Skip to content

Ranking the Big 12's quarterbacks: A Red River rivalry at the top

Ronald Martinez / Getty Image

The Big 12 has long been a quarterback-driven conference, and 2019 looks no different.

The favored teams are led by veteran pivots with winning backgrounds, while the rest of the conference includes QBs who burst onto the scene as true freshmen - Iowa State's Brock Purdy and Texas Tech's Alan Bowman - along with a series of transfers who could lead hard-to-halt offenses.

Below, theScore continues its look at Power 5 quarterbacks by ranking the starters in the Big 12.

10. Kansas - Thomas MacVittie or Carter Stanley

Icon Sportswire / Getty Images

Les Miles won't name a starting quarterback for Kansas before its season opener against Indiana State. There's also a chance that both Thomas MacVittie and Carter Stanley (pictured above) will play in the first game of the coach's tenure.

MacVittie is the newcomer. At Mesa (Arizona) Community College, he established himself as one of the best junior-college quarterback prospects in the country. He previously spent two years at Pittsburgh, where he never threw a pass.

Stanley, a senior, started three games as a freshman in 2016 and four as a sophomore in '17, but only two a year ago. His career results - 13 touchdowns and 14 interceptions - have been subpar, but he did complete 34 of 47 passes in 2018.

9. TCU - Alex Delton

Peter G. Aiken / Getty Images

One quirk of the Big 12 this season is that two teams will rely on transfers from inside the conference to lead their offenses.

TCU is one of those teams after bringing in former Kansas State quarterback Alex Delton.

Heading into 2015, Delton appeared to be the QB of the future for the Big 12's other purple team. He only made six starts in four seasons, though, and left the program after Bill Snyder retired at the end of 2018.

Delton ran for 868 yards as a Wildcat, including 500 in 2017. He'll have a chance to succeed as a dual-threat option for a Horned Frogs squad looking to bounce back in 2019.

8. West Virginia - Austin Kendall

Brett Deering / Getty Images

The other intraconference QB transfer came with a lot more controversy.

After initially being blocked by Oklahoma, Austin Kendall ultimately became eligible to play for West Virginia immediately as a graduate transfer after the Sooners dropped all restrictions.

Kendall then won the starting job for first-year Mountaineers bench boss Neal Brown.

A former four-star recruit, Kendall lacks experience after starting just one game in his OU career. However, he completed 28 of 39 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns in a Sooners uniform.

7. Kansas State - Skylar Thompson

Icon Sportswire / Getty Images

Only two quarterbacks attended Big 12 media days in July.

Texas pivot Sam Ehlinger was one of them. Skylar Thompson was the other.

It's a sign that new Kansas State coach Chris Klieman trusts his veteran quarterback, who's entering 2019 with 14 career starts under his belt. Last season, Thompson threw for 1,391 yards and rushed for 373 more, accounting for 14 total touchdowns.

This year, he'll need to be more consistent after combining some big performances with clunkers over the past two seasons.

6. Oklahoma State - Dru Brown or Spencer Sanders

Icon Sportswire / Getty images

Oklahoma State is entering 2019 with one of the more impossible-to-forecast quarterback situations.

It seems likely, based on Mike Gundy's statements, that both Dru Brown and Spencer Sanders will play in the Cowboys' opener against Oregon State.

And both quarterbacks could continue seeing snaps until one separates himself in front of a national audience.

This is another competition between experience and upside. Brown started for two years at Hawaii, where he threw for 2,785 yards, 18 touchdowns, and eight interceptions in 2017 before transferring to Oklahoma State and redshirting last season.

Meanwhile, Sanders has been touted as the future of the Cowboys. A former Mr. Texas Football (by Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine), he threw for more than 8,000 yards in his high school career. Sanders, too, redshirted last season.

5. Baylor - Charlie Brewer

Brett Deering / Getty Images

When Charlie Brewer was healthy last season, he was consistent.

He completed more than 60 percent of his passes for the second consecutive year while tossing 19 touchdowns. And, with 3,019 yards passing, Brewer helped orchestrate a bowl-eligible season for Baylor a year after the team went 1-11.

However, Brewer did struggle against ranked competition, with more interceptions (four) than touchdowns (three) in three games. So there's room for him to grow - something Baylor will need to climb higher in 2019.

4. Texas Tech - Alan Bowman

John Weast / Getty Images

New Texas Tech coach Matt Wells inherited a quarterback with a high ceiling in Alan Bowman.

Bowman was terrific as a true freshman last year, completing 69.4 percent of his passes and throwing 17 touchdowns in eight games. Among the highlights: A 605-yard, five-touchdown performance against Houston and a 408-yard, three-touchdown outing against Kansas.

However, Bowman's season ended prematurely with a partially collapsed lung that sent him to the hospital on two occasions.

If he stays healthy in 2019, the Red Raiders could be the surprise team in the conference.

3. Iowa State - Brock Purdy

David K Purdy / Getty Images

If coach Matt Campbell is reason No. 1 for optimism at Iowa State, then Brock Purdy is a close second.

As a true freshman, Purdy turned around Iowa State's season while looking like one of the better quarterbacks in the country, let alone the conference.

He took the reins early in the fourth game of the season at Oklahoma State, and proceeded to throw for 318 yards and four touchdowns in an upset win. Iowa State went 7-2 when Purdy took the majority of the snaps, losing only to a top-10 Texas team and then to Washington State in the Alamo Bowl.

Overall, Purdy threw for 2,250 yards and 16 touchdowns while running for 308 and five more scores.

2. Oklahoma - Jalen Hurts

Scott Cunningham / Getty Images

Most schools would experience a letdown after cycling through Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray at quarterback.

Well, Lincoln Riley went out and got a starter with national championship experience.

Jalen Hurts might not be able to replicate Mayfield's and Murray's Heisman Trophy seasons - or maybe he will - but he should at least provide consistent quarterback play for the Big 12 favorite.

During 2017, Hurts' last season as a starter, he threw just one interception in 254 passing attempts. Overall, he tossed 48 TDs to 12 INTs in an Alabama uniform.

1. Texas - Sam Ehlinger

Icon Sportswire / Getty Images

Sam Ehlinger broke out last season, throwing 25 touchdowns, rushing for 16, and leading Texas to a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia.

He's now entering 2019 as a Heisman Trophy contender, while the Longhorns are the biggest threat to Oklahoma's reign atop the Big 12.

At this point, Ehlinger deserves the mantle of top quarterback in the conference.

Previous installments in this series:

Ranking the SEC's quarterbacks

Ranking the ACC's quarterbacks

Ranking the Pac-12's quarterbacks

Ranking the Big Ten's quarterbacks

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox