Michael Cohen
Faculty Soccer and Faculty Basketball Author
RJ Younger
FOX Sports activities Nationwide Faculty Soccer Analyst
It is undeniably a very powerful place on the soccer subject. All eyes heart across the quarterback place in school soccer, because it’s no shock that seven of the final eight Heisman Trophy winners have performed QB.
With the departure of Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix and extra to the NFL, there shall be a brand new crop of signal-callers who shall be regarded upon as the following stars in school soccer. Who’s in that subsequent group of stars? Will they reside as much as their preseason billing? And at last, who’re the first-year starters beneath heart who may make an affect this season?
FOX Sports activities school soccer specialists Michael Cohen and RJ Younger check out the quarterback place heading into the 2024 school soccer season and study the following group of standout QBs, in addition to some intriguing QB battles that might proceed into the summer season and fall.
Carson Beck, Quinn Ewers and Dillon Gabriel have the perfect Heisman odds heading into the 2024 season. Who’s one participant exterior that trio that you can see taking residence school soccer’s most pretentious particular person award this season?
Michael Cohen: Provided that he was briefly benched early within the season, it is easy to neglect that Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe completed sixth in final yr’s Heisman Trophy voting behind Daniels (LSU), Penix Jr. (Washington), Nix (Oregon), Marvin Harrison Jr. (Ohio State) and Jordan Travis (Florida State). He was 12 votes from catching Travis for fifth place and greater than 40 votes forward of Ollie Gordon (Oklahoma State) in seventh place. Not one of the gamers forward of Milroe shall be enjoying school soccer this fall.
As a first-year starter, Milroe accomplished 187 of 284 passes (65.8%) for two,834 yards with 23 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He additionally ran the ball 161 instances for 531 yards and a team-high 12 speeding scores to entrench himself as the game’s second-best dual-threat quarterback behind Daniels. His common of 6.2 yards per stick with it designed speeding makes an attempt ranked tied for fourth nationally amongst quarterbacks from the Energy 5 conferences. Milroe guided the Crimson Tide to an upset of Georgia within the SEC Championship Recreation and pushed eventual nationwide champion Michigan to extra time within the Faculty Soccer Playoff semifinals.
The most important query surrounding Milroe’s potential Heisman Trophy candidacy is how nicely he meshes with the brand new offensive system put in by head coach Kalen DeBoer, who got here from Washington to exchange the legendary Nick Saban in January. DeBoer’s longtime offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb, bolted for an opportunity to run the Seattle Seahawks’ offense quite than stay in the identical position at Alabama. Former Washington tight ends coach Nick Sheridan, who beforehand labored with DeBoer at Indiana, has been elevated to offensive coordinator and can work carefully with Milroe.
RJ Younger: Travis Hunter seems like an ideal candidate for the Heisman, particularly if Colorado performs nicely this season. He enters this season as one in every of three gamers — together with Ewers — who’re featured on the duvet of EA Sports activities’ “Faculty Soccer 25.” He is among the hottest gamers within the sport and may very well be the primary participant chosen within the NFL Draft subsequent yr.
His manufacturing final season was nice — 57 catches for 721 yards together with three picks — however his stamina was unbelievable. Hunter performed greater than 100 snaps in most video games final yr for the Buffs. Towards the top of the season, that mileage started to indicate, particularly towards Stanford when he and the secondary allowed Elic Ayomanor to catch 13 passes for 294 yards in an extra time loss.
I notice Shedeur Sanders is more likely to get as a lot, if no more, reward for his play if he performs to his potential in 2024, however I am to search out out if Heisman voters nonetheless respect a authentic two-player the way in which they did Charles Woodson within the twentieth century.
Expectations for Ohio State & Colorado this upcoming 2024 season
Conversely, who’s one quarterback listed among the many Heisman favorites that might wrestle to reside as much as the preseason hype in 2024?
RJ: Gabriel feels just like the participant most probably to get off to a tough begin of the three favorites. He’s the one one of many three who would not return to a staff, a employees and an offense he already is aware of and understands him as their chief. He may even lead Oregon into its first season of Large Ten competitors with the expectation in Eugene that the Geese is not going to solely make the Faculty Soccer Playoff, however be featured within the Large Ten title sport.
I feel offensive coordinator Will Stein will get Gabriel sorted with a gifted tailback in Noah Whittington and a gifted large out in Evan Stewart. However it would not shock me to see Gabriel spending September studying what he can and can’t do at Oregon this season.
Michael: It appears unlikely that any of the aforementioned candidates — Beck from Georgia, Ewers from Texas and Gabriel from Oregon — will endure important struggles this season given their respective expertise and the caliber of expertise round them. All of them can, and doubtless ought to, be in competition for the Heisman Trophy because the calendar turns from October to November this fall.
But when there’s one participant who may endure some rising pains earlier than settling right into a high-level groove, Ewers might be that man. The best place to begin is by trying on the sheer quantity of manufacturing the Longhorns misplaced on the talent positions from a staff that reached the Faculty Soccer Playoff final season. Ewers’ high 5 receivers are all gone to the NFL: WR Xavier Worthy (1,014 yards, 5 TDs); WR Adonai Mitchell (845 yards, 11 TDs); TE Ja’Tavion Sanders (682 yards and a couple of TDs); WR Jordan Whittington (505 yards and 1 TD) and RB Jonathon Brooks (286 yards and 1 TD), who was additionally the staff’s main rusher with 1,139 yards and 10 scores. Head coach Steve Sarkisian crammed a few of these holes with extremely gifted gamers — particularly former Alabama wideout Isaiah Bond and former Kentucky wideout Matthew Golden — nevertheless it may take time for Ewers and his new receiving corps to discover a rhythm.
