Last weekend, QBs DJ Uiagalelei and Kedon Slovis announced their transfer port decisions. After they decide on their home for 2023, the portal for teams looking to start next year’s QB is starting to close.
On Saturday, Uiagalelei announced that he was moving from Clemson to Oregon State. The Beaver is nearing the end of the season 10-3 despite playing below average QB. Of course, Clemson had an 11-2 record despite Uiagalelei’s difficulties, so there’s no guarantee Oregon State’s upgrade on paper will be a success on the field.
According to Sports 247, Uiagalelei used to be a star prospect, the 10th-ranked player in the 2020 season. Beavers QBs this season — Ben Gulbranson and Chance Nolan — were three-star leads and haven’t changed. their narrative in college. If the Uiagalelei can tap into its untapped potential, the Beavers will be a team worth watching.
Slovis joined BYU after previously serving as QB at both USC and Pittsburgh. Cougars are 8-5 in 2022 and will move to the Big 12 in 2023. Slovis had his best season freshman year at USC in 2019. He had the lowest 10 touchdowns of his career. in 2022 despite playing the second most matches in his four-year career.
Florida is in need of a QB as Anthony Richardson announced his entry into the NFL draft and reserve Jalen Kitna has been dropped from the team after arrested for child pornography.
Former Wisconsin QB, Graham Mertz, saw an opening opportunity at a major SEC show and made the leap. The Gators hit a 6-6 record, so head coach Billy Napier has a lot of work ahead of him as he enters his second year, but he’s solved an important question in his position. QB with one player is trending in the right direction.
Mertz had his best season in 2022 with career-highest yards (2,136), yards per attempt (7.5), touchdown (19) and passer rating (135) ).
Several new head coaches are likely to achieve success next season tied to the play of their transfer QBs.
Former Notre Dame QB Drew Pyne will arrive at Arizona State after a strong 2022 season where he hit 164 of 254 (64.6%) in 2,021 yards with 22 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He played 11 games after playing only 4 in his first two seasons.
Pyne will join first year head coach Kenny Dillingham. Dillingham was a finalist for the 2022 Broyles Award for top college assistant after doing phenomenal work in Oregon with QB Bo Nix moving to Auburn.
Haynes King struggled at Texas A&M this year, but he’s not the only one having a bad year at College Station. He will move to Atlanta and Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets started 1-3 with Geoff Collins as head coach. He was fired and the team won 4-4 in the last eight games under Brent Key, who was then given full-time the keys to the program. on December 9.
Jeff Sims was the lead QB at Georgia Tech this past season and traveled to Nebraska to link up with new head coach Matt Rhule. Sims have 1,152 javelin in three seasons. During Rhule’s previous season as college head coach at Baylor in 2019, QB Charlie Brewer had just 344 yards of dash but finished the season with the highest of his teammate’s 11th-highest rush of touchdowns. Sims will allow Rhule to do the things that made him successful in college.
Cornhusker, like all of these teams, has no guarantee that their off-season moves will lead to success. Even with the uncertainty, these programs currently have one thing missing most at this time last year: hope.
