The significance of new starting quarterbacks shouldn't be lost on the modern-day college football fan. Just check the past two groups of Heisman Trophy finalists.
Although the 2019 Heisman winner, LSU's Joe Burrow, was in his second year with the Tigers, the other two quarterback finalists, Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts and Ohio State's Justin Fields, had shined after transferring to their new teams. In 2018, Oklahoma's Kyler Murray won the Heisman in his first year as the Sooners' starter, while the other finalists, Ohio State's Dwayne Haskins and Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa, also stood out in their first full seasons as QB1.
Not surprisingly, new quarterbacks are in the spotlight this season. Some are already on the Heisman radar, alongside familiar names such as Fields and Clemson's Trevor Lawrence as well as other incumbents, including Florida's Kyle Trask. I spoke to coaches about five notable QBs playing their first major minutes for their teams, and had the coaches assess their play so far, their potential this season and what lies ahead for them.
D'Eriq King, Miami Hurricanes (Houston transfer)
Record: 3-0
Stats: 63-of-94 passing for 736 yards, six touchdowns, no interceptions, 83.9 QBR; 28 rushes for 157 yards, one rushing touchdown
Up next: Saturday at No. 1 Clemson
King already is exceeding the expectations placed on him to jump-start a dormant Miami offense. Along with new playcaller Rhett Lashlee, King is adding a dynamic element for the Hurricanes with his efficient passing, explosive running ability and field vision, both as a passer and a runner. It's still early, and Miami will learn a lot more after this week's trip to Clemson, but King looks a lot like the player who was a Maxwell Award semifinalist in 2018, when he accounted for 50 touchdowns despite missing time with a late-season injury.
Coaches say King's passing and running skills stress defenses and also help other areas of Miami's offense, from a talented tight end tandem of Brevin Jordan and Will Mallory to an offensive line that no longer needs to be perfect with its blocking.
"He presents a lot of problems, especially if he gets out of the pocket and gets going with his legs," an ACC defensive coordinator said. "He's really, really quick. You're never going to get a good shot on him. He sets you up in his runs when he gets out of the pocket."
King leads Miami in rushing attempts, even though the team is very high on freshman running backs Donald Chaney Jr. and Jaylan Knighton.
"He's built like a running back," an ACC defensive coordinator said of King. "He's muscled up, he's probably 5-foot-10, 5-11, but he's not slight by any measure."
King also has been extremely sharp inside the pocket in Lashlee's system. According to ESPN Stats & Information data, he is completing 69.3% of his passes in the pocket, including all six of his touchdowns, and averages 8.2 yards per attempt. King completed just 55.4% of his passes inside the pocket in four games with Houston last season.
Miami has allowed only three sacks in three games, after ranking 127th nationally in 2019 in average sacks allowed (3.92 per game). Although new line coach Garin Justice deserves credit for improving an underperforming group, King also eases its burden.
"Last year, if everything didn't get locked up, it was usually a disaster in the backfield," an ACC assistant said. "Having a guy like D'Eriq and having the backs they have, they can turn something out of nothing."
Myles Brennan, LSU Tigers
Record: 1-1
Stats: 50-of-83 passing, 682 yards, seven touchdowns, three interceptions, 55.5 QBR
Up next: Saturday at home vs. Missouri
No quarterback on this list carries a more unique burden than Brennan, who waited years for his chance and must follow the greatest single-season quarterback performance in college football history. The Joe Burrow comparisons are unfair but likely not going away, and the scrutiny intensified when LSU dropped its season opener to Mississippi State. Brennan wasn't the reason LSU lost -- he passed for 345 yards and three touchdowns -- but he threw two interceptions and completed only 58.7% of his passes.
"He had a little deer-in-the-headlights [experience] it felt like," an SEC assistant said last week. "It will be interesting to see, going forward, what he does or doesn't do."
Coach Ed Orgeron liked Brennan's response in practice last week, saying Wednesday, "There are some things he could get better at. We're just used to seeing elite at that position. We want him to become elite, and he's working toward that."
Brennan responded well on Saturday at Vanderbilt, completing 18 of 30 passes for 278 yards with four touchdowns and an interception. The junior completed eight of his first 11 attempts for two touchdowns, finding wide receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. on a third down in front of two Commodores defenders for the second score.
