Stuckey: Noteworthy Week 2 College Football Quarterback News

Stuckey: Noteworthy Week 2 College Football Quarterback News article feature image
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Tim Warner / Getty Images. Pictured: Hudson Card

We always learn a lot in Week 1 of the college football season, especially when it comes to the quarterback position. For your reference, I summarized 36 noteworthy quarterback competition winners — named at various points leading up to the summer — and their accompanying Week 1 stats.

Quite a few battles remain up in the air, and we could have as many 10 non-injury related quarterback changes, which I detail below. You will also find a summary of eight quarterback injuries worth monitoring ahead of Week 2.

Quarterback Competition Winners

Akron — Kato Nelson9-14, 62 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Arizona — Gunner Cruz34-45, 336 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Arkansas St. — James Blackman*16-26, 169 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Baylor — Gerry Bohanon15-24, 148 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Central Michigan — Jacob Sirmon23-45, 295 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Florida Atlantic — N'Kosi Perry19-33, 261 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Florida State — Jordan Travis*9-19, 130 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT
Georgia Southern — Amare Jones*4-7, 45 yards, 19 rush, 98 yards
Kansas — Jason Bean17-26, 163 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Louisiana Tech — Austin Kendall20-36, 269 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Michigan — Cade McNamara9-11, 136 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Michigan State — Payton Thorne15-25, 185 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Mississippi State — Will Rogers39-47, 370 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT
Navy — Tai Lavatai*1-6, 8 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 16 rush, 18 yards
New Mexico — Terry Wilson20-26, 174 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
North Texas — Jace Ruder10-21, 131 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Northwestern — Hunter Johnson30-43, 275 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Ohio — Kurtis Rourke21-28, 142 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Old Dominion — DJ Mack Jr.*7-21, 39 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
Ohio State — CJ Stroud13-22, 294 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT
Oregon State — Sam Noyer10-21, 94 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Rice — Wiley Green12-25, 152 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT
San Diego State — Jordon Brookshire7-20, 115 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Southern Miss — Trey Lowe13-29, 133 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
South Carolina — Zeb Noland*13-22, 121 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT
Stanford — Jack West8-12, 76 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
Tennessee — Joe Milton11-23, 140 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Texas — Hudson Card14-21, 224 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
Texas A&M — Haynes King21-33, 292 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT
Toledo — Carter Bradley8-11, 183 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
UConn — Jack Zergiotis*17-41, 174 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT
UMass — Tyler Lytle14-31, 167 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
UL Monroe — Rhett Rodriguez9-17, 56 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
UNLV — Justin Rogers*7-11, 23 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Utah State — Logan Bonner17-24, 143 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Washington State — Jarrett Guarantano8-13, 56 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
* Update Below

Florida State started out with Jordan Travis, but McKenzie Milton came in late and never came back out after Travis left due to his helmet coming off. Interestingly enough, the same exact thing happened with a former FSU signal-caller at Arkansas State. After Blackman lost his helmet, Layne Hatcher came in and dominated the rest of the second half.

DJ Mack did get the start for Old Dominion, who listed three starters at quarterback ahead of Week 1 (Hayden Wolff, Stone Smartt and Mack). Wolff looked much better but played mostly in mop-up duty, while Smartt (who did not attempt a pass) actually led the team in receiving. It's a situation worth monitoring.

Also, I don't think we have a quarterback controversy yet, but Anthony Richardson has some Florida fans calling for him to take over after rattling off a few highlight plays off the bench. Emory Jones did not look sharp.

Anthony Richardson (AR15) is a pure playmaker.

The Gators have a competition at the QB position. pic.twitter.com/iX7P6EwctB

— Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) September 5, 2021

While Tai Lavatai did get his first start under center for Navy, the sophomore did not have a great outing. He was eventually replaced by Xavier Arline in a game where Navy used four total quarterbacks in a blowout loss to Marshall.

It appears we also have a quarterback controversy at Oregon State. Chance Nolan had a much more efficient day compared to starter Sam Noyer. Head coach Jonathan Smith said he will decide later this week who will start against Hawaii.

For UNLV, Justin Rogers started the game but was replaced by Doug Brumfield, who's expected to start on the road at Arizona State this week.

UConn also made a change at quarterback after head coach Randy Edsall stepped down effective immediately. Steven Krajewski will start at QB over Zergiotis against Purdue on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Stanford head coach David Shaw has indicated Tanner McKee will start vs. USC after coming in off the bench for West in the opener against Kansas State.

In regards to Georgia Southern, former Tulane running back Amare Jones started at quarterback for the triple-option offense. However, he split time with true freshman Cam Ransom, who actually looked pretty good in his first collegiate action.

Lastly, the injured Luke Doty is now listed as a co-starter with Noland for South Carolina ahead of their date with East Carolina.

Army Black Knights

The Black Knights used two quarterbacks in their Week 1 win over Georgia State, but Tyhier Tyler left with an injury. It's not deemed serious but could keep him out against Western Kentucky.

Army does have quite a few options at QB, but Christian Anderson would likely take the majority of reps if the speedy Tyler can't go.

Jeff Monken said QB Tyhier Tyler's injury, "is not a serious injury. It may slow him down or hold him out of the game this weekend. We don't know. It's such a fresh injury. It's not anything that's going to be a long-term deal, which is great." #ArmyFootball

— Black Knight Nation (@BKKnightNation) September 6, 2021

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Jeff Sims left Tech's opening season loss with an injury and was spotted on the sidelines in a sling. Freshman Jordan Yates took over and actually looked a bit better.

Illinois Fighting Illini

Week 1 starter Brandon Peters did not play in a loss vs. UTSA. His status remains uncertain for Saturday's road game against Virginia. If he can't go, Rutgers transfer Art Sitkowski would get the nod again.

#illini Bret Bielema: Brandon Peters will go through practice drills. Not cleared for contact yet. Saturday TBD.

— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) September 6, 2021

Miami Ohio Redhawks

AJ Mayer started for Brett Gabbert, who injured his knee and thumb in the preseason. Gabbert was listed as the starter for Week 1 and in uniform but reportedly has hardly practiced. Keep an eye on this situation heading into Saturday against Minnesota.

Memphis Tigers

Projected starter Grant Gunnell did not start in Memphis' opener against Nicholls State with an undisclosed injury that will keep him out a few weeks.

True freshman Seth Henigan is expected to start once again this week at Arkansas State.

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Spencer Sanders did not play against Missouri State in the Cowboys' opener due to COVID-19 protocols. Head coach Mike Gundy isn't saying much as of now, but I'd expect him to play against Tulsa this upcoming weekend.

Temple Owls

D'Wan Mathis left with an injury in the third quarter of Temple's blowout loss at the hands of Rutgers. The former Georgia transfer was not effective (8-24, 148 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT), but neither was his backup freshman Justin Lynch, who went 0-3 with an interception that got returned for a touchdown.

Head coach Rod Carey has stated Mathis as "week-to-week" ahead of the Owls' Week 2 matchup with Akron.

Washington State Cougars

After an underwhelming debut, former Tennessee transfer Jarrett Guarantano left Washington's State's stunning upset loss with an injury. That paved the way for 2020 starter Jayden de Laura to take over the rest of the way.

#WSU coach Nick Rolovich said he's leaning toward starting Jayden de Laura at QB on Saturday.
Rolovich added that Jarrett Guarantano's status is still uncertain.

— Colton Clark (@SpokesmanClark) September 6, 2021

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