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Athlon Sports
The 5 Most Intriguing Transfer Quarterbacks of the 2024 College Football Season
By Dan Lyons,
22 days ago
The transfer portal has reshaped college football, especially at the sport’s most important position: quarterback. While every other position presents opportunities for multiple players to contribute, there are only 134 Football Bowl Subdivision starting quarterback jobs.
Five of the last seven Heisman winners have been transfer quarterbacks: Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Joe Burrow, Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels. Four of them were No. 1 picks, and Daniels went No. 2 in the 2024 NFL Draft behind Williams.
Four of the top five finishers in the Heisman voting in 2023? Transfer quarterbacks.
Burrow won a national championship, and two of the four College Football Playoff quarterbacks last year were transfers: Washington’s Michael Penix and Texas’ Quinn Ewers.
Although most coaches would prefer to develop homegrown signal callers, it’s clear transfers can come in and play at the highest possible level. This season brings a new wave of QB1s changing teams, and five stand out as especially intriguing.
Dillon Gabriel, Oregon Ducks
Dillon Gabriel will cap a prolific college career at Oregon, with the College Football Playoff in sight.
Ben Lonergan&solThe Register-Guard&solUSA Today Network
Oregon’s offense thrived a year ago with super senior Bo Nix under center. Now, coach Dan Lanning brings in another experienced passer, Gabriel, to helm the offense after a successful run at Oklahoma.
Gabriel has just about seen it all in college, playing for a who’s who of offensive coaches across five seasons with the Knights and Sooners: Josh Heupel, Alex Golesh, Gus Malzahn, G.J. Kinne and Jeff Lebby — his offensive coordinator at both UCF and Oklahoma — are all FBS head coaches now.
Prior to his transfer to Oregon, Nix was an up-and-down performer at Auburn. Gabriel is more accomplished at this point in his career, with four years of over 3,100 yards and 25 touchdowns under his belt. He has thrown for at least 8.6 yards per attempt in each of his four seasons as a healthy starter, showing big-play ability under center.
Ryan Day likely wouldn’t admit it, but Ohio State channeled 2023 Michigan in making its quarterback decision for the upcoming season.
The Buckeyes lost Kyle McCord, a largely successful quarterback who nevertheless underwhelmed Ohio State fans, to Syracuse through the transfer portal. In steps Will Howard, a rock solid quarterback from Kansas State who led the Wildcats to a Big 12 championship in 2022 and a nine-win season in ’23.
He joins an offense that remains loaded, even after the departure of star wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. Senior wideout Emeka Egbuka should be Howard’s top threat on the outside, alongside Carnell Tate and ultra-talented freshman Jeremiah Smith . However, this team is built to win on the ground, with returning starter TreVeyon Henderson joined by Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins, one of the SEC’s best backs a year ago. Howard adds a running threat as well, and with two elite running backs in the offense, Day and new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly could look to use him as more of a J.J. McCarthy-type of game manager, especially as the Buckeyes defense projects to be one of the best in the nation. Those in Columbus might hold their noses at the comparison, but they’d certainly sign for the results.
KJ Jefferson, UCF Knights
KJ Jefferson guided Arkansas to a thrilling triple-overtime win over Kansas in the 2022 Liberty Bowl.
A 6-foot-4, 240-plus pound dual-threat quarterback playing in an offense engineered by Gus Malzahn. … Where have we seen this before?
Certainly Cam Newton comparisons are far too lofty for any college quarterback. The Auburn great is one of the best to ever take a snap in college football history. But Malzahn clearly knows how to use a player of Jefferson’s stature under center and will seek to help the former Razorbacks quarterback rebound from a disappointing redshirt senior season in Fayetteville.
Jefferson was a far more dynamic player in 2021 and ’22, throwing for over 2,600 yards and more than nine yards per attempt in both seasons. He combined for 45 touchdowns and just nine interceptions as a junior and senior. He was a big threat with his legs as well, rushing for at least 640 yards and six touchdowns in consecutive seasons, before sliding back to the pack along with his struggling program. Arkansas was 16-8 with Jefferson at QB in those previous two seasons but regressed to 4-8 a year ago.
Malzahn hasn’t had a particularly dynamic signal-caller since Dillon Gabriel left the program following an abbreviated 2021 season. John Rhys Plumlee and Timmy McClain were serviceable a year ago, but Jefferson gives the Knights a chance to make some noise in their second year as a Big 12 member.
Riley Leonard, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame is tabbing Duke transfer Riley Leonard to lead its offense after pulling Sam Hartman from Wake Forest last year.
Greg Swiercz&solSouth Bend Tribune&solUSA Today Network
2023 stats : 95-for-165 (57.6%), 1,102 passing yards (6.7 YPA), three touchdowns, three interceptions, 352 rushing yards, four touchdowns
Previous school : Duke (2021-23)
Notre Dame tabbed longtime Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman as its starter for 2023. With his departure to the NFL, coach Marcus Freeman went right back to the well for another quarterback from a private ACC school in North Carolina, landing Duke QB Riley Leonard.
Leonard had his breakout season for the Blue Devils in ’22, throwing for 2,967 yards, 20 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He also ran for 699 yards and 13 scores and led Duke to its best season in years. The Blue Devils went 9-4 in their first season under Mike Elko, who is now the coach at Texas A&M. Leonard’s 2023 season was incomplete due to injury as he was limited to just seven games.
Leonard is the least experienced quarterback of this group of transfers, and he has certainly put less work on tape than Hartman, who broke ACC records at Wake Forest. Ankle injuries also have hampered him this spring as he prepares for his Fighting Irish debut . As a result, he likely hasn’t hit his peak as a college quarterback, and if he can get to 100% health surrounded by the best supporting cast of his career, Notre Dame could be dangerous in a year that rings in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.
Cam Ward, Miami Hurricanes
Cam Ward was one of the most coveted quarterbacks on the transfer market after an impressive two-year run at Washington State.
Previous schools : Incarnate Word (2020-21), Washington State (2022-23)
Cam Ward is extremely well traveled for a college quarterback. The West Columbia, Texas, native was not heavily recruited, in part because his high school used a run-heavy wing-T offense. He initially headed three hours west for college, attending Incarnate Word, where he immediately won the starting job and became one of the most explosive quarterbacks at the Football Championship Subdivision level. He won the Jerry Rice Award, which is given to the top freshman in the FCS, in 2020. He followed that by tossing for an eye-popping 4,648 yards and 47 touchdowns in ’21.
Ward then made his way to the Northwest, starting for two seasons at Washington State. He passed for 6,966 yards and 48 touchdowns in two years in the Pac-12, becoming one of the league’s more reliable quarterbacks. When the Cougars found themselves without a conference after the Pac-12’s dissolution, Ward traveled to the opposite corner of the country, where he will try to get Miami over the hump .
Miami enters 2024 with serious expectations for Ward, Athlon Sports‘ preseason first-team All-ACC quarterback. This season also brings a measure of pressure on head coach Mario Cristobal following a disappointing 7-6 (3-5) season in which the team dropped six of its final nine games. That stretch included a haunting loss to Georgia Tech, in which Cristobal declined to take a knee with the lead in the final minute of the game, leading to a lost fumble and eventual defeat.
Adding a proven talent such as Ward is a great way to start the process of moving past last season.
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