Big Ten QB Rankings: JJ No. 1, MSU's Kim No. 13
Football fodder in May - we'll take it. College Sports Wire is out with its ranking of the likely starters at quarterback for each Big Ten team. Lots of respect for JJ. Not so much for the new guy at MSU. The full list is interesting, which you can see HERE.
I believe that is an accurate description - “meh” is another.
Despite OSU being an offensive juggernaut last year - it seems that McCord attempted a total of 20 passes in game action - in total - which is under two attempts per game.
Instead of giving next year's QB some reps (everyone knew Stroud wasn't going to stay a fourth year), Day acted like a kid playing XBox and ran up the score on overmatched foes to pad the stats of CJ Stroud. He routinely played well into the fourth quarter of absolute blowouts.
He did not look great but spring games can be wonky.
I wouldn't take too much stock in the spring game. Fields and Stroud looked meh in the spring game and they went on to become a top 10 pick in the draft. Wait until the season to fully judge them before declaring that the QB position is an issue for OSU.
"Didn't RANDOM-OSU-QB look mediocre at best in the spring game?"
Michigan fans since 2000, alas.
Correction: they're going to make McCord look pretty good for 11 weeks.
I dont know about 11 weeks, they have some tough games on the road. Theyre at ND to wrap up the home and home series. At Purdue- we all remember what can happed there. At Wisconsin against their old coach, Adam Sandler. PSU at home. Maryland isnt a gimme anymore.
I can see OSU losing 1-2 games before playing Michigan.
This might be the year we finally see them at 3 losses, perhaps more after the bowls. Obviously not banking on it but something seems different with this QB replacement, along with what looks like a questionable OL and defense.
He doesn't have that dawg in him.
JJ actually grew up an OSU fan and had serious interest in going to OSU and playing for Urban. Day took over and I believe he slow played JJ for and focused more on McCord.
JJ felt Day lied to him during the process. JJ didn’t sit idle and fired up his Harbaugh and UofM interest and committed early and led the recruiting class.
The rivalry means a bit more for JJ. “I used to love them, now I want to kill them.”
MCCord’s story is yet to be written but they are tied together and JJ has set a pretty high bar on how to lead a team.
The rivalry means a bit more for JJ. “I used to love them, now I want to kill them.”
isn’t that a Guns and Roses song?
I like our chances.
Lol Brian Ferentz is catching shots in usa today articles now
As the song goes, "It's about damn time!"
After helping lead the Wolverines to a Big Ten title in 2021, McNamara was benched in favor of J.J. McCarthy in 2022. He chose to leave for Iowa, a team that needs a lot of help at quarterback. If the offense can get humming along, McNamara should be the catalyst that brings the unit into the 21st Century. He will just have to overcome an offensive coordinator who only has his job due to nepotism.
Savage.
Author must be either a staunch Iowa Fan or someone who lost a few bets on the Iowa over.
Anyone who took the over on Iowa in the last decade has only themselves to blame.
Hah! I can think of at least one game where taking the over would have won you some coin.
What's that? The opponents scored almost all of the points? Oh well.
Whatever you are doing in your life if it comes down to the Iowa offense covering the over that is on you.
I hope Cade does well. Hope B. Ferentz does poorly. Mainly cause I don't like nepotism and loved the memes out of someof their wins. Scoring 7 points the hard way always made me laugh.
I hope Cade does well and the Ferentz uses that as justification to keep his son as OC for several more years.
Nothing against Iowa, I like the school and people, but their offensive with B. Ferentz as OC is one of the funniest things in college sports.
Honestly JJ at #1 makes sense.
This is how I would rank them, based on accomplishments:
1. JJ McCarthy (Mich)
2. Cade McNamara (Iowa)
3. Taulia T. (Maryland)
4. Hudson Card (Purdue)
The rest are shrug emojis and we're basing it mainly on star rankings.
5. Kyle McCord (OSU)*
6. Drew Allar (PSU)
7. Luke Altmyer (Illinois)
8. Tanner Mordecai (Wisconsin)
9. Jeff Sims (Nebaska)
10. Athan Kaliakmanis (Minn)
11. Gavin Wimsatt (Rutgers)
12. Ben Bryant (NW)
13. Tayven Jackson (IU)
14. Noah Kim (MSU)**
*This feels way too high but McCord is a former five star and QBs at OSU have wide open easy throws.
**Sorry, Sparty fans. Justin Thind can talk all day about how great Noah Kim is going to be and spin it (or at least imply) that he was an NFL QB sitting behind Thorne, but I just don't buy it yet. Yeah, yeah, Michigan bias and all that, but I can't think this is anything more than a significant downgrade.
It's interesting how at least 6 Big Ten quarterback projected to start are all transfers. Welcome to a brave new world.
In what world is cade above Tau?
Tau has almost 8,000 passing yards and he’s Maryland’s all time leading passer. He definitely wasn’t protected by Joe Moore.
Cade
Career passing yds: 3,181
Career passing tds: 21
Tau 2021:
Passing yards: 3,860
Passing Tds: 26
Tau:
2022 B1G rankings-
Total Yards: 2nd
Passing Yards: 2nd
Completion percentage: 3rd
2021 B1G rankings-
Total Yards: 3rd
Passing Yards: 3rd
Completion percentage: 2nd
Cade:
2021 B1G rankings-
Total Yards: 7th
Passing Yards: 7th
Completion percentage: 4th
They’re entirely opposite players. Cade is a game manager who is tasked with not losing the game. The entire Maryland offense is predicated on Taulia, meaning he’ll either put up 300+ yards of offense or he’ll throw 5 picks. I think it’s impossible to compare the two
What makes someone a "gamer"? Because, to me, a gamer is someone like Sean Clifford, who plays way above their talent and keeps their team in tough games when they otherwise wouldn't be there. Cade more reminds me of Phil Simms, or someone who isn't going to make big plays but isn't going to make mistakes. I can't think of any game in which Cade's improvisation or overplay put the team on his shoulders and carried it forth.
Phil Simms is a fantastic comparison.
Taulia has a higher ceiling than Cade; I think he could improve dramatically. Put an emphasis on "could" as he may not, but he's got the arm and the athletic ability. This isn't to say he will.
With his lower ceiling, any improvement Cade makes is likely to be more incremental.
In what world is cade above Tau?
Tau has almost 8,000 passing yards and he’s Maryland’s all time leading passer. He definitely wasn’t protected by Joe Moore.
That's true. However, Cade did lead his team to a Big Ten championship and a playoff berth. I mean, I guess you could argue that Taulia would have done that too if he was Michigan's QB, but that's not how I chose to rank them.
So Taulia is Maryland's all time leading passer. Great. To me the name of game is winning, and Cade's done that, so he's ranked a spot higher.
You said accomplishments. I compared their accomplishments head to head. cade was under center for a championship team. I think leading is a stretch given how things have played out. He struggled in the biggest games down the stretch in 2021 and definitely struggled in 2022. His stat line was 54/87 614 yds, 2 td, 5 ints in his final six games here.
The locker room leader narrative got blown up between his podcast interview and the JUB report that he ignored JJ last year and divided the locker room.
Maryland pre-Tau: 21-40 (win pct. .344)
Maryland with Tau: 15-11 (win pct. .577)
It'll play out in a few months, but I just cannot see cade turning Iowa's offense around the way Tau did. I'd be shocked if cade is a top 6 quarterback when it does play out.
Again, a fair point, and I don't necessarily disagree. I just personally consider Cade ahead of Taulia because of the Big Ten championship & playoff. Which ain't easy to do!
Okay, so you're skeptical of Cade's actual impact. I happen to think it was significant. We have been fairly close under Harbaugh but it was when Cade was the QB that we finally beat OSU and got over the hump. Obviously he did not do it all by himself. I never suggested that.
Personally I do think Cade's impact on Iowa's offense will be huge and positive. Is he leading them to another Big Ten championship? Probably not, but it wouldn't shock me if Iowa won the west and looked significantly better on offense, all because they have competence at QB.
I'm not knocking Taulia. I just can't put him above Cade because of what Cade did here, which I find to be a pretty big deal, alleged locker room stuff aside.
By your logic, I am the most successful person in the world because my country has the biggest economy!
Well you do drive a Ferrari.
Put Cade on Maryland and Taulia on Michigan and then get back to us.
I just have to say after seeing "Tau" about 10 times so far in this thread...
...it's Tua, not tau.
Tua is his brother, the Maryland Quarterback is Taulia.
I did the same thing and then I realized that MgoBlueprint was shortening Taulia to Tau. Is that his nickname?
Taulia was a true freshman the year Cade won the conference title. Idk, i just strongly disagree here, Taulia is an amazing quarterback and Cade is not (though very good in his own right.)
Go blue all the way, but if McCord wins the job at OSU, he's a 5-star QB in a room full of 5-star QBs. That's pretty damn good odds to pan out very well.
Mordecai also comes with a few years of pretty damn good experience. He's not living off star rankings. He's been legit good at SMU and will now be running a supposed air raid offense at Wisconsin. If things go well, he could easily come out on top of the B1G statistically this season.
Right on Mordecai. Dude can play. He had 9 passing TDs vs. non-baby-seal Houston last year (and ran for another). I think either he or McCord leads the B1G in passing yards/TDs in 2023.
Having the best counting stats doesn't mean he'll be the best overall B1G QB, of course, but he's certainly not just a random dude.
Fickell saw him live in multiple UC vs SMU games - so it's probably not an accident he's in Madison.
Shouldn’t Mordecai have gone to Nebraska? Or was that Malachai?
Who did McCord compete against in Columbus?
I don't know OSUs entire roster so maybe I am missing something, but as far as I can gather there is one other 5* QB on the roster and he had to have a procedure on his hand before the spring game. He also was ranked right around the same spot as McCord in his class and is a year behind McCord. So I'm not sure Kyle McCord winning the QB job is anything other than what should have happened.
Guys on thread who have never watched 7 of these guys ranking 'em. Good times. Mordecai is legit.
They don’t really have a room full of 5 stars this year as you would think. They have McCord, Devin Brown who was the other contender transferred, they then have an Oregon State transfer for depth, and 4 star Lincoln Kleinholz. They do have an incoming 4 star as well. Not the loaded room they did have the last two years.
edit: I could have sworn Brown entered the portal. Either way he was a 4 star.
It is a downgrade but Kim is the last of the Dantonio QB recruits, who knew played well above.their ranking.
We might not know how good Noah Kim can be because he may have PTSD from running for his life.
Card over Mordecai based on "accomplishments" in nonsense. He is a 2 year starter who has JJ like stats albeit in a lower conference.
That’s the thing with McCord, he likely won’t look terrible because of the offense and skill players around him. I’m hoping for the unlikely to happen and it’s obvious for the first time in like 15 years or so they actually don’t have an elite QB, at least at the college level. A man can dream of course.
I couldn't have even told you Kim's first name until this post.
Lil?