Yesterday’s Davey O’Brien watch list — and the omission of Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman — got me thinking, which is always a good thing.
Does the Big 12 have the best collection of experienced quarterbacks among the BCS conferences?
The criteria, it was reasoned, would be how many veteran quarterbacks returned in each league that accounted for 2,000 total yards of offense, which kept West Virginia’s Pat White in the conversation as the Mountaineer lefty threw for 1,724 and ran for 1,335.
Anyway, the statistics supported the theory:
The returning Big 12 quarterbacks light it up through the air, more so than any other conference.
Ten quarterbacks threw for more than 2,000 yards last year, and they’re all back for another season. An 11th, Nebraska’s Joe Ganz, threw for 1,399 in three starts a year ago.
Perhaps most amazing is that seven of the signal callers passed the 3,000-yard plateau — and that’s a number only the Big Ten (7) could match… in 2,000-yarders.
The members of the 3,000-yard club were, in order of the most yardage, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrrell (5,705), Missouri’s Chase Daniel (4,306), Kansas’ Todd Reesing (3,486), Freeman (3,353), Texas’ Colt McCoy (3,303) and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford (3,121).
But did you realize Colorado’s Cody Hawkins tossed it around for 3,015 yards?
And in the “just falling short” category, how about the season turned in by Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson? His 2,824 yards in the air and 847 yards on the ground mean he must be considered one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks. If the Cowboys live up to their potential this season, Robinson might be a dark horse candidate for the Heisman.
And really, how many Heisman candidates are there just from the above list alone? Daniel was a finalist last year. Reesing probably should have been. How Harrell’s nearly 6,000 yards were overlooked is, while obviously a knock on the alleged system Tech runs (has anyone noticed that EVERYONE, not just Mike Leach, is spreading people out and forsaking the run?), is a crime. If OU is in national title, and the Sooners should be, Bradford will be mentioned.
Elsewhere, the Pac-10 returns four experienced quarterbacks who threw for 2,000 yards last year.
The vaunted SEC checks in with the least with three. The ACC has six, while the Big East has five.
And by the way, the other 2,000-yard quarterbacks back for another season are Texas A&M’s Stephen McGee (2,311) and Baylor’s Blake Szymanski (2,844). With Szymanski, though, it’s unclear whether he’s the returning starter.
One Comment
I am not a college football historian,but maybe this years class of Big 12 quarterbacks will rival any quarterback collection in any conference, ever. To Far, maybe, but think about the moxie of Reesing,Daniels,Bradford,Hawkins; the talent of Robinson and Freeman, and the pure passing of Harrell. Even Ganz might join the discussion. If they remain healthy the Big 12 could have 8 3,000 yard passers. That’s insane.