A Glimpse of the Big Ten Quarterbacks of 2015

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Big Ten quarterback discussion, you say? Let’s get weird.

The best quarterback in a Big Ten stadium this upcoming year might be a head coach, and the best guy that’s actually going to throw the ball was a third stringer about this time last year, hopelessly buried on the depth chart unless something stupid happened like the Heisman contender went down and then the guy replacing him went down and then he’d lead a team to a national championship.

So … yes, if nothing else, when it comes to under center, it comes to unorthodox… in alphabetical order so I’m not accused of playing favorites.

Big Ten East Division

Indiana

Nate Sudfeld was supposed to be to college football what Cole Swindell was to country music last year … a long-awaited talent breaking out into a household name. However, a season-ending injury halfway through the season squashed all of that noise. He’s the clear odds-on favorite for a coaching staff that could be in a walk year if it doesn’t get to a bowl game. Just being honest. Cocksure Zander Diamont got enough starts to be considered a guy you can expect the team to win with if the nasty happens again next season and Sudfeld goes down.

Outlook: Same as last year, but hoping someone lost their IU football voodoo doll

Maryland

This is another team whose injury situation last year looked like something out of a scene of a bad horror movie, where they’re triaging 50 patients who’ve come down with a mysterious illness at once. The Terps enter this year as they left last year in terms of the quarterback position … wounded. Senior Caleb Rowe is recovering from a torn ACL, and if luck has anything to do with it, the Terps will have more guys prepared. Shane Cockerille and Perry Hills (who tossed for over 1,300 yards last season in relief duty) are getting the spring reps. When they say you can’t have too many good quarterbacks, they take it to heart at Maryland.

Outlook: Wondering if the conference has some sort of hex craft policy for new entrants

Michigan

Michigan is the team with the best quarterback on campus doing the coaching: Jim Harbaugh. The second-best quarterback isn’t eligible this year (John O’Korn). The only guy with any game experience is Shane Morris, he of faux concussion outrage fame. Highly touted recruits Alex Malzone and Zach Gentry will compete as will Wilson Speight, who redshirted last year. Much like we all subconsciously look for women who resemble our mothers, Harbaugh will end up either sub- or consciously looking for a quarterback that reminds him of himself. Freud, football, and fun. I mean, the guy did compare spring practice to leaving the womb.

Outlook: Breastfeeding.

Michigan State

We finally get to the stable portion of this division, with the Spartans fielding arguably the most NFL-ready prospect at the position in Connor Cook, who has morphed from “don’t screw up and let the defense take it home” to “well, this guy is clutch” to “holy crap, he can win us games because he’s elite.” Not a bad trajectory… which is good, since plenty will expected of him if Sparty soars. They’ll be breaking in a host of new pass catchers and skill position players, so Cook must lead them. He’s one of the top handful of players at the position in the country.

Outlook: Elite, barring injury.

Ohio State

The fact that Cardale Jones went from buried on the depth chart to starter in the last half of the last game of the season to leading OSU to a championship and being the focus of heated discussion on whether or not he should turn pro after 2.5 games tends to portray just how damn good the guy is. You know what? He has competition within the ranks. J.T. Barrett is still hurt but should at least get a shot to compete for the job, and assuming Braxton Miller’s shoulder is okay, what’s to say he doesn’t get back to his aforementioned Heisman level? No team in the nation is in better shape at the position, maybe with three of the top 10 players in the nation at the position on the same roster.

Outlook: Delta Zetas at Arizona State. Just an embarrassment of riches.

Penn State

Let’s put it this way … if Burger King dropped the Whopper, it would be the equal of Penn State losing Christian Hackenberg. He’s a top-shelf NFL prospect who is backed up by a host of freshmen. PSU would be well advised to do everything it can to keep him upright, because sans him, you’re reaching into the fridge with the lights off hoping to pull out something edible. The assumption is that in year two under James Franklin, Hackenberg will be significantly more comfortable with the offense and produce big things.

Outlook: One IPA and a bunch of Budweiser in the cooler.

Rutgers

Once upon a time, Hayden Rettig was a top-shelf recruit on his way to LSU to play quarterback. A stint on the scout team and a transfer later, he’s prepping to start at Rutgers. His main competition will be sophomore Chris Laviano, but it’s a pretty cool story about the journey from high-level recruit to the way life sort of gets in the way and throws you off course. The probably ironic part of it? LSU seems to be perpetually in some sort of quarterback quicksand and probably could use Rettig on campus right about now. There’s no guarantee he ends up winning the job, of course. Laviano could end up getting the nod. That’s why they do the practice thing.

