First-Year College Football Coaches Hit Portal For Quarterbacks

Thanks to the transfer portal new coaches have the option of acquiring a quarterback to run the offense instead of sticking with what they inherited.

The most recent coaching carousel at the FBS level resulted in 24 new hires for the 2023 season. Fifteen of them dipped into the portal for a starting quarterback, or at least a QB who will compete for the top job and provide depth at the position.

Here is a look at those 15 teams.

Arizona State

Kenny Dillingham hit the portal hard upon returning to his alma mater and came away with quarterback Drew Pyne among a couple of dozen players he brought to Tempe. Pyne will compete with returning starter Trenton Bourguet, who took over for Emory Jones, now at Cincinnati, in the second half of last season. Pyne was 8-2 as a starter at Notre Dame last season while throwing for 2,021 yards and 22 touchdowns. He had 33 pass attempts his first two seasons in South Bend.

Charlotte

With Chris Reynolds’ eligibility expired, Biff Poggi brought one of his former Maryland high school QBs to Charlotte. The well-traveled Jalon Jones arrived from Bethune-Cookman, where he totaled 2,849 yards and 19 touchdowns last season. Jones was a 2019 early enrollee at Florida before leaving Gainesville after a brush with the law. He transferred to Jackson State where he played two seasons, including spring 2021 under Deion Sanders. With Shedeur Sanders taking over his father’s offense, Jones enrolled, but did not play, at Mississippi Delta CC in the fall of 2021 before transferring to Bethune-Cookman. Poggi also brought on Micah Bowens from Oklahoma. Bowens, who began his career at Penn State, arrived after spring practice.

Cincinnati

Two weeks after he was hired Scott Satterfield nabbed Emory Jones, who was Arizona State’s starting QB last season before he was injured and ultimately lost his job to Trenton Bourguet. Jones played his first three seasons at Florida and started 12 games for the Gators in 2021. He competed with Ben Bryant in the spring before entering the portal (once again) and transferring to Northwestern. Jones has 47 touchdowns (33 passing) in his career. With Bryant gone and Evan Prater moving to receiver, Brady Drogish and Jacob Hoying, son of former Ohio State star QB Bobby Hoying, will compete to be Jones’ primary backup.

Colorado

Shedeur Sanders joined his father in making the move from Jackson State to Boulder. He threw for 6,983 yards and 70 touchdowns in two seasons with the Tigers while helping lead them to a pair of SWAC titles. He was 23-3 as a starter at JSU. Gavin Kuld, a JC transfer, and three true freshmen will vie for backup duties. None of the five QBs on the roster has attempted a pass at the FBS level. All four quarterbacks who played for CU last season have moved on.

FAU

Tom Herman and Casey Thompson reunited in Boca Raton. Thompson was a backup under Herman at Texas in 2019 and 2020 before earning the starting job in 2021 under Steve Sarkisian. He transferred to Nebraska for the 2022 season and was in the portal again following a spring in which he was limited while continuing to recover from shoulder surgery. Thompson has thrown for 4,829 passing yards and 47 touchdowns in his career. Herman also signed Daniel Richardson, who threw 43 TD passes in four seasons at Central Michigan, the last two as a starter.

Georgia Tech

Brent Key, who served as interim head coach for the final eight games last season, lost Jeff Sims to the portal. So, Key hit the portal and got Haynes King to come to Atlanta from Texas A&M. Injuries prevented King (1,579 career passing yards) from building momentum in three years in College Station. Competition in preseason camp will continue with King and returnees Zach Gibson and Zach Pyron.

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Kent State

Kenni Burns took over a program with precious little returning production. That was especially the case at quarterback with Connor Schlee having left for UCLA. Not that the quarterbacks Burns got from the portal, Jaren Allen from Kansas State and Michael Alaimo from Purdue, have much experience as they have combined for 41 career attempts. Alas, somebody has to win the job and it could be a returning player such as Tommy Ulatowski or Devin Kargman.

