Rivals QB Week: Current five-stars in CFB still have much to prove
Of the nine quarterbacks in college football this season that finished as five-star prospects in the Rivals rankings of their respective classes, four came in 2017. Expectations for that group this season may be limited, but there are some things to take note of when it comes to the programs that they play for. This will be a crucial season for much of the remaining five, with kickoff just a few weeks away.
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LOOKING FOR FRESH STARTS
Poor Max Browne. After waiting three long years to take his turn as the starting quarterback at USC, he was really thrown to the wolves during the early games in Clay Helton’s tenure as Trojans head coach before making way for Sam Darnold.
This season, he’ll give himself one more shot at Pittsburgh, where he will start right away in his one season as a graduate transfer.
Kyle Allen (2014) finds himself in a similar situation. Allen transferred to Houston after hitting a cold snap with Texas A&M that he couldn’t shake before eventually transferring. Allen will have two years of eligibility with the Cougars.
ROSEN IN A CLASS BY HIMSELF
It seems fitting that Josh Rosen was not only the top quarterback in 2015, but was the class' only five-star player at the position as well. Since heading to UCLA, there have been plenty of stories detailing his unique personality.
He missed most of last season with a shoulder injury and is trying to recapture the sort of success he had in his freshman season. Outside of a rough season-opener against Texas A&M last season, Rosen picked things up and was starting to play his best in the two games prior to his injury. Against Arizona and Arizona State, he threw for 750 yards five touchdowns and just one interception.
Bruins head coach Jim Mora has reported that he’s looked strong heading into this season, and NFL scouts will be watching him closely to determine if he looks back to his ‘normal’ self on the football field. Should everything go according to plan, he could be the top quarterback prospect coming out of college, just as he was coming out of high school.
YOUNG GUNS IN THE SEC
Last season provided interesting starts for 2016 five-star QB’s Jacob Eason and Shea Patterson. Eason was given the keys as the first starting quarterback of the Kirby Smart era at Georgia. Depending on who you ask, an 8-5 record for a first-year head coach and true freshman quarterback in the SEC might be an alright jumping-off point. But just like Smart is expected to deliver more wins this season, Eason needs to improve. He can start with his 55-percent completion rate that netted under 2,500 yards.
Class of 2017 five-star quarterback Jake Fromm will be right behind him if his spring game performance was any indication. Fromm was 14-for-23 for 277 yards and two touchdowns while Eason was sacked five times and completed just 44-percent of his passes with an interception. In fairness to Eason, he did finish with 311 yards and two touchdowns.
Patterson had a significantly smaller sample size to draw any conclusions from last season, but got his feet wet in Ole Miss’ final three games. What can’t be quantified at this point is how much residual effect from the drama surrounding Hugh Freeze’s departure there will be and how that will impact Patterson. He’s shown that he can be a dynamic playmaker, but the Rebels will need to lean on him this season.
Elsewhere, Davis Mills (Stanford), Hunter Johnson (Clemson) and Kellen Mond (Texas A&M) are all expected to wait at least through this season before realistically getting a meaningful shot at leading their teams.