Outlook: Potential to be really frigging surprising.

Big Ten West Division

Illinois

Wes is definitely more. If Wes Lunt can stay upright, Illinois has the most intriguing prospects in the Big Ten in my mind. You can’t win without a credible passing game, and the Big Ten West looks “up for grabbish.” If he isn’t able to stay healthy, DOOM. One-time heralded recruit Aaron Bailey cited “wanting to play quarterback” as the reason to transfer. Seems reasonable. Riley O’Toole is gone. It’s literally Lunt or bust. The upside is that Lunt is really good. The downside is that getting hurt is tough to control. The middle side (if that’s theoretically possible) is that it’s a team with pretty decent talent across the roster which could surprise.

Outlook: To be Lunt, it’s on one guy and many, many bad puns

Iowa

The weirdest situation potentially in the nation exists here in Iowa City. Last year’s starter Jake Rudock was listed as not the starter anymore entering his last year, behind C.J. Beathard (a great football, boxing, or brick mason name, by the way). Then, rumors started swirling about Rudock transferring … to Michigan of all places. Rudock would need to hit the books and graduate, or maybe it’s all just someone stirring up something because of a depth chart drop for a would-be senior starter. The main point is that it’s curious. It wouldn’t be the worst thing for Iowa to have two capable quarterbacks entering the season, though.

Outlook: A Clockwork Orange

Minnesota

Entering last season, Mitch Leidner was a relative unknown to national college football observers. Now he’s the guy for a Minnesota team that’s constantly improving. There’s a movement up the depth chart by a kinesiology major joke here, but I’m too dumb to formulate it. Leidner went through some salty growing pains last year, like completing 5 passes against Wisconsin and 7 against Ohio State. In fact, Leidner has not completed more than 14 passes in any game he’s been in, but he can run, has a year under his belt, and Minnesota continues to morph from really terrible to constantly improving.

Outlook: Paid cover, at the bar, and hopeful.

Nebraska

Let’s get weird, but let’s not get “Iowa weird.” Tommy Armstrong seems like he’d be the guy, right? I mean, he’s started 21 games in the last two seasons. But Armstrong doesn’t fully fit the profile of what Mike Riley mostly had at Oregon State, and Riley recruited Johnny Stanton only to see him go to Nebraska and promptly bury himself on the depth chart. So it stands to reason it will be an open competition in Lincoln and potentially a surprising finish. The offense definitely won’t look the same. Considering it’s Nebraska, it’s one of the more intriguing quarterback battles of the spring.

Outlook: Your college girlfriend: varies by the day

Northwestern

It’s an open three-way competition in Evanston, and it reads like one hell of a script for a television show. The veteran looking for his one last chance (Zach Oliver); the heralded recruit who chose NU over several other Big Ten schools (Clayton Thorson); and somehwere in between in story line (Matt Alviti). Thorson is getting the rumors as having the inside nod, but at this point, no one really knows. Like so many other teams in this conference, you’re basically picking out of a hat with the same consistency as pretending you know what’s going on and making what you think is an educated guess.

Outlook: This is a developing story and we’ll have more information as it is passed along to our news team

Purdue

Once again, Purdue is sort of twisting in the wind at the position, and it’s probably the one thing most directly tied to whether or not Darrell Hazel ends up being a success in West Lafayette or not. Danny Etling looked awful last year; Purdue fans worry about Austin Appleby ever making the leap he needs to, and then David Blough was a pretty highly sought-after recruit whom Purdue fans hope turns out to be a big deal. All three guys were pretty legit recruits, so it’d behoove one to step forward. The bold prediction here is that Blough takes it, but I base that on something slightly more scientific than picking your lottery numbers.

Outlook: Dude, Purdue basketball is really good. Can we focus on that for a second?

Wisconsin

It’s hard to really get a feel for what Wisconsin will look like under Paul Chryst at the position. I don’t think there’s a blueprint that was really formed for the position during his time at Pitt. Obviously it’s going to be either Joel Stave, who has the oddest looking two-syllable name of all time, and Tanner McEvoy. They harbor the experience that will be needed to keep Wisconsin humming. The guess here based on how Pitt looked in the past is whoever can make the downfield throws will end up getting it, so we’re back at square one.

Outlook: 50/50, which is better than most of these teams sitting at 33/33/33

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