Even after his only major error -- an overthrow to wideout Racey McMath that resulted in an interception and a subsequent Vanderbilt touchdown -- he bounced back by finding Marshall for a 51-yard score less than a minute later. Orgeron liked Brennan's response to the interception and saw the quarterback stepping up more in the pocket and showing greater patience. Orgeron indicated there were "two to three times where he could have made better decisions," but the coach said he came away pleased with Brennan.
"The QB is talented but still learning," an SEC defensive assistant told me last week. "They have a ton of talent at the skill spots."
On Saturday, Brennan capitalized on that talent, especially Marshall, the lone holdover from last year's record-setting receiving corps. The signal-caller also twice found wide receiver Jontre Kirklin for touchdowns and continued to feature talented freshman tight end Arik Gilbert, who led LSU with four receptions against Vanderbilt and has eight in his first two collegiate games.
Coaches aren't quite sold on Brennan, especially with all the new players surrounding him. But his confidence is in a better place after Vanderbilt and should grow at home against Missouri this week, before a season-defining stretch with road games against Florida and Auburn and a home showdown against Alabama.
"He has to ... play to the LSU standard of performance," Orgeron said. "Tonight, he stepped up in the pocket. He didn't try to scramble to the right, like he did his first game. He was patient, made some big-time throws in the pocket. But again, there are still some things that he's got to improve on."
K.J. Costello, Mississippi State Bulldogs (Stanford transfer)
Record: 1-1
Stats: 79-of-119 passing, 936 yards, six touchdowns, five interceptions, 63.1 QBR
Up next: Saturday at Kentucky
What to make of Costello after one of the wildest two-week stretches for a quarterback -- and a team -- in recent memory? Coaches love his arm and his experience level, but as the Arkansas game showed, there's still room for improvement.
Costello tore up LSU in the opener, passing for an SEC-record 623 pass yards and five touchdowns while averaging 10.4 yards per completion against a defense that refused to ease off despite playing without All-America cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.
"That quarterback I knew was a good player," an SEC defensive coordinator said. "And [coach Mike] Leach has no fear. None. No fear. He'll throw it 60, 70 times, and if he gets you in a track meet, he'll run your shoes off."
Costello, who finished the 2018 season at Stanford as a bona fide NFL prospect, fired four touchdown passes from 24 to 75 yards at LSU. But his mistakes in Baton Rouge -- two interceptions and two lost fumbles -- likely should have received more scrutiny.
The errors certainly were magnified in Saturday's loss to Arkansas, as Costello threw three interceptions, including a pick-six. Although his completion rate went up from 60% to 72.9%, his yards per completion was cut in half to 5.3. He also made mistakes at critical points. His third interception, early in the fourth quarter, came when Mississippi State finally had momentum following a touchdown and a quick defensive stop. Mississippi State later reached Arkansas' red zone, but Costello misfired on a fourth-down pass to Cameron Gardner. Costello later appeared to have room to run for first-and-goal but went down two yards shy of the marker, setting up a fourth-down play that Arkansas blew up.
Leach said Mississippi State expected Arkansas to drop eight in coverage and play much more zone than LSU.
"We went downfield too much and tried to make too much happen," Leach said. "The underneath stuff was there all day, and we didn't capitalize on that."
Costello pointed to a lack of execution in key third- and fourth-down situations, especially deep in Arkansas territory. He said he "couldn't care less if teams want to play [zone] coverage," a look opponents should continue to feature against the Air Raid offense.
"He needs to get his eyes in the right place," Leach said of Costello. "That was the biggest thing. We have to unclutter his mind a little bit."
Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma Sooners
Record: 1-2
Stats: 69-of-94 passing, 977 yards, 10 touchdowns, four interceptions, 82.5 QBR; one rushing touchdown on 21 carries
Up next: Saturday at Texas (Dallas)
To be clear, Rattler is not the reason Oklahoma sits at 0-2 in a league it has dominated for the better part of his lifetime. The Sooners still aren't talented or disciplined enough on defense. Their offensive line isn't nearly as good as it has been in past seasons. They lack a superstar at running back, wide receiver or tight end.
Rattler has performed very well for the most part, especially given the pressure of being coach Lincoln Riley's first elite-level quarterback recruit -- and the guy following two Heisman Trophy winners (Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray) and a Heisman runner-up (Jalen Hurts). Rattler has shown some of the qualities of his decorated predecessors, from overall accuracy to downfield attacking to movement in the pocket. Rattler thrives in the play-action game, where he collected 229 of his 300 pass yards against Iowa State on Saturday.