Which brings us to the following issue that might affect Ewers’ begin to the season: the problem of Texas’ schedule. Not solely do the Longhorns have an early non-conference journey to Michigan, which ought to lay declare to among the finest defenses within the nation, however additionally they face Oklahoma and Georgia inside the first seven weeks as new members of the SEC. That is loads for a retooled offense to deal with.
There are a number of high-profile QBs from the 2023 class who’re anticipated to be first-year starters this season. Which of these prospects do you count on to shine the brightest in 2024??
Michael: The 2 gamers who soar out as potential stars are Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold (No. 8 total, No. 4 QB in 2023) and Kansas State’s Avery Johnson (No. 99 total, No. 9 QB in 2023) given their respective pedigrees and the flashes they confirmed in smaller roles final season.
Arnold dedicated to Oklahoma on Jan. 24, 2022, roughly seven weeks after new head coach Brent Venables arrived from Clemson, the place he served as affiliate head coach and defensive coordinator. It was a significant recruiting win for Venables, who plucked Arnold from a Dallas suburb and recognized him because the inheritor to Gabriel’s beginning spot. Arnold accomplished 44 of 69 passes (63.8%) for 563 yards with 4 touchdowns and three interceptions behind Gabriel final season, however most of his manufacturing boils down to 2 video games: He was 11 of 11 for 114 yards and one landing within the season opener towards Arkansas State to wow an already expectant fan base, after which he threw for 362 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions whereas beginning for Gabriel in OU’s bowl sport.
Johnson, in the meantime, is an in-state product from Maize Excessive Faculty in Maize, Kansas, and gave head coach Chris Klieman one of many largest recruiting wins in program historical past when he dedicated on July 5, 2022. He is the Tenth-best prospect the Wildcats have signed within the recruiting rankings period, in accordance with 247Sports, trailing solely Josh Freeman (2006) on the quarterback place. Klieman labored Johnson into eight video games as a real freshman with two begins towards TCU and N.C. State. Johnson is a bonafide dual-threat quarterback who threw for 479 yards and 5 touchdowns whereas additionally operating for 296 yards and 7 touchdowns. He has the potential to be a must-watch participant in 2024.
RJ: I feel Michael is onto one thing right here with each Johnson and Arnold. Every has the instruments to not simply make a splash as a starter, however to guide their respective applications to convention titles. What every lacks in expertise, they’ve made up for with maturity and athleticism. Johnson is among the most gifted runners the game boasts this season with two tailbacks in Dylan Edwards and DJ Giddens who will drive groups to decide on Johnson to beat them by means of the air – and he can.
Arnold has one of many sport’s most gifted arms and he is no slowpoke in a scramble drill both. Between these two, the way forward for the game — not to mention amongst new starters at QB — is thrilling.
Ohio State, Michigan and USC all have ongoing QB battles heading into the summer season. Which a kind of QB battles are you most intrigued by?
RJ: Ohio State’s QB derby is attention-grabbing to me as a result of Ryan Day goes to let somebody make that decision for the primary time as a head coach. So the starter will not be a mirrored image of Day a lot as will probably be offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Whether or not that is Will Howard, Devin Brown, Julian Sayin or Air Noland, will converse first to what Kelly values after which what we will count on the Ohio State offense to worth. Two of these gamers — Howard and Brown — are notably good on the bottom, whereas the opposite two, each underclassmen, earned acclaim with accuracy and arm energy as their calling playing cards. That is essentially the most pivotal yr of Day’s profession at Ohio State, and that is essentially the most pivotal place on the sector.
Is 2024 Ohio State’s yr to win the Nationwide Championship?
Michael: The quarterback competitors at Michigan is especially intriguing given the variations in talent set among the many candidates most probably to win the job — junior Alex Orji (6-3, 236 kilos); graduate pupil Jack Tuttle (6-4, 210 kilos) and senior Davis Warren (6-2, 195 kilos) — and what these variations may imply for an offensive overseen by head coach Sherrone Moore and first-year offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell as they navigate life with out Jim Harbaugh.
Orji is a bruising, dual-threat quarterback who’s considered as the perfect athlete on the staff primarily based on the Key Efficiency Indicators designed by former director of energy and conditioning Ben Herbert, who adopted Harbaugh to the NFL. He ran for practically 1,200 yards and 24 speeding touchdowns throughout his senior season at Sachse Excessive Faculty in Sachse, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, and has seen the sector in run-first packages since arriving at Michigan. An offense constructed round Orji would probably embrace an array of quarterback runs and a passing assault targeted on brief and intermediate routes.
Tuttle is a seventh-year senior who was granted an additional yr of eligibility by the NCAA. He transferred from Indiana to Michigan forward of the 2023 marketing campaign and has fluctuated between No. 2 and No. 4 on the depth chart ever since. The mixture of age and legit beginning expertise with the Hoosiers, for whom he threw 5 touchdowns and 6 interceptions from 2019-22, makes Tuttle essentially the most completed possibility Moore and Campbell have at their disposal. He missed important parts of the spring whereas recovering from a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his proper elbow.
Warren is a most cancers survivor and former walk-on who was positioned on scholarship following the 2022 season. He starred in Michigan’s spring sport by finishing 6 of 9 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns, drawing lofty reward from Campbell in a post-game interview. Warren performed sparingly as a reserve in 2023 however failed to finish a go on 5 makes an attempt.
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Michael Cohen covers school soccer and basketball for FOX Sports activities with an emphasis on the Large Ten. Observe him on Twitter at @Michael_Cohen13.
RJ Younger is a nationwide school soccer author and analyst for FOX Sports activities and the host of the podcast “The Quantity One Faculty Soccer Present.” Observe him on Twitter at @RJ_Young and subscribe to “The RJ Younger Present” on YouTube.
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