Liberty

While he has holdovers Johnathan Bennett and Kaidon Salter, both of whom started games for the Flames last season, Jamey Chadwell added Trey Lowe. Lowe was recruited by the former Coastal Carolina coach when he was in high school and then again after entering the portal in 2019 following two seasons at West Virginia. Lowe (15 career games) opted to transfer to Southern Miss, where he spent the past three years. Chadwell, who did extremely well with Grayson McCall at Coastal, pursued Lowe yet again with the third time being the charm.

Louisville

Jeff Brohm, a three-year starting quarterback at Louisville in the early 1990s and an assistant for six seasons (2003-08) at the school, took over at his alma mater and was in need of a veteran quarterback with Malik Cunningham off to the NFL. Brohm turned to a familiar face in Jack Plummer, who was with him for three seasons (2019-21) at Purdue. With Aidan O’Connell the Boilermakers’ No. 1 heading into 2022, Plummer transferred to Cal, but maintained a solid relationship with Brohm. Plummer has 6,500 career passing yards and 47 touchdowns. He will be backed up by Brock Domann, who started four games last season when Cunningham was injured.

Nebraska

Running the offense for Matt Rhule in the coach’s first season in Lincoln will be former Georgia Tech quarterback Jeff Sims. The dual-threat is easily the most experienced QB on the Cornhuskers’ roster having compiled 5,616 total yards and 41 total TDs in three seasons with the Yellow Jackets. Chubba Purdy (106 career attempts with Florida State and NU) has the most experience among backups. As noted above, last year’s starter, Casey Thompson, transferred to FAU.

North Texas

Austin Aune re-wrote much of the passing portion of the UNT record book before his eligibility expired after last season. In need of a quarterback, coach Eric Morris, a former Texas Tech receiver, landed an experienced one in the person of Chandler Rogers from Louisiana-Monroe. Rogers, who began his career at Southern Miss, started 18 games in two seasons for the Warhawks and totaled 4,414 yards and 30 touchdowns with 24 through the air. Jace Ruder and Stone Earle both served as backups to Aune last season and are very much in the mix.

Purdue

Hudson Card committed to Purdue less than two weeks after coach Ryan Walters and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell arrived in December. They arrived in need of a quarterback with Aidan O’Connell having completed his college career. Injuries hindered Card during his time with Texas, where he started five games in three seasons and threw 11 touchdown passes. Card will continue to compete in preseason camp with redshirt freshman Brady Allen.

Texas State

GJ Kinne and offensive coordinator Mark Leftwich, who was with Kinne at Incarnate Word last season, have a pair of former SEC transfers to work with in T.J. Finley (Auburn) and Malik Hornsby (Arkansas). Hornsby, who played 16 games (621 total yards) in three seasons with the Razorbacks, practiced with the Bobcats in the spring. Finley, who began his career at LSU and started five games as a freshman, committed in May. He has 2,199 career passing yards. Last year’s starter, Layne Hatcher, transferred to Ball State.

UAB

With Dylan Hopkins following former Blazers’ OC Bryant Vincent to New Mexico, Trent Dilfer needed another experienced quarterback to compete with veteran Jacob Zeno, who started twice last season when Hopkins was injured. Dilfer signed Landry Lyddy from Louisiana Tech. Lyddy started four games as a true freshman for the Bulldogs last season.

Wisconsin

Madison is the third stop for Tanner Mordecai, who will take over for Graham Mertz, now with Florida. Mordecai began his career at Oklahoma and spent three seasons as a backup before transferring to SMU. He threw for 7,152 yards in two seasons with the Mustangs and faced Luke Fickell’s Cincinnati Bearcats twice, so there was certainly familiarity. (For the record, the QB had the two worst passer ratings of his career against UC.) Fickell, who coach the Badgers in last year’s bowl win over Oklahoma State, also brought on transfers Nick Evers (Oklahoma) and Braedyn Locke (Ole Miss) to provide depth while looking ahead to 2024.