Big Ten QB Rankings: JJ No. 1, MSU's Kim No. 13
Football fodder in May - we'll take it. College Sports Wire is out with its ranking of the likely starters at quarterback for each Big Ten team. Lots of respect for JJ. Not so much for the new guy at MSU. The full list is interesting, which you can see HERE.
JJ is a proven commodity in a stable system.
Very few of those in the B1G this year. So yea
Ridiculous though. Mel Tucker has a long track record of developing QB's.
VERY few, especially with the portal. I can't recall a year when IU recognized so few names of B1G QBs.
I think the most interesting question raised by the list is where would Payton Thorne be? Perhaps sevenish? Certainly above 13.
And our former backup is #5. QBU!
Joe Milton says hi
....just like most of his throws were.
Hahahaha, well played!
Don't forget to tip your waiters! Imagined you saying that with a Groucho Marx cigar and mustache.
I'm happy Milton is doing well but no sane coach would look at his tape at Michigan and think he's getting a future Heisman contender. We'll see what happens.
“If the offense can get humming along, McNamara should be the catalyst that brings the unit into the 21st Century. He will just have to overcome an offensive coordinator who only has his job due to nepotism.”
Not sure the Iowa offense is ever going to “hum”—it’s more like a tuneless mumbling.
This is their best shot at it in a long time. Seasoned, smart quarterback to a tight end playmaker. 7 yards and a cloud of dust. Even I could draw up a play in the dirt I think. You're welcome, Brian.
As mentioned several times on the Iowa sites, they have the players that can upgrade their historically putrid offense, but "daddy's boy" Brian is still the OC and almost a certainty that he'll screw it up
If Iowa's offense generates sound other than a wet fart noise, that's a win for them.
Iowa will teach Cade how to punt and use it as a surprise attack on third down.
Punting is winning!
They might even score a few rouges.
Cade will teach Ferentz the Michigan playbook. At least he and All will choose to run plays they have practiced plenty of times. That will definitely be a step up for Jr’s offense despite himself.
Iowa's offense is like when I drive out through Amish country for one of my kids' soccer games. Sure, those buggies can get humming every now and then.
Serious shade to Brian Ferentz on the writeup for Cade:
"If the offense can get humming along, McNamara should be the catalyst that brings the unit into the 21st Century. He will just have to overcome an offensive coordinator who only has his job due to nepotism."
Yep, I read that and also thought: "poor, Damn Cade". LOL
The list:
- J.J. McCarthy, Michigan Wolverines
- Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland Terrapins
- Kyle McCord, Ohio State Buckeyes
- Drew Allar, Penn State Nittany Lions
- Cade McNamara, Iowa Hawkeyes
- Tanner Mordecai, Wisconsin Badgers
- Hudson Card, Purdue Boilermakers
- Jeff Sims, Nebraska Cornhuskers
- Ben Bryant, Northwestern Wildcats
- Luke Altmyer, Illinois Fighting Illini
- Athan Kaliakmanis, Minnesota Golden Gophers
- Gavin Wimsatt, Rutgers Scarlet Knights
- Noah Kim, Michigan State Spartans
- Tayven Jackson, Indiana Hoosiers
Hoooly crap what a list. JJ is a stud, Taulia is…something. McCord will put up amazing numbers but time will tell how talented he really is. Cade is solid but at Iowa. The rest is ugly
Kim is the last Dantonio QB recruit, and they tended to play well above their star ranking. Cousins, Cook, Lewerke, Thorne, even Lombardi, played above their ranking, and only Maxwell did not.
Add Nick Foles to that list, Dantonio could eyeball some quality starting QB's (as much as I hate the man).
Lombardi was bad. It says more about our 2020 defense that he looked decent against us.
No it's not. Some of those transfers mid table are good QBs.
In terms of talent, the B1G is pretty loaded this year. Almost this entire list is former 4*+ recruits
I just listed them out below. Ben Bryant and Noah Kim are the only 3*s. Ben Bryant was rated at #690 by On3 and Kim was #1050 to On3.
Tanner Mordecai at Wisconsin should be an antagonist in a dairy-based Children of the Corn knockoff.
Well, he was literally born in the 90's and is the prototypical Wisconsin QB that is close to half way to getting an AARP card.
Per Rico Beard, the last time MSU's over/under for wins was 4.5 was the Kenneth Walker season. He's optimistic because of that...
McCord should be #6. Allar, McNamara and Mordecai are more known quantities than him. Also, if Kim is still behind #9-12 at season end, the $95mm man will continue being the gift that keeps on giving.
