- Oct 6, 2016
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The two best teams in college football last season placed their championship hopes in the hands of teenagers less than a year removed from their senior prom.
When Tua Tagovailoa and Alabama triumphed 26-23 over Jake Fromm-led Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship, it was the embodiment of a trend that's growing yearly. Power 5 programs are entrusting their offenses to true freshman quarterbacks. The era of freshman-QB stardom is upon us.
Not 50 years ago, freshmen were ineligible to play major college football; now even blue-blood programs -- whether by choice or necessity -- hand the keys to these newbies. Alabama and Georgia are perfect examples: Tagovailoa's and Fromm's predecessors, Jalen Hurts and Jacob Eason, were also true freshmen when they took over the position.
Since 2012, Total QBR for true freshman quarterbacks has risen steadily across the nation, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
"It's amazing to see how it's evolved," said Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury, himself a true freshman QB nearly two decades ago.
Explanations for the trend are plentiful. The advancements of young quarterbacks have led to a culture of early scholarship offers, meticulous planning, intense recruiting competition and the constant juggling of depth charts as teams hope to find a perfect match at the game's most important position.
ESPN.com interviewed more than 20 people in and around college football to understand what's behind the shift, how prospects plan for it and how coaches manage these situations.
The success of true freshman quarterbacks has been on the rise over the past decade. ESPN
Early scouting
Everyone has heard the stories and seen the headlines: "Alabama offers a scholarship to an eighth-grader," "13-year-old QB commits to USC." It kick-starts a predictable debate of when is too early to offer a prospect, whether borderline teenagers truly know what a "commitment" is and a cycle of jokes about coaches scouting players just out of their mother's womb.
Bluster aside, while such cases are outliers, they do underscore the accelerated process in which quarterbacks -- and all recruits, for that matter -- are currently evaluated.
"I'm a believer that you have to recruit three classes at once," Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said.
Preparing for early enrollment
Early scouting leads to a speedier recruitment, including the timing of a prospect's arrival on campus.
Several coaches who spoke to ESPN.com agreed that the early enrollment trend among prospects -- which is practiced across positions but was once quarterback-centric -- is one of the biggest driving forces in the rush to start young signal-callers.
Developing QBs
In addition to the early enrollment trend, freshman quarterbacks arrive on campus more prepared than ever.
"The reality of it is," Iowa State defensive coordinator Jon Heacock said, "young guys aren't young anymore. The assumption that you can fool them or that you can play a certain way defensively against a freshman, that mindset will get you in trouble fast."
The reason why?
"Development," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. "You've got these quarterback camps. Everybody's got a trainer nowadays. Guys start early. There's more 7-on-7 tournaments than ever
Arriving and adapting
So your freshman quarterback has planned, trained, enrolled early and is ready to compete. Even though arriving early helps him get a head start, it doesn't guarantee anything more than a chance. In order to start, one necessary ingredient is maturity.
Transfer culture
Ask most coaches and they'll be honest: It's not preferable to start a freshman quarterback. Often, it's done out of necessity. Most would prefer a veteran who has been in the offense for years, but that's not always feasible. Throwing a freshman into the fire can create its own set of issues.
"What if [immediate success] doesn't happen?" Limegrover said. "What then?"
Patience wanes. And the transfer market expands.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/23396659/the-rise-true-freshman-qb
It's a very long read but Jones succeeding as a True freshman is not out of the question if the OL improves.
When Tua Tagovailoa and Alabama triumphed 26-23 over Jake Fromm-led Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship, it was the embodiment of a trend that's growing yearly. Power 5 programs are entrusting their offenses to true freshman quarterbacks. The era of freshman-QB stardom is upon us.
Not 50 years ago, freshmen were ineligible to play major college football; now even blue-blood programs -- whether by choice or necessity -- hand the keys to these newbies. Alabama and Georgia are perfect examples: Tagovailoa's and Fromm's predecessors, Jalen Hurts and Jacob Eason, were also true freshmen when they took over the position.
Since 2012, Total QBR for true freshman quarterbacks has risen steadily across the nation, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
"It's amazing to see how it's evolved," said Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury, himself a true freshman QB nearly two decades ago.
Explanations for the trend are plentiful. The advancements of young quarterbacks have led to a culture of early scholarship offers, meticulous planning, intense recruiting competition and the constant juggling of depth charts as teams hope to find a perfect match at the game's most important position.
ESPN.com interviewed more than 20 people in and around college football to understand what's behind the shift, how prospects plan for it and how coaches manage these situations.
The success of true freshman quarterbacks has been on the rise over the past decade. ESPN
Early scouting
Everyone has heard the stories and seen the headlines: "Alabama offers a scholarship to an eighth-grader," "13-year-old QB commits to USC." It kick-starts a predictable debate of when is too early to offer a prospect, whether borderline teenagers truly know what a "commitment" is and a cycle of jokes about coaches scouting players just out of their mother's womb.
Bluster aside, while such cases are outliers, they do underscore the accelerated process in which quarterbacks -- and all recruits, for that matter -- are currently evaluated.
"I'm a believer that you have to recruit three classes at once," Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said.
Preparing for early enrollment
Early scouting leads to a speedier recruitment, including the timing of a prospect's arrival on campus.
Several coaches who spoke to ESPN.com agreed that the early enrollment trend among prospects -- which is practiced across positions but was once quarterback-centric -- is one of the biggest driving forces in the rush to start young signal-callers.
Developing QBs
In addition to the early enrollment trend, freshman quarterbacks arrive on campus more prepared than ever.
"The reality of it is," Iowa State defensive coordinator Jon Heacock said, "young guys aren't young anymore. The assumption that you can fool them or that you can play a certain way defensively against a freshman, that mindset will get you in trouble fast."
The reason why?
"Development," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. "You've got these quarterback camps. Everybody's got a trainer nowadays. Guys start early. There's more 7-on-7 tournaments than ever
Arriving and adapting
So your freshman quarterback has planned, trained, enrolled early and is ready to compete. Even though arriving early helps him get a head start, it doesn't guarantee anything more than a chance. In order to start, one necessary ingredient is maturity.
Transfer culture
Ask most coaches and they'll be