Starting to try what I'm sure will be a process in wrapping my head around being in a different conference. One thing I've noted this off-season is the notable QBs transferring in to the ACC. Thought I'd try to get a picture of the conference's QB landscape. Total QBR rankings in 2023:
8) Kyle McCord (Syracuse)
12) DJ Uiagalelei (Florida State)
28) Haynes King (Georgia Tech)
31) Preston Stone (SMU)
34) Anthony Colandrea (Virginia)
50) Cameron Ward (Miami)
54) Thomas Castellanos (Boston College)
55) Max Johnson (North Carolina)
56) Grayson McCall (NC State)
59) Chandler Rogers (Cal)
63) Fernando Mendoza (Cal)
66) Kyron Drones (Virginia Tech)
69) Cade Klubnik (Clemson)
85) Ashton Daniels (Stanford)
103) Hank Bachmeier (Wake Forest)
Others:
Tyler Shough (Louisville) - he got hurt last year and if he had enough plays to qualify he would have been #70 in Total QBR; he was #29 way back in 2020
Maalik Murphy (Duke) - if his backup action at Texas had enough plays to qualify he would have been #96 in Total QBR
Eli Holstein (Pitt) - transferred in from Alabama
Reese Poffenbarger (Miami) - played at Albany last year and was #26 in FCS in passer rating
Tony Muskett (Virginia) - for some reason Virginia is set on having a QB competition despite Colandrea playing really well for a freshman
Our schedule also features #17 Josh Hoover (TCU), #29 Riley Leonard (Notre Dame), and #106 Ken Seals (TCU). Our one non-FBS opponent, Cal Poly, has a famed/familiar QB in Sam Huard, who was #44 in FCS in passer rating last year.
In short, this is going to be another season where we hear a lot from Taylor about how experienced and good the QBs we face are. Established starting-level players everywhere but San Jose State and while Chubba Purdy has never had significant action over the course of a season Total QBR really liked his losing performances against Iowa and Wisconsin this year considering the quality of those defenses. The worst we play may be Bachmeier, but even he was #37 in 2021 and it wouldn't be the craziest thing in the world for Clawson to unlock the old Bachmeier.
All that being said, the schedule misses Uiagalelei, King, Colandrea, Ward, Castellanos, and Johnson. If one puts stock in Total QBR, as I think the evidence over the years warrants, we actually have a schedule that lines up to concentrate on the worst QBs in the ACC. Interesting. I may have buried the lede.
Finally, it may help folks' visualization to see what this would have looked like a year ago for the Pac-12:
4) Bo Nix (Oregon)
5) Caleb Williams (USC)
9) Cameron Rising (Utah)
12) Michael Penix (Washington)
40) Trenton Bourguet (Arizona State)
42) Drew Pyne (Arizona State)
49) Collin Schlee (UCLA)
52) Jayden de Laura (Arizona)
54) DJ Uiagalelei (Oregon State)
60) Cameron Ward (Washington State)
And we also played #19 Sam Hartman (Notre Dame) and the reigning Jerry Rice Award (best FCS freshman) and Deacon Jones Trophy (best HBCU player) winner Shedeur Sanders (Colorado).
In the final analysis, the Pac-12 in 2023 had four QBs who were in the top 12 in the nation the previous year. The ACC having two such guys in 2024 is very notable but not the same thing.
For what it's worth, the elite returning national QBs by this measure, in addition to McCord and Uiagalelei, are #4 Dillon Gabriel (Oregon), #5 Kaidon Salter (Liberty), #6 Noah Fifita (Arizona), #7 Carson Beck (Georgia), and #9 Jalen Milroe (Alabama). So the SEC and ACC are the two conferences with multiple proven elite QBs.
stanford.rivals.com
