After batting .900 in projecting QB transfers last cycle, we’re back again for the 2024 crop — and casting a FAR wider net.
Popular as they may be, any time we take a stab at projecting transfers, we always end up with a bundle of hate in our mentions and our DMs. It’s understandable.
As much as college football players might act like professionals with free agency-like moves in the transfer portal and NIL offerings at their doorstep, they’re still student-athletes. Articles such as this one have to remove the gossip filter and focus on the fact, which is this: We are living in the QB transfer era, with more than 62% of Power Five starters in 2023 having been former transfers.
A season ago, we nailed 10 out of 11 quarterback situations (there was, in fact, portal movement at Miami, but it did not involve Tyler Van Dyke, whom we had written about, so we won’t take credit for that one).
It’s time to run that article back this fall, and we’re really expanding our net with the quarterback rooms. Can we be nearly perfect again? The transfer portal will officially open Dec. 4. We’ll find out soon enough.
GEORGIA BULLDOGS
There was open quarterback competition at Georgia to replace Stetson Bennett before this season, and Carson Beck won the job. Beck has done some nice things this year, and the job is his if he wants it in 2024. Beck could also keep up his hot play and be a mid-round draft pick in 2024, but he probably wouldn’t mind another season piloting one of college football’s best programs.
Third-year quarterback Brock Vandagriff and second-year quarterback Gunner Stockton are behind Beck. They were each highly-ranked and highly-recruited. Vandagriff looks like the second option this season on the depth chart and has played a little. It seems likely that one of them takes off for a chance to start next year, regardless of what Beck does. Vandagriff was honest during fall camp that he had thought about entering the transfer portal before electing to return in 2023.
TEXAS LONGHORNS
A complicated situation in Austin was made even more complex this week. Texas starter Quinn Ewers was «week to week» with an injury, thrusting Maalik Murphy into starting. There are a lot of things at play and I’m fascinated to see how head coach Steve Sarkisian navigates this tightrope.
Is there a chance that Ewers comes back for another season? We think so. Ewers graduated high school early and should only be a sophomore this year. He needs to put together a balanced season of production and decision making. Plus, the 2024 NFL Draft class is loaded and the ’25 class is not.
Behind Ewers is where it gets interesting. Murphy is a talented thrower and showed he could start at number of schools with the passing display he put on in the spring game. In fact, several SEC and Big Ten programs were interested in his services. The Longhorns were able to keep him. Now Murphy gets a few weeks to showcase what he can do — whether that’s for Texas, or for another program.
There’s also Arch Manning, the No. 1 recruit in 2023. His future is bright.
If Ewers returns, we believe that sends Murphy hits the portal (Manning stays in almost every conceivable scenario, I think). If Ewers leaves, Sarkisian is likely to drag out a Murphy-Manning quarterback battle through fall camp, regardless of how Murphy fares this fall.
CLEMSON TIGERS
There’s some serious turmoil at Clemson and five-star, second-year quarterback Cade Klubnik hasn’t been as good as advertised. Klubnik hasn’t been exactly «bad,» so we don’t want to be overly harsh, but I’m not sure if Klubnik is the quarterback who can bring Clemson back to being a dominant program. He’s trying to do too much now behind a bad offensive line and with a very limited crop of skill talent.
There’s been some major confusion between Klubnik and offensive coordinator Garrett Riley at critical times during this season. There have also been some pointed comments made by coach Dabo Swinney about Klubnik’s decision-making, which is unusual for Swinney. We’ll see how the rest of the year turns out but we don’t think it would surprise many if Klubnik decided a fresh start was needed.