"His high-end plays are just as good as the guys that they've had," a Big 12 offensive assistant said, "but he's just young and learning like anybody else."
The growing pains are showing up as games wear on. Rattler faced two of the trickier defensive schemes in the Big 12 in Kansas State and Iowa State, which both made effective adjustments against him.
Oklahoma led both games at halftime, and Rattler shined in both opening halves. Against Kansas State, he completed 17 of 19 pass attempts and had the other two passes intercepted. Against Iowa State, he completed 13 of 17 attempts for 201 yards with a passing touchdown and no interceptions, and he added a rushing TD.
But Rattler looked shaky in both second halves, struggling to hit his targets and dealing with more pressure. Kansas State sacked him three times in the second half on Sept. 26. Iowa State recorded both of its sacks on Rattler in the second half on Saturday.
"The plan was we were going to show him certain pictures, and we knew that we might have to take our lumps with some of those pictures -- and we did -- and then we were going to change pictures," Kansas State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said. "That's what we did. We stuck to it. It was hard at times, but I think as a young guy, I wasn't sure how he was going to react to getting hit. We have some guys up front that can really get after it, and they did toward the end of the game."
Rattler said after the Iowa State game that he "wasn't uncomfortable" in the pocket and thought the offense "felt pretty efficient." Coaches think Rattler's ability to handle pressure will improve with experience, especially after these past two tilts.
"Even though teams did get to him a few times, it's still difficult," a Big 12 defensive assistant said. "He does some things with his feet that only a veteran quarterback can do, and he does that as a freshman."
Stetson Bennett, Georgia Bulldogs
Record: 2-0 (1-0 as the starter)
Stats: 37-of-57 passing, 451 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions, 94.4 QBR
Up next: Saturday at home vs. No. 14 Tennessee
Bennett is the surprise on this list. No one pegged him as Jake Fromm's successor even though he backed up Fromm in 2019. The former walk-on became the forgotten man as transfers Jamie Newman and JT Daniels arrived. Even after Newman opted out and Daniels awaited medical clearance, D'Wan Mathis took the first snaps of the season last week at Arkansas, before Bennett came in and sparked a sputtering offense.
When doctors cleared Daniels last week, Georgia's quarterback plan seemed uncertain entering the Auburn game. There's no mystery any longer. Bennett's impressive performance (240 pass yards, one touchdown, no interceptions) cemented his standing as QB1.
"I'm charged with making decisions, and some people could probably argue that we didn't make the right decision in the first game, and maybe he should have been the guy," coach Kirby Smart admitted after the Auburn win. "Not only was he not the guy. He was not getting a lot of reps early in camp. And to his credit, the reps he got, he took a lot of value in. He was like a pro third-string quarterback."
A full week of practice with the first-string offense paid off. Bennett connected with wide receiver Kearis Jackson nine times for 147 yards and a touchdown against Auburn. He made several big third-down throws, including a 17-yard strike to Jackson on Georgia's first scoring drive and a 21-yard touchdown to wideout George Pickens on third-and-9. Georgia converted 9 of 14 third downs against Auburn.
Other coaches like Bennett, noting that his height prohibited high-profile scholarship offers out of high school. Bennett came to Georgia in 2017, left to start a season for a Mississippi junior college in 2018 and then returned last year.
"Bennett's a baller," a Power 5 coordinator said. "You'd love to have him as a walk-on. He's a dude now."
An SEC assistant said he "loved" Bennett, noting that while he is generously listed at 5-foot-11, "he's not a little guy." Another assistant made the comparison to Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book, listed at 6 feet tall.
Bennett's growth now becomes the primary storyline for a Georgia offense that showed significant improvement against Auburn with its line, its running game and its overall execution of new coordinator Todd Monken's scheme. Even though Georgia might have the SEC's best defense again, it must show it can keep pace with prolific offenses such as those of Florida and Alabama.
Smart has repeatedly said how Bennett always capitalizes on whatever practice time he receives, whether it's running the second-team offense in 2019 or the third-team unit in preseason camp. He'll now get every chance to get better with the starters.
"Stetson's never lacked confidence in himself," Smart said. "I'm happy for him, but I want to temper that enthusiasm. He knows he's got to get better. People around him played well, and that's important for Stetson, but he did a good job of understanding what we wanted to do with the game plan. And he executed that really well."