in Fisher's historic class is 5-star QB prospect Conner Weigman out of Bridgeland High School in Cypress, Texas. Weigman was ranked as the No. 2 QB prospect from the class of 2022 and the No. 5 prospect from his home state of Texas, and he just might be talented enough to compete against both King and Johnson for the starting job.

Auburn Tigers

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After a wild week in which it looked like Auburn might move on from Bryan Harsin, the head coach will return on the plains in 2022 after all. With that will come a decision for Auburn at quarterback next season. 

Gone is longtime starter Bo Nix, who transferred to Oregon after the 2021 season. Nix's junior season was cut short due to a broken ankle he suffered in mid-November. 

Rising junior T.J. Finley played well when Nix went down to injury. He finished the year having thrown for 552 yards, four touchdowns and just one interception with a passer rating of 116.4 in the Tigers' last three games of the season. 

Prior to coming to Auburn, Finley spent 2020 at LSU, where he started in five games as a true freshman, throwing for 941 yards and five touchdowns. Finley may have the upper hand thanks to how he performed last season, but he won't be the only quarterback with game experience. 

Also on Auburn's roster now, as mentioned previously, is former TAMU QB Zach Calzada. The former Aggies QB finished the season having thrown for 2,185 yards and 17 touchdowns in 12 games in 2021. He was integral in Texas A&M's upset of then-No. 1 Alabama, too. 

Also in the mix for the starting job will be Oregon transfer Robby Ashford. Ashford is a former 4-star QB prospect out of Alabama from the class of 2020. The former Duck didn't see any playing time in 2020 and redshirted in 2021. Auburn also signed 4-star QB Holden Geriner, the No. 18-ranked QB prospect, to its 2022 class.

Harsin will have to decide on a quarterback in 2022 for his yet-to-be-hired third offensive coordinator after just one season. Harsin fired OC Mike Bobo after the 2021 season, and former Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach Austin Davis resigned after just two months as Bobo's replacement. 

North Carolina Tar Heels

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For the first time in three seasons, UNC will be without quarterback Sam Howell under center after he declared for the NFL draft. As for who might replace him, head coach Mack Brown has a number of options to choose from. 

The two obvious choices will be junior Jacolby Criswell and sophomore Drake Maye, who both backed up Howell last year. The two saw some playing time in 2021 with Howell nursing an injury against Wofford. 

The Tar Heels relied primarily on their ground game in the 34-14 victory, but both signal-callers scored touchdowns. Criswell finished with the better stat line of the two, going 11-for-19 for 125 yards and a rushing touchdown. Even Brown said after the game that the Tar Heels already have a QB controversy for 2022: 

"We've got a perfect setup for a quarterback controversy going forward," Brown told reporters. "Everybody loves that, it can't be better than that for next year. So this will be something we can talk about. ... They're both accurate, they both can run. Jacolby has been here two years, in January. He didn't get to go through the first spring because we didn't have one because of COVID. 

"Drake just came in in January a year ago. So that was a great start today to look at both guys. We'll evaluate them today. A lot of times you're not sure what they checked to and what they didn't and how they managed the offense while they were on the field. But I really felt good about both of them and think that we've got some special quarterbacks moving forward."

Criswell is a former 4-star QB prospect from the class of 2020, in which he was the No. 11-ranked dual-threat signal-caller. Maye was also a former 4-star prospect, ranked as the No. 3 prospect out of the state of North Carolina. Criswell and Maye will be joined by 2022 3-star QB Conner Harrell. UNC fell short of its preseason expectations last season, checking in at 10th in the initial AP poll only to finish the year 6-7. Whomever Brown decides will start at QB for the Tar Heels will look to have a much better season than last year's.  

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

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One of new head coach Marcus Freeman's biggest decisions of his young career will be who will start at QB in South Bend in 2022. Gone is graduate transfer Jack Coan, who helped lead ND to an 11-2 season in 2021 after coming over from Wisconsin.  

Coan's backups from last season both will be returning to South Bend for 2022. That includes rising junior Drew Pyne, who appeared in two games last season against Wisconsin and Cincinnati. In those games, he threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns. Pyne is a former 4-star QB prospect who was the No. 8-ranked pro-style signal-caller from the class of 2020.  

