With the back half of the football season on the horizon, many FBS programs across the country have a pretty clear idea about how their recruiting classes are shaping up. The teams in the Big 12 have largely done a good job assembling classes across the board in 2018, but teams will often live and die by what they get out of the quarterback position. Here is a look at the teams that appear to be set up well, and which ones need to get cracking on finding their guys.

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CLASS OF 2018 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State

The Longhorns find themselves at the top of this list primarily by virtue of the fact that they are the only team with two four-star quarterbacks committed. Between California product Cameron Rising and Oklahoma prospect Casey Thompson, Rising seems to be the favorite, as he has been more efficient this season and has more of the prototypical physical measurables sought after in quarterbacks. To Thompson’s credit, he compares favorably to current Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger, although is not as pure of a passer. Both committed to the Longhorns around the same time, but if one or the other would have wanted to commit elsewhere, conventional thinking would suggest that would have happened by now.

This is a tricky one, because Justin Rogers is a player that Rivals analysts like a lot, but he suffered a pretty gruesome leg injury very early this season. On a side note, it seems as though his Parkway team had some sort of hex on it this season as Rogers’ five-star wide receiver teammate, Terrace Marshall Jr., also suffered a significant leg injury as well shortly thereafter. Still, when Rogers is healthy, he stands tall in the pocket and delivers a beauty of a ball to his receivers. Rogers has tremendous poise and should easily flourish in TCU’s quarterback-friendly offense once he’s 100 percent.

This is old news to Cowboys fans, who have been singing Denton Ryan quarterback Spencer Sanders’ praises since his commitment last fall. He’s a different sort of player than Oklahoma State has had for the past three years in Mason Rudolph, but he should find a way to be every bit as effective. This season, Sanders has shown more of a commitment to pick out receivers while standing in the pocket, but can be a pretty good escape artist when things break down around him. Sanders runs the risk of having some games where efficiency falls by the wayside, but he’s a natural playmaker and a no-nonsense competitor.

Relative to his reputation and expectations, John Holcombe Jr. could be the biggest steal in the conference at the position this year. Had he committed elsewhere in the conference, he would still be expected to be a nice player, but his decision to go with Kansas State truly seems the best fit for him. Holcombe is a physically imposing player - built more like a tight end or defensive end than a quarterback - and has created a fair amount of regret among coaches at numerous programs that took commitments from other players before seeing him throw in person this year.

The thinking is that there is still a lot of untapped potential with Holcombe, who doesn’t have as much experience at the position as many of his peers. But his development has been steady as a passer, and in an offense that isn’t going to ask him to sling it around every play, he should be expected to find his groove when given the chance.

With Lincoln Riley fully entrenched as the Sooners’ head coach, every quarterback that he brings in will get the benefit of the doubt as a potential star. Tanner Mordecai doesn’t stand much taller than about 6-foot, but neither does current Sooners quarterback, Baker Mayfield. Nobody expects Mordecai to be as light on his feet as Mayfield, but his value lies in his arm anyway.

Mordecai has had a nice senior season and continues to be a player with the potential to be the top quarterback prospect in the state. What would be of further benefit to him is the likelihood that he shouldn’t come to the Sooners with the expectation of competing for playing time right away. By the time he gets his shot, he’ll presumably have had some time to digest and familiarize himself with things before taking meaningful snaps.

The Mountaineers entered this season in a somewhat precarious situation at quarterback beyond starter Will Grier. Outside of the former Florida Gator, West Virginia has a mix of young and inexperienced players filling out the position. That presents 2018 commit Trey Lowe with a good opportunity to possibly get himself in the mix next season, should Grier continue his strong play and choose to forego his senior season. Lowe’s exact stats this season seem to be open to interpretation depending on the source, but suffice it to say, he’s having a strong senior season and should be another example of a player that should find ways to play above his perceived potential due to the offense he’ll be stepping into.

So far this season, it seems as though Alan Bowman is closer to resembling his current ranking as a high three-star rather than making that jump to four-star status, after there was some optimism for him to do so following his MVP performance at the Dallas leg of the Rivals Three Stripe Camps presented by adidas this past spring. He’s completing 64 percent of his passes, but his six touchdowns to four interceptions doesn’t inspire the same same sort of excitement that he created with his performance at the Rivals camp. That being said, he’s still a great fit in a Red Raiders offense that will be looking for its next big-time passer after this season. Bowman has a level of accuracy that many quarterbacks at this level are without, so the arrow is still very much pointing up with him and his potential for success at Tech.

Although Kansas is somewhat buried a bit on this list, that’s not to imply that 2018 QB commit Clayton Tune doesn’t have the look of a quarterback that shouldn’t be expected to be a capable passer within the next few seasons. It’s fair to attribute a lot of his success in the passing game this season to the connection he has with 2019 Rivals100 wide receiver Trejan Bridges, but there are a lot of similarities in Bridges’ style of play to current Kansas five-star wide receiver commit Devonta Jason. Tune has shown a lot of confidence this season in his return from a knee injury at the end of last season, and gives Kansas a player that doesn’t lose his cool in - or out - of the pocket.

The Cyclones could have a very interesting situation at quarterback heading into next season, should California prospect Re-Al Mitchell stick with them. Assuming Jacob Park returns for his senior season, Mitchell would join fellow dual-threat underclassman quarterback Devon Moore as the possible heir-apparent. However, Park hasn’t always shown to be the most reliable quarterback in tougher matchups, so it’s possible either Moore or Mitchell might be looked at to give the Cyclones a change in mojo as they continue looking for ways to become more competitive in the Big 12.

Baylor is on the bottom of the list at this point as the only team in the conference without a quarterback committed in this class. Had the situation in Waco not taken such a grim turn last year, Mordecai would have been the presumptive favorite as the QB given his proximity to the school, but that’s very clearly not the case. For now, it seems the player the staff is focusing on is Arkansas product Gerry Bohanon. Should he choose to commit elsewhere, the Bears should be able to get somebody in their class, but will likely have to find another under-recruited prospect as they did with Charlie Brewer last season.