Adding in recruiting ratings (stars, rank, class per 247):
- J.J. McCarthy, Michigan Wolverines (4*, #38, 2021)
- Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland Terrapins (4*, #180, 2019)
- Kyle McCord, Ohio State Buckeyes (4*, #49, 2021)
- Drew Allar, Penn State Nittany Lions (5*, #3, 2022)
- Cade McNamara, Iowa Hawkeyes (4*, N/A, 2019; On3 says 4* and #278)
- Tanner Mordecai, Wisconsin Badgers (4*, N/A, 2018; On3 says 4* and #266)
- Hudson Card, Purdue Boilermakers (4*, #70, 2020)
- Jeff Sims, Nebraska Cornhuskers (3*, N/A, 2020; On3 says 4* and #261)
- Ben Bryant, Northwestern Wildcats (3*, N/A, 2018; On3 says 3* and #690)
- Luke Altmyer, Illinois Fighting Illini (4*, N/A, 2021; On3 says 4*, #243)
- Athan Kaliakmanis, Minnesota Golden Gophers 4*, N/A, 2021; On3 says 4*, #237)
- Gavin Wimsatt, Rutgers Scarlet Knights (4*, N/A, 2021; On3 says 4*, #268)
- Noah Kim, Michigan State Spartans (3*, N/A, 2020; On3 says 3* and #1050)
- Tayven Jackson, Indiana Hoosiers (4*, #237, 2022)
I used On3's rankings in a few places.
If we were to order them based on recruiting rankings only, irrespective of year:
- Drew Allar
- JJ McCarthy
- Kyle McCord
- Hudson Card, PU
- Taulia Tagovailoa
- Tayven Jackson, IU
- Athan Kaliakmanis, Minny
- Luke Altmyer, UIUC
- Jeff Sims, UNL
- Tanner Mordecai, UW
- Gavin Wimsatt, RU
- Cade McNamara
- Ben Bryant, NU
- Noah Kim
Basically, Allar is the only 5 star.
Then group JJ, McCord, Card, and Tagovailoa
Then it's a traffic jam of Jackson, Kaliakmanis, Altmyer, Sims, Mordecai, Wimsatt, and McNamara, all ranked from 237 to 278. Rankings-wise, they're pretty interchangeable.
Then it's Bryant after a big gap
Then it's Kim after a big gap.
Basically, Kim is the lowest rated starting QB in the Big Ten and it's not close. I know recruiting rankings aren't everything, but msu has an uphill climb at the QB position.
If I'm doing this ranking, I'm inverting spots 3-8:
3. Jeff Sims
4. Hudson Card
5. Tanner Mordecai
6. Cade McNamara
7. Drew Allar
8. Kyle McCord
Anyone who has watched GA Tech the past few seasons knows that Jeff Sims is way too low on the actual list. If it turns out the problem was really the lack of talent/system around him (e.g., Jahmyr Gibbs) and Sims can stay healthy, that game in Lincoln looks far more daunting with an explosive dual threat at quarterback.
Sims is the only QB on that list after JJ or Taulia (other than maybe Drew Allar if he booms) that could be a legitimate difference-maker at the QB position and not just a run-the-offense guy.
I also like Hudson Card more than most, and in Graham Harrell's air-raid offense, I think he has a chance to step in and have a really nice year at Purdue (who have spread guys already on the roster).
Allar and McCord are slotted behind Cade due to their lack of starting experience, with a slight edge given to Allar because he actually got game reps as a true sophomore last year, as opposed to McCord who has never taken a meaningful snap in his collegiate career.
Anyone who has watched GA Tech the past few seasons...
That's a rather limiting qualifier.
Believe me, I know
Anyone who’s watched college football the past few seasons knows the OSU QB isn’t going to be only the 8th best in the conference.
I watched a lot of Georgia Tech games with Sims (Thanks draftkings!). SPOILER ALERT: he will not stay healthy.
That's a who's who list... as in, "who dat? who dat? who dat?"
What's the story with McCord?
Rated highly on potential and the fact that osu consistently churns out all-world receivers. They still have Emeka Egbuka, Marvin Harrison Jr, and Julian Fleming. That's the top WR room in the conference, probably the country. 247 says that Harrison, Egbuka, and Fleming are the #1, #2, and #14 preseason WR's for 2023. They're going to make McCord look pretty good.
There’s no way MHJ is getting drafted by the lions. But if there was a way this happened, good god.
I can't believe that Julian Fleming is thought of that highly. Also, Egbuka as the 2nd best WR in the country seems a little high. The WR group did well against poor teams but seemed to get shut down by PSU for three quarters and Michigan all game.
Fleming is still riding off a really high HS ranking. He’s been nowhere near what he was projected to be. Out of HS he was the one expected to put up MH Jr #s and he’s been pretty meh so far
The WR group...seemed to get shut down by...Michigan all game.
Egbuka: 125 yds, 9 catches, 1 TD
Harrison: 120 yds, 7 catches, 1 TD
Fleming: 47 yds, 5 catches (no td)
And they got similar numbers vs Georgia.
Michigan had a great defense, but "shut down" is kind of strong.
People seem to forget that it was the UM offense that really controlled the game the last two years against a shitty OSU defense by not giving their offense the chances they had against other teams.
I look at OSU as having a top 5 offense and a high school defense and that's giving their horseshit defense a compliment. Damn near everybody moved the ball against them the last 3 to 4 years.
That was more true in 2021 than 2022. Last year we didn’t really control the clock. We scored on huge plays.
If we’re talking last year that high powered offense only scored 3 points in the entire second half. At home. When they were supposedly “angry” or something after the previous year.
Did McCord look mediocre at best in the spring game?