Notre Dame's other returning backup quarterback, Tyler Buchner, appeared in 10 games last season, recording 298 passing yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. He added another 336 yards and three touchdowns on the ground last season, as well. Buchner was a 2021 4-star QB prospect out of La Jolla, California, and was the No. 5-ranked prospect in the state in last year's recruiting class.

Pyne and Buchner will be joined by 4-star QB Steve Angeli, who was the No. 21-ranked QB prospect from the class of 2022. Although Freeman flirted with the idea of signing a second QB to the 2022 recruiting class, per Pete Sampson of The Athletic, Angeli was the lone signal-caller from Freeman's first recruiting class.  

Since Buchner has the most experience out of the bunch, he may be the favorite to win the job in 2022. 

Ole Miss Rebels

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Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin will have to move forward without departing star quarterback Matt Corral. Fortunately, the Rebels have some talented options to replace him. 

One of the biggest names Kiffin landed as part of the 2022 recruiting class was USC transfer Jaxson Dart. During his true freshman season at USC, Dart threw for 1,353 yards and nine touchdowns with five interceptions. The former Trojans QB was a 4-star prospect from the class of 2021, and the No. 10-ranked quarterback prospect. 

But Dart won't walk into an empty quarterback room. Also at Ole Miss is Corral's backup from last season, rising sophomore Luke Altmyer. The QB is a former 4-star prospect as a recruit in the class of 2021 and was the No. 4-ranked prospect out of his home state of Mississippi. Altmyer appeared in four games last season, completing 20 passes for 192 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. Kiffin has even made it clear that Ole Miss' QB competition is open in 2022, despite Dart having more experience. 

"This is a very open competition," Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin told reporters in early February. "Just because the social media world and pictures and tweeting and all the stuff that we do that helps in recruiting that helps other kids see it for classes to come, it's marketing. That's why we do all of it. It doesn't mean that just because we did all of it it means Jaxson Dart is the quarterback. He's not. That's just the marketing world we're in and the use of social media, especially Twitter."

Altmyer and Dart will also compete alongside former 3-star prospect from the class of 2019 Kinkead Dent. Although Altmyer threw two interceptions in the Sugar Bowl after Corral left early, he looked good coming in for Corral earlier in the season. When Corral left the game against Auburn, Altmyer came in and completed all five of his passes, adding another three carries on his drive before Corral returned. 

Dart may be the biggest name in Ole Miss' QB room, but it sounds like 2022 is an open competition for the starting job for now.

Oregon Ducks

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Oregon will have a new coach in 2022, with former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning taking over in Eugene for Mario Cristobal.

One of the biggest names Oregon landed during this year's recruiting cycle was former Auburn quarterback Bo Nix, who won the SEC Freshman of the Year Award in 2019 after a breakout season. Nix will be reuniting with his offensive coordinator at Auburn that year, Kenny Dillingham. During Nix's freshman season, Auburn went 9-4, and Nix helped the Tigers upset then-No. 5 Alabama in the Iron Bowl. The QB started for the Tigers the following two seasons. 

Last season, Nix threw for 2,294 yards, 11 touchdowns and three interceptions on the year. He also helped Auburn win against LSU on the road for the first time since 1999. Although Nix had to undergo surgery on his ankle that cut his season short, he is expected to be back to full speed before the 2022 season.

Nix may have the upper hand in the competition due to the familiarity he has with Dillingham, but there are other options Lanning will have to consider. Also on Oregon's roster is rising sophomore Ty Thompson. Thompson was a 4-star QB prospect from the class of 2021 and the No. 7-ranked QB prospect from that class. Thompson saw action in just three games last season behind starter Anthony Brown, throwing for 87 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. 

Thanks to Robby Ashford transferring to Auburn, the only other QB the Ducks have entering next season is Jay Butterfield, who has played in just one game over two seasons. 

Nix obviously has the most experience of this group, but Lanning has said there will be a competition at quarterback. Whom Lanning decides to start in 2022 might make or break the Ducks' chances as contenders next season. 

Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.