Due partly to concerns about Jordan Travis' durability and also the inexperience of his backups, some FSU football fans aren't exactly happy that head coach Mike Norvell didn't look to bring in a transfer quarterback at the winter break.
And no matter how much progress Travis, redshirt sophomore Tate Rodemaker and true freshman A.J. Duffy make this spring, there undoubtedly will be some who want the Seminoles to look for another signal-caller in the transfer portal this summer.
While it's difficult to know whether Norvell wasn't interested in a transfer at all -- or if there just weren't any good fits based on mutual interest -- the bottom line is the Seminoles didn't make any moves.
Could they later this summer? That is to be determined. But they haven't as of yet.
And since that decision will likely be scrutinized at great length in the coming months, this feels like a good time to take a closer look at activity in the transfer quarterback market this offseason, and also examine how common it is for college football teams to have experienced backups in the first place.
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Let's start with the transfers who found new homes.
Of the 40-plus quarterbacks who left one FBS program for another this offseason, we could only find 10 who went to programs that already had a returning quarterback with significant starting experience. And in at least half of those 10 cases, the returning quarterback struggled enough in 2021 that the transfers should have a legitimate chance to win those starting jobs.
So, in essence, there are only five quarterbacks who transferred from one FBS program to another where they knew they would be a backup in 2022. And only one of those five had much prior college experience -- that was Hunter Johnson, who returned to Clemson and is a unique case (more on that below).
Here are 10 transfer QBs who went to schools with returning starters:
Spencer Rattler -- Left Oklahoma for South Carolina, where Luke Doty is a former starter but was injured in 2021 and is expected to be limited physically this spring. Rattler has been working with the starters this spring.
Jayden de Laura -- Left Washington State for Arizona, where Will Plummer started six of the last seven games last season was but was not very effective. De Laura was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, and he has been taking the first-team reps this spring.
Harrison Bailey -- Left Tennessee for UNLV, where Cameron Friel endured plenty of struggles as a freshman starter. Friel threw 11 interceptions to go with six touchdowns, so the former five-star recruit Bailey should have a legitimate chance to win the starting job.
TaQuan Roberson -- Left Penn State for UConn, where there is expected to be a wide-open competition despite the fact that Steven Krajewski is technically a returning starter. Krajewski threw 10 interceptions to go with seven touchdowns in 2021.
Michael Penix Jr. -- Left Indiana for Washington, where he will be in a wide-open QB competition. Dylan Morris started all but one game last season, but Huskies fans blame him in large part for their 4-8 record. He threw just two more touchdowns than interceptions.
Jack Miller -- Left Ohio State for Florida, where he is expected to back up Anthony Richardson this season. With Emory Jones back in the transfer portal, Richardson appears to be the safe bet to be the Gators' starter going into 2022. But he isn't exactly a proven commodity, and he did battle a knee injury last season. So this could be a very good spot for Miller to wait for an opportunity.
Hunter Johnson -- Left Northwestern to return to Clemson, where he started his career. This one is a bit of an outlier because Johnson originally talked to Dabo Swinney about coming back as a graduate assistant coach but instead chose to use his remaining year of eligibility. He isn't actually enrolling at Clemson until this summer. DJ Uiagalelei returns as the starter, and highly touted freshman Cade Klubnik enrolled in January.
Jacob Zeno -- Left Baylor for UAB, where he likely will be a backup to returning starter Dylan Hopkins. Zeno wasn't seeing the field much at Baylor before his transfer, but he is a young quarterback while Hopkins is a redshirt senior. So this could be a good apprenticeship for Zeno before taking over the job in 2023.
Sam Vidlak -- Left Oregon State for Boise State, where he will be a backup to returning starter Hank Bachmeier. Vidlak was a backup at his previous school as well and is likely hoping to step in when Bachmeier graduates.
Dan Villari -- Left Michigan for Syracuse, where he is expected to back up returning starter Garrett Shrader. Villari appeared in four games last season but attempted just three passes, completing one. Shrader seems locked in as the starter, but he only completed 52.6 percent of his passes, so perhaps Villari sees an opportunity to challenge for the job.
So those are the 10 FBS quarterbacks who transferred to schools with returning starters. The other 30-plus went to schools where there was no returning starter.
It doesn't take a Division-I football coach to understand that just about all of those scenarios would seem more inviting to a transfer QB than competing with Jordan Travis for the next year or two.
The best-case scenario would have been to try to get one of these last few options -- guys who are looking to be backups until the starter graduates -- but it's not like any of them would give you an experienced backup in 2022. So I'm not sure what that would have solved, other than maybe irritating A.J. Duffy and Tate Rodemaker (both of whom have had some really nice moments this spring).
Would a Florida State fan really feel more confident about this fall if Norvell had added Villari, Vidlak, Zeno or Miller to the roster?
The reality in college football today is that very few teams have proven quality backups. It's precisely why 40-plus FBS quarterbacks went into the portal and transferred to other FBS schools. No one wants to be the backup.
On that note, I did a quick survey of the other schools in the ACC to see what their backup quarterback situations look like going into 2022. The only four schools with what you could describe as experienced No. 2 QBs are Clemson, Georgia Tech, Louisville and Pitt, and none of them are exceptional.
As noted above, Johnson will be the backup to Uiagalelei at Clemson. He played in three games last season, completing 60 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and four interceptions.
Georgia Tech brought in Akron transfer Zach Gibson to likely back up Jeff Sims. Gibson appeared in 17 games over three seasons at Akron and put up some decent passing numbers, but against competition that is inferior to what he will see in the ACC.
Louisville's top backup to Malik Cunningham is Evan Conley, who has played some in each of the past three years. He completed 10 of 19 passes last season as a reserve and is out this spring due to surgery.
Pitt is losing starting quarterback Kenny Pickett to the NFL, so they brought in USC transfer Kedon Slovis to compete with Nick Patti for the starting job. If Slovis wins the job as expected, Patti would be a solid backup. He has played in 17 games over the last three years and has shown some ability.
Virginia Tech might be the next closest team in the ACC to having a proven backup, as they bring in Jason Brown from South Carolina and Grant Wells from Marshall. Wells was a two-year starter with the Herd, and Brown had some limited success at South Carolina after starting his career on the FCS level.
But again, it's not like any of these teams would feel great about their quarterback situations should the starter go down at some point during the season. Not even the teams with the best signal-callers in the conference.
Devin Leary's top backup at N.C. State has thrown nine passes.
The top backup to Sam Hartman at Wake Forest threw nine passes last season and 33 in his career.
Boston College QB Phil Jurkovec's top backup is expected to be Emmett Morehead, who connected on 6 of 15 passes last season.
Miami has Jake Garcia behind starter Tyler Van Dyke, and he showed promise in limited action last season, but he is coming off of ankle surgery.
So while it's understandable that FSU fans might not be thrilled about not having a proven backup going into this fall, the fact of the matter is the Seminoles are in the exact same boat as most of their peers.
And while it's fair to point out that Travis has had durability issues, the breakdown above shows there probably wasn't much Norvell could have done about it -- even in the age of the transfer portal.
Contact managing editor Ira Schoffel at ira@warchant.com and follow @IraSchoffel on Twitter.
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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council
