Penn State football has a unique advantage this season — on paper — with the return of starting quarterback Drew Allar. Across the league Michigan, Ohio State, Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA (among others) will look to replace their quarterback while navigating the perils of a new-look conference. Penn State will take on three of the four new faces in the Big Ten this year, hosting Washington and UCLA while traveling across the country to play USC. All three programs will have a new signal caller in 2024, and here is what we know so far.
Washington: Will Rogers: Rogers technically spent a short period of time at Washington this past December after leaving Mississippi State but wasn’t really a member of the team during the Huskies’ run to the national title game. All the same, after the departure of head coach Kalen DeBoer, Rogers opted to enter the transfer portal for a second time, only to opt to stay with the Huskies for good. This was a big boost for a Washington team that pretty much loses everything it had from last season, and the former Mississippi State quarterback stays in the Seattle area with some solid work already under his belt. Rogers threw for nearly 5,000 yards in 2021 and nearly 4,000 in 2022. Things trended downwards in 2023, but Rogers certainly has he experience to help drive a Washington program looking for direction to start off a new era. He’s closing in on 100 career touchdowns, a noteworthy mark he should pass early in the season.
Oregon: Dillon Gabriel: One of the older quarterbacks in college football, this season will be his sixth at the collegiate level and for the third program of his career. After three seasons at UCF, Gabriel would transfer to Oklahoma for two seasons before making the move to Oregon. Like all of the teams on this list, the Ducks will be looking to replace a quarterback and not lose a step in the process and Gabriel has the experience to help do that. Gabriel has thrown for 55 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions the past two seasons and over 3,000 yards four times so far. He can also run with the ball, racking up nearly 700 rushing yards the past two seasons with 12 rushing touchdowns in 2023. The Ducks should be in talented hands with Gabriel at the helm and coach Dan Lanning shouldn’t need to worry too much about the loss of another longtime college quarterback in Bo Nix.
USC: Miller Moss: Replacing a Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall draft choice in Caleb Williams isn’t a small task but that’s the one Miller Moss will likely be asked to do at USC this year. Moss, unlike a lot of quarterbacks these days, has the advantage of having been at the same program since 2021 and that should help both him and head coach Lincoln Riley get on the same page. Moss is the presumed leader in the clubhouse to win the starting job, but what happens after that is anyone’s guess. So far in his career Moss has seven touchdowns and one interception to his name a 372-yard, six touchdown effort over Louisville in the Holiday Bowl was a good introduction to the post Williams era in southern California for the LA native.
UCLA: Ethan Garbers: Technically, Garbers is a Washington transfer after starting his career with the Huskies in 2020 but Garbers didn’t see any game action and quickly left the program to play for Chip Kelly at UCLA. For the most part last season was the only real look that college football has gotten of Garbers, the junior quarterback starting the final seven games of the regular season and the bowl game prior to Kelly’s departure to Ohio State. Over that span Garbers threw for more than 200 yards on two occasions while posting an 11 to 3 touchdown to interception ratio. It isn’t yet official that Garbers will be the starter in Week 1 for UCLA, but considering how many things new head coach DeShaun Foster already has on his plate, adding a new quarterback to the list of problems isn’t likely going to be one of them.
