Every season, transfers flood the college football offseason news. This is especially true for quarterbacks, who look for the best opportunity to see the field. Here are the top quarterback transfers in college football.
Note: Only quarterbacks who are eligible for the 2020 season will be listed.
1. Jamie Newman, Georgia Bulldogs
Jamie Newman spent three seasons at Wake Forest and started 12 games last season. He passed for 2,868 yards, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions on 60.9 percent completion. Newman was able to lead the Demon Deacons to an 8-5 record. Throughout his time at Wake Forest, Newman threw for 3,959 yards, 35 touchdowns and 16 interceptions on 60.5 percent completion. He also has 826 career rushing yards.
Georgia decided to go after Newman in the transfer market. Before the 2019 season, Justin Fields transferred to Ohio State. After the season, Jake Fromm entered his name in the 2020 NFL Draft. This left Georgia very thin at the quarterback position. Newman will now step into a Georgia offense that has three returning starters. The seven returning starters on the defensive side of the ball, along with Newman have kept the hype up for the Bulldogs in 2020.
2. D’Eriq King, Miami Hurricanes
King started his career at Houston and even spent some time at wide receiver before becoming a star quarterback. He has thrown for 4,925 yards, 50 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on 61.8 percent completion in his career. He also rushed for 1,421 yards in his time at Houston. His best season was 2018, when he had 2,982 passing yards, 674 rushing yards and 50 total touchdowns. After playing the first four games of the 2019 season, King decided to sit out the rest of the season and weigh the options for his future.
Miami has had trouble finding a quarterback for years now. N’Kosi Perry and Jarren Williams weren’t the answer. King may only be there for one season, but he has a lot more proven talent than any other quarterback on the roster in recent years. He’ll join nine starters coming back for the Hurricanes. They aren’t expected to win the ACC, but if King can elevate the offense, they could compete in the ACC Coastal.
3. K.J. Costello, Mississippi State Bulldogs
Costello played a lot of football at Stanford and has a lot of experience under his belt. He has passed for 6,151 yards, 49 touchdowns and 18 interceptions on 62.6 percent completion. He had a great 2018 season with 3,540 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and 11 interceptions on 65.1 percent completion. Stanford won nine games including the Sun Bowl. He only played in five games due to injury in 2019 then decided to transfer.
Mississippi State made a splash hire by bringing in Mike Leach to run the offense. Costello played against Leach when they were both in the Pac-12 and now joins forces with him. Costello will have five returning starters on offense to work with, which includes three offensive linemen, star running back Kylin Hill and big-bodied wide receiver Osirus Mitchell. After they won six games last year, Leach and Costello could help them improve.
4. Jake Bentley, Utah Utes
Bentley was thrown into the fire as a freshman at South Carolina and played decently in his time there. In parts of four seasons with the Gamecocks, Bentley passed for 7,527 yards, 55 touchdowns and 32 interceptions on 62.5 percent completion. He was injured last season and South Carolina decided to turn the reins of the offense over to Ryan Hilinski. Bentley has had time to recover, but he’ll have to regain his form after transferring.
Utah went 11-3 last season, but two of the losses came in the postseason. A lot of their team graduated, but they do have seven returning starters back on offense and two on defense. Bentley will need to play really well to help cope with a lot of the departures, but if he can play well, the Pac-12 is wide open.
5. Peyton Ramsey, Northwestern Wildcats
The last two seasons, Ramsey has battled for playing time at Indiana with Michael Penix. Ramsey was one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the Big Ten over that span and has some running ability, but Indiana preferred Penix. When Ramsey did get to play, he played well. In his career, Ramsey has thrown for 6,581 yards, 42 touchdowns and 23 interceptions on 66.5 percent completion. Penix was hurt in parts of both seasons, so Ramsey has plenty of experience heading into the 2020 season.
Last season, Northwestern’s biggest struggle was to find a good quarterback. They ran the ball well, but only averaged 16.3 points per game. Ramsey will be a vast improvement over what the Wildcats had last season. While Northwestern only won three games last season, they have a chance to improve a lot this year with Ramsey and 16 returning starters back on the team.
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