If BYU and Utah fans are doing a lot of hand-wringing over the prospect of starting a season with a new quarterback, they shouldn’t. They are in good company,
Eight of the top 14 schools in the preseason top-25 rankings are also starting the season with new quarterbacks, including Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oregon and Alabama. Maybe you’ve heard of them.
Texas’ quarterback will be a pedigreed sophomore named Arch Manning, who descends from three former NFL quarterbacks of the same name — his grandfather Archie and his uncles, Peyton and Eli Manning. Arch is the closest thing to quarterback royalty in college football. He has been the star-QB-in-waiting for a year, if not longer.
Georgia’s starting quarterback will be the wonderfully named Gunner Stockton, who has one career start in two seasons. Who wouldn’t want a quarterback named Gunner?
Julian Sayin, a former Alabama quarterback, will start for Ohio State. He’s thrown 12 passes as a collegian. Just sayin’.
Alabama’s quarterback will be Ty Simpson. He’s an anachronism in today’s game. He has been a backup for three seasons — at the same school. Imagine that.
Notre Dame’s starting QB will be either Kenny Minchey or CJ Carr, a pair of second-year players who have combined to throw two passes in college. Notre Dame would have another QB in the mix — Steve Angeli — except he transferred and will start for Syracuse.
Dante Moore, a transfer from UCLA, will start for Oregon. That made way for Nico Iamaleava, who left Tennessee for UCLA, reportedly after a contract dispute. Who says college football is a mess?
Carson Beck, who had a won-lost record of 24-3 as a two-year starter for Georgia, transferred to Miami (huh?) and will replace Heisman finalist Cam Ward. If at first you succeed, try try try again, somewhere else (for a price). Did we mention that college football is a mess?
Michigan is expected to start freshman Bryce Underwood at quarterback. At this time last year he was playing for Belleville (Mich.) High, where he won 50 of 54 games and two state championships and threw for 11,488 yards and 152 touchdowns. Michigan is eager to get some of that on the field.
That brings us to BYU and Utah, which barely missed the AP top-25 preseason rankings.
Utah will go with Devon Dampier, who started 12 games last season for New Mexico and followed his offensive coordinator, former BYU quarterback Jason Beck, to Utah in the offseason. Dampier threw for 2,768 yards, 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions while completing 57.9% of his passes. Those are modest numbers to be sure; on the other hand he also ran for 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns.
“He’s a great leader. He’s not an ego guy, he’s a team guy. Our players picked up on that very quickly,” Whittingham told the Deseret News. ... “He is a guy that has that magnetism of leadership of, follow me, I’ll show you the way and here we go.”
Dampier does not have a tough act to follow. Utah’s quarterback situation can only go one direction after last season. QB play wasted the efforts of a first-rate defense. Utah ranked 15th (out of 16) in pass offense in the Big 12, averaging a paltry 199.4 yards per game.
Dampier was handed the starting job the day he showed up. Such was not the case at BYU, which had a fierce competition during fall camp after the sudden departure of Jake Retzlaff. On Tuesday, BYU coaches announced the winner — Bear Bachmeier — who will be the first true freshman to start the season at quarterback for BYU on opening day.
A four-star recruit from California, he went through spring ball with Stanford before transferring to BYU. He reportedly had offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Notre Dame, Georgia, Utah and Oregon as well as Stanford.
Bachmeier will be distinguished by his weird jersey number (47), as well as his unique name. His brother, Tiger, is a BYU receiver (when high school recruit Ryder Lyons shows up in a few years, they’ll have a complete zoo).
" ... He doesn’t take sacks and he’s very accurate. (Bachmeier) is throwing a lot of completions out here,” offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick told the Deseret News.
Retzlaff, who transferred to Tulane, helped BYU win 11 of 13 games last season, but he is not irreplaceable. He was a serviceable quarterback, but it’s not as if the Cougars are trying to replace Jim McMahon or Steve Young. He was no better than the eighth-best quarterback in the Big 12 last season, with a so-so 57.9 completion rate and 20 touchdown passes to 12 interceptions.
BYU didn’t rely heavily on Retzlaff or the passing game. The Cougs ran a fairly balanced offense, running for 20 touchdowns, passing for 21. They ranked 11th in the Big 12 in passing offense. Their calling card was their league-leading defense.
For the third time in three years at BYU and the fourth time in four years at Utah, they will start the season with a new QB. Should be fun to see what unfolds.
