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TCU QB race appears to continue after spring game

By Kevin McGuireApr 8, 2018, 5:08 PM EST
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The teams that are able to nail down a starting quarterback by the end of the spring football season are the fortunate ones. Unless there is a returning starter in the fold, the competition more often than not carries over to the summer unless there is a clear and definitive leader in the clubhouse. After TCU’s chilly spring game on Saturday, head coach Gary Patterson appears ready to move forward letting this competition play out a little more before the start of the 2018 season.

“The quarterbacks have been OK,” Patterson said after TCU’s spring scrimmage on Saturday, according to The Dallas Morning News. “We threw too many picks today.”

Shawn Robinson, the most likely quarterback to end up getting the starting job in the fall and replace Kenny Hill, split playing time with Michael Collins and Grayson Muehlstein. All three had a pass intercepted by the TCU defense, leaving Patterson less-than-enthusiastic about going all in on any of his passing candidates. Though not panicking by any stretch of the imagination, Patterson is aware he has a few players trying hard, and sometimes that leads to trying to do too much to gain an edge.

“You gotta understand as a quarterback and players, you just need to make the players you’re supposed to make, and the great plays take care of themselves,” Patterson said.

TCU, like every college football program in the country (including even Alabama) has plenty of time to figure out who the starting quarterback will be. Expect this decision to be made much later in the summer, if not just before the start of the season. TCU opens the 2018 season at home against Southern on Sept. 1.

Clemson likely to lose a starter to… the military

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By John TaylorFeb 19, 2019, 12:55 PM EST
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Oklahoma isn’t the only Power Five program to see a player weighing a football-or-military life choice this offseason.

According to The State, Dabo Swinney has acknowledged that Garrett Williams is “probably not going to be back” with his Clemson football program next season. “[H]e really wants to go into the military,” the Tigers head football coach stated as the reason behind the tight end’s likely move on from the defending national champions.

“He’s around this spring and is going to be out there helping us, but he’s dealing with his health issues. He’s getting his knee back right and he’s got a lot of things he’s dealing with,” Swinney said of Williams.

In April of 2017, Clemson announced that Williams had suffered a torn ACL that sidelined the then-rising junior for the entire season.  Williams came back to start 13 games in the Tigers’ run to the College Football Playoff title.

In the past, Williams, whose father and grandfather served in the military, has stated a desire to either enlist in the Marines or become a Navy SEAL.

As a rising redshirt senior, Williams still has one season of eligibility he could use.

Jalen Hurts has seen Heisman odds shorten since transfer to Oklahoma

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By John TaylorFeb 19, 2019, 10:44 AM EST
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I guess that’s what happens when the school to which you moved has produced back-to-back Heisman winners at the position you play, eh?

In mid-January, as he was in the midst of transferring from Alabama, Jalen Hurts was listed by BetOnline.ag as a 9/1 shot to stake his claim as the winner of the 2019 Heisman Trophy.  Very shortly thereafter, Hurts’ move to Oklahoma was confirmed; a month later, in the latest odds released by the same online sportsbook, Hurts now sits at 13/2 to win this year’s version of the most storied trophy in college sports.

As was the case a month ago, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is the way-too-early 2019 Heisman favorite at 7/2, although those odds have lengthened a bit from the initial 3/1.  The quarterback whose play on the field pushed Hurts out in Tuscaloosa, 2018 Heisman runnerup Tua Tagovailoa, also saw his odds lengthen a smidge from 4/1 to 5/1.

Most of the other odds remained relatively steady from that initial release, although USC quarterback JT Daniels and Clemson-to-Missouri transfer Kelly Bryant did both make a move from off the board to part of a mini-pack at 25/1.

For perspective given the fact that we’re still nearly seven months from the 2019 season kicking off, the 2018 Heisman winner, Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray, wasn’t among the two dozen or so college football players listed wagering-wise as potential winners around this time a year ago.  The top three Heisman odds at this time last year?  Stanford running back Bryce Love, Wisconsin running back Johnathan Taylor and Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate, none of whom were finalists for the trophy won by Murray.

2019 signee who left Oklahoma for the military will instead transfer to another school

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By John TaylorFeb 19, 2019, 8:38 AM EST
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Never mind, I guess.

Earlier this month, Derek Green, a member of Oklahoma’s 2019 recruiting class, revealed that he would be pursuing a career in the military instead of a career in college football.

“I don’t want to waste anybody’s time,” Green said at the time, “because Oklahoma has a great group of guys on that defense that’s there and coming in and I want them to be successful and they can spend more time developing them while I try to serve my country.”

Green also confirmed at the time that he would be placing his name into the NCAA transfer database, although “that’s just in case I want to go back to it later, but as of right now I’m going to serve my country.”

Fast-forward a few days, and Green announced via Twitter that he will be putting his military career on hold and transferring to a football program other than the one with which he signed back in December.

Green was a consensus three-star signee for the Sooners who enrolled in classes at the university earlier this month.  He was the only signee listed as a defensive tackle in OU’s class this year.

Virginia Tech transfer QB Josh Jackson tweets move to Maryland

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By John TaylorFeb 18, 2019, 10:20 PM EST
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For the third time this offseason, first-year head coach Mike Locksley has pulled in a Power Five transfer to his Maryland program.

On his personal Twitter account Monday night, Josh Jackson announced that he has committed to continuing his collegiate playing career for Locksley at Maryland.  Nearly four weeks ago, it was confirmed that Jackson would be leaving Virginia Tech as the quarterback had placed his name into the NCAA transfer database.

As Jackson is expected to graduate from Tech in May, he would be eligible to play for Maryland this coming season.  Not only that, but he will have another year of eligibility he can use in College Park in 2020 as well.

After going through a tumultuous offseason, Jackson began 2018 as the Hokies’ starting quarterback only to suffer a season-ending injury in mid-September.

As a redshirt freshman in 2017, Jackson started all 13 games for the 9-4 Hokies. He passed for 2,991 yards and ran for another 324 yards while accounting for 26 touchdowns — 20 passing, six rushing.  The passing yards were the most for an FBS freshman that season, while the touchdowns passes were the second-most at this level.

Given the fact that he’ll be immediately eligible, Jackson will head into summer camp as the favorite to lay claim to the Terrapins’ starting job under center.

In addition to Jackson, Maryland has landed transfers from wide receiver Sean Savoy and linebacker Keandre Jones.  The former comes to College Park from Virginia Tech, the latter from Ohio State.