Recent Quarterback Moves Define CFB, Player Movement
NIL, the transfer portal, and everything that accompanies this domain are at the forefront of every college football fan's mind. One moment, programs rejoice for the player movement era, but at the next turn, they disparage it.
The one thing that seems certain is no one knows what will happen next. These trends may expand or fall back to Earth, but for the time being, we can only reflect on the data available.
The transfer portal window closes this evening, meaning players must enter now or wait until after spring practices close. Therefore, many elite names have already entered to allot themselves enough time to pick a home.
Additionally, the early signing period, now just the standard signing day, passed during mid-December. University classes began in the past few weeks, meaning mid-year enrollees must report to campus to begin football activities and their coursework.
We learned in the past few days that college football waits for no one, not even the spring semester. Several high-profile quarterbacks severed ties with their programs in the past few days, leaving the market open. Rankings are courtesy of On3 Sports.
- Jake Garcia, Miami. No. 11 quarterback in 2021 entered the portal after his redshirt freshman season and is still in the portal.
- Walker Howard, LSU. No. 8 quarterback in 2022, entered the portal after true freshman season and transferred to Ole Miss.
- Tayven Jackson, Tennessee. No. 12 quarterback in 2022, entered the portal after true freshman season and transferred to Indiana.
- Jaden Rashada, Florida. No. 15 quarterback in 2023 requested out of his letter of intent after a NIL deal reportedly fell through.
While fans may be frustrated with these players, they didn't choose the surrounding environment. Many are the odd man out; coaching staffs must stack talent at every position to ensure they have depth when players do end up in the portal.
That makes Miami go after Jaccuri Brown in the 2022 class, even though they had 2021 signee Jake Garcia and a preseason top-50 NFL quarterback prospect in Tyler Van Dyke. Van Dyke didn't have the season some expected, hampered by injuries.
All of a sudden, Brown sees action and flashes his talent. Van Dyke returns to school, and Garcia is left with nowhere to go. The only logical solution is to enter the portal, even if he only spent two years with the team.
Tayven Jackson is another example. He entered a quarterback room with Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton, meaning he didn't get many reps during the last offseason. Now, the No. 1 player in the country, Nico Iamaleava, is in town, meaning Jackson was left out.
Those situations likely would have happened in the previous era; coaches overrecruit, it happens. However, they are components of a bigger picture that other quarterbacks underscore on the open market.
Walker Howard is an excellent case study. He is an uber-talented prospect recruited by head coach Brian Kelly and the new regime at LSU to become the future quarterback for the Tigers.
The initial plan was for him to redshirt the season and for Jayden Daniels to start. Then, Daniels would either play well enough to go on to the NFL or poor enough to justify a quarterback switch.
Howard wouldn't slot into the starting spot; there would be competition with other players, such as 2021 signee Garrett Nussmeier. Still, the thought was he would only have to wait one season before getting a crack at the starting job.
This dynamic was entirely dependent on Daniels. While his play didn't constitute a move to the professional ranks, he returned to school and showed enough in 2022 to hold on to the starting job.
Howard likely would have stuck it out in previous years and continued to battle in the shadows. With the player movement era upon us, he entered the portal and immediately found a new home at Ole Miss.
The ultimate example of this new era is Jaden Rashada. Rashada is a former Miami commit that flipped to Florida. After the flip, his recruitment was drama-free, and he signed his letter of intent on early national signing day like the rest of his peers.
However, a NIL complication thwarted things at the eleventh hour. 247Sport's Brandon Huffman reported that Rashada has requested out of his LOI with the Gators and that the damage seems insurmountable.
Rashada's father spoke with 247Sports on January 11, a Wednesday. He told the outlet that the family was "in constant talks with Florida in regards to his enrollment, but I'd like to think if he's not enrolled by Friday, there will be some challenges there to proceed as planned."
Sure enough, Rashada officially requested out less than one week later. He would have contended for the starting job with Anthony Richardson on to the NFL, but Rashada is now on the open market.
All of this equates to the bigger picture: both sides are in no man's land. You can't blame recruits for maximizing their value and opportunities; they deserve everything they are getting, evidenced by the fact that schools and boosters are willing to give it to them.
Conversely, you can't blame coaches for overrecruiting positions when two moves can deplete a position group. Recruits and coaching staffs are at a stalemate with no reasonable end in sight, but the relationships are becoming strained.
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