Why a big-money, high-stakes QB transfer carousel will define the 2024 season
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
The list of programs with some degree of quarterback uncertainty heading into the 2024 offseason could double as a list of perennial national title contenders.
At least two of the four College Football Playoff participants — Oregon and Washington — lack a proven quarterback for next season. The other two CFP teams (Texas and Michigan) and two-time defending champ Georgia are all waiting for official word on whether their star signal-callers — Quinn Ewers, J.J. McCarthy and Carson Beck, respectively — will return for next season.
From there, it’s a roll call of big brands that have either cannonballed into the quarterback portal pool or are monitoring the ripples closely.
With more than 90 FBS quarterbacks in the portal, a high-stakes carousel has begun that offers many options but little certainty.
Consider that powerhouse brands USC, Ohio State, Florida State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Miami are all monitoring the market, as they lack an established quarterback. Not all of these are definitive portal shoppers, as OU looks to roll with Jackson Arnold (the No. 3 overall recruit in last year’s class), and Ohio State is giving Devin Brown a chance.
The lack of proven production in the portal makes all these big programs at least portal peepers. A rough count by ESPN has nearly half the Power 5 — more than 30 schools — seemingly in need of a starting quarterback.
“The difference in this portal is that we’ve never seen the blue bloods with so much need,” said a director of player personnel at a Power 5 school. “That’s the difference.”
And that demand for quality quarterbacks has been met with much more quantity than quality, creating a competitive quarterback penthouse. Many of the top quarterbacks linked to seven-figure price tags are eager to exploit the circumstances, especially the ones without strong NFL outlooks who realize this could be their biggest sporting payday.
But can a school sit it out? That’s a big risk, too, if you remember the lack of viable arms available after spring ball last year.
As a result, there’s a cutthroat market for blue bloods, so it’s not a surprise that some with the biggest known NIL purses have been linked to the top players.
This week, former Duke quarterback Riley Leonard is visiting Notre Dame, and former UCF and Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel is checking out Oregon, per ESPN sources. Both schools are the favorites for those players. They also have refined and established NIL infrastructure.
Washington has been linked to both former Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers and Washington State quarterback Cam Ward, per sources. Former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard has been linked to several schools, including USC and Miami. The Hurricanes have also shown interest in Rogers.
Ward has a robust market and many potential suitors, as his strong arm and dual-threat ability have a lot of schools intrigued. Expect him to take a flurry of visits, as he appears to be the most intriguing commodity on the board because of his dynamism.
Are any of them actual difference-makers who can lead a team deep into the 12-team College Football Playoff and be worth the up-to-seven-figure price tag that many — including Nebraska’s Matt Rhule — are saying is at the high end of what they are seeking?
Is a fifth year of D.J. Uiagalelei, the promise of former blue-chipper Dante Moore, the rejuvenation potential of Tyler Van Dyke or the production of 2023 Kyle McCord worth the claims of market price? That’s hard to say.
Here’s what’s most interesting to veteran observers of the market — for the second year in a row, there’s a lot of need among schools and few sure answers available.
“There’s not a proven guy out there that schools feel like they have to go get,” a Power 5 assistant said. “There’s not a proven guy like Caleb Williams that’s a home run.”
Most of the top portal quarterbacks are one-year rentals.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because it is. Last year, for example, the biggest buzz portal quarterback recruits were Sam Hartman to Notre Dame, Devin Leary to Kentucky, Brennan Armstrong to NC State and Tanner Mordecai to Wisconsin. None led his team to a high-end season, and both Leary and Armstrong were considered disappointments.
Shedeur Sanders transferring from Jackson State to Colorado proved the biggest portal splash, and he solidified himself as an NFL prospect. But the Buffaloes still went 1-8 in Pac-12 play, showing how the setting and supporting cast need to match the talent.
Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz, who will have a top returning quarterback next year in Brady Cook, points out that many of the recent top portal quarterbacks took a year to find their footing.
“Quarterbacks are not usually a one-year, plug-and-play position,” Drinkwitz said. “Michael Penix, Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix all took a year. Look at Joe Burrow — it took him two years, too. The one-year plug-and-play has not had a whole lot of success. I think some of these programs are going to be taking big risks.”
Can some of the one-and-done members of this year’s portal class fast forward to similar results? The schools in the market are betting big that they can.
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Adam Rittenberg
BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he feels “healthy and vibrant” after returning to the field for preseason practices after undergoing surgery to remove his bladder after a cancerous tumor was found.
Sanders, 57, said he has been walking at least a mile around campus following Colorado’s practices, which began last week. He was away from the team for the late spring and early summer following the surgery in May. Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center, said July 30 that Sanders, who lost about 25 pounds during his recovery, is “cured of cancer.”
“I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I’m my old self,” Sanders said. “I’m loving life right now. I’m trying my best to live to the fullest, considering what transpired.”
Sanders credited Colorado’s assistant coaches and support staff for overseeing the program during his absence. The Pro Football Hall of Famer enters his third season as Buffaloes coach this fall.
“They’ve given me tremendous comfort,” Sanders said. “I never had to call 100 times and check on the house, because I felt like the house is going to be OK. That’s why you try your best to hire correct, so you don’t have to check on the house night and day. They did a good job, especially strength and conditioning.”
Colorado improved from four to nine wins in Sanders’ second season, but the team loses Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL draft, as well as record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes have an influx of new players, including quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis, who are competing for the starting job, as well as new staff members such as Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, who is coaching the Buffaloes’ running backs.
Despite the changes and his own health challenges, Deion Sanders expects Colorado to continue ascending. The Buffaloes open the season Aug. 29 when they host Georgia Tech.
“The next phase is we’re going to win differently, but we’re going to win,” Sanders said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the Hail Mary’s at the end of the game, but it’s going to be hell during the game, because we want to be physical and we want to run the heck out of the football.”
Sanders said it will feel “a little weird, a little strange” to not be coaching Shedeur when the quarterback starts his first NFL preseason game for the Cleveland Browns on Friday night at Carolina. Deion Sanders said he and Shedeur had spoken several times Friday morning. Despite being projected as a top quarterback in the draft, Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round.
“A lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game, he’s approaching like a game, and that’s how he’s always approached everything, to prepare and approach it like this is it,” Deion Sanders said. “He’s thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. He don’t get covered in, you know, all the rhetoric in the media.
“Some of the stuff is just ignorant. Some of it is really adolescent, he far surpasses that, and I can’t wait to see him play.”
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Adam Rittenberg
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier aggravated the patellar tendinitis he has been dealing with in his knee but will not miss any significant time, coach Brian Kelly said Friday.
Kelly dropped in ahead of a news conference Friday with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to tell reporters that Nussmeier did not suffer a severe knee injury or even a new one. According to Kelly, Nussmeier has chronic tendinitis in his knee and “probably just planted the wrong way” during Wednesday’s practice.
Nussmeier ranked fifth nationally in passing yards (4,052) last season, his first as LSU’s starter, and projects as an NFL first-round draft pick in 2026.
“It’s not torn, there’s no fraying, there’s none of that,” Kelly said. “This is preexisting. … There’s nothing to really see on film with it, but it pissed it off. He aggravated it a little bit, but he’s good to go.”
Kelly said Nussmeier’s injury ranks 1.5 out of 10 in terms of severity. Asked whether it’s the right or left knee, Kelly said he didn’t know, adding, “It’s not a serious injury. Guys are dealing with tendinitis virtually every day in life.”
LSU opens the season Aug. 30 at Clemson.
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