SALT LAKE CITY — Only four college football programs around the country — Georgia, Mississippi State, Miami and Northwestern — improved their quarterback position via the transfer portal this offseason more than Utah, if you ask Rivals.com.
The seal of approval for South Carolina QB transfer Jake Bentley is good news for the Utes considering they lost one of the best quarterbacks in school history to graduation in Tyler Huntley. It’s even better news when you throw in how Utah picked up another highly recruited QB from the portal a year ago when Texas freshman Cameron Rising traded the Lone Star State for the Beehive State.
Georgia actually landed two of the top transferring quarterbacks this spring as Jamie Newman (Wake Forest, No. 1) and J.T. Daniels (USC, No. 4) chose to leave their original schools to become Bulldogs.
The top five is rounded out by KJ Costello (Mississippi State via Stanford, No. 2), D’Eriq King (Miami via Houston, No. 3) and Peyton Ramsey (Northwestern via Indiana, No. 5).
Pac-12 fans will remember Costello as a second-team all-conference passer in 2018, but injuries cost him his 2019 season and he was then replaced by five-star QB Davis Mills at Stanford. Now he’ll have one season to shine under new Mississippi State coach Mike Leach and his Air Raid attack.
Daniels is another familiar Pac-12 name. A knee injury in the first game of the season derailed Daniels, who then watched from the sideline as USC thrived with freshman star Kedon Slovis at the helm.
As for Bentley, Rivals.com gave him an 8.2 ranking (out of 10) in terms of what type of impact he’s expected to make as a grad senior.
“Bentley has smarts and a solid arm and as a coach’s son he can read defenses well,” Rivals.com writer Mike Farrell wrote. “His time at South Carolina was up and down, but he’s a good fit for Utah because he won’t be asked to win games, just manage the offense.”
Along with Huntley, the Utes also lost backup quarterback (and potential safety) Jason Shelley through the transfer portal. Shelley and former Utah running back Devonta’e Henry-Cole (via BYU) are both likely headed to Logan to play for Gary Andersen’s Aggies. Shelley was ranked No. 25 among QB transfers prior to his decision to play for USU.