Top 3 position battles to watch in the Pac-12
Top 3 Position Battles
Pity the quarterbacks replacing Marcus Mariota and Brett Hundley. After all, there's no way to live up to the legacy of the greatest player in Oregon history, the school’s first Heisman Trophy winner, or the best signal-caller at UCLA since Troy Aikman took back the city from rival USC, right?
Not exactly, as the new quarterbacks for the Ducks and Bruins will be well-positioned to take their teams one step farther than last season. That makes the quarterback competitions in Eugene and Westwood, Calif. the Pac-12's most noteworthy battles this fall.
Recent history is filled with teams that found greater success immediately after replacing marquee quarterbacks. Stanford couldn't win a conference championship with Andrew Luck at the helm, but claimed two in a row immediately after he left the Farm. When the Trojans had to replace Heisman winner and first overall pick Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart stepped in and took Pete Carroll's team to the national title.
With the quality of talent that will surround the new quarterback, a berth in the College Football Playoff isn't an unrealistic goal for either Oregon or UCLA. The Ducks are loaded at running back and wide receiver, while the Bruins have finally sorted out their offensive-line issues and bring back the Pac-12's leading rusher in Paul Perkins.
Oregon and UCLA will have to balance that potential with the options on hand to replace Mariota and Hundley, while Washington may need to focus more on the future.
Oregon's quarterback competition
Oregon seemed to have its decision made when Eastern Washington sensation Vernon Adams announced in February that he'd join the Ducks for his senior season as a graduate transfer. That would knock redshirt junior and Mariota backup Jeff Lockie out of the picture.
Adams would arrive with plenty of game experience, prolific production, and a plethora of FCS-level awards and accolades under his belt. However, Oregon is still waiting for all that to actually arrive on campus: Adams hasn't yet earned his degree from Eastern Washington, and will miss the start of the Ducks' fall camp before completing the necessary course work.
Oregon coach Mark Helfrich went out of his way to deflect questions about Adams' status before they could even be asked at Pac-12 Media Days. "I know everybody will want to address the quarterback position, and the only thing we're going to talk about are the people that are here and involved in the program," Helfrich told reporters.
Helfrich, star running back Royce Freeman, and linebacker Rodney Hardrick gave Lockie high marks for the way he directed the offense in spring practice, all while never referring to Adams by name.
"Jeff Lockie had an outstanding spring, and I know to a person in our program, we have 100 percent confidence in him and all those around him," Helfrich said.
Unless that praise was a put-on, Lockie's now the clear favorite to start despite having attempted just 41 career passes - barring a superhuman performance from Adams whenever he does join the program.
With an unrivaled collection of skill players around Lockie, his point-guard mentality and immersion in the Oregon system might be exactly what it takes to replace Mariota.
UCLA's quarterback competition
Familiarity is squarely in Jerry Neuheisel's favor at UCLA. The son of former Bruins head coach Rick Neuheisel, the redshirt junior came on in relief of an injured Hundley against Texas and threw the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
But newcomer Josh Rosen, touted as the top quarterback recruit in the 2015 recruiting class, impressed in spring practice. Rosen showed skills that lived up to those accolades, offset by the usual freshman mistakes.
Rosen is clearly the future of the quarterback position at UCLA, but how quickly he develops will determine whether the future is now. Backed by a strong running game and dominant defense, the Bruins are well-positioned to win the Pac-12 South - if they can handle a brutal slate of road games against USC, Utah, Arizona, and Stanford.
Putting a true freshman - no matter how talented - in such stressful environments would inevitably produce moments that jeopardize UCLA's title aspirations.
Washington's quarterback competition
At the other end of the ambition spectrum is Washington, which is looking at a true rebuilding season after sneaking into a bowl game in Chris Petersen's first year. The medical retirement of Cyler Miles created a three-man competition between redshirt junior Jeff Lindquist, redshirt freshman K.J. Carta-Samuels, and true freshman Jake Browning. The Huskies also added junior college transfer Tony Rodriguez in June, but Petersen told reporters at Pac-12 Media Days that Rodriguez would ideally redshirt this season.
With significant turnover in the receiving corps and on the offensive line, it seems most likely that Washington will appoint Lindquist or Carta-Samuels as caretaker for a season. Then the highly regarded Browning would take over a more experienced offense in 2016, giving him the chance to benefit from the kind of support the next quarterbacks at Oregon and UCLA are set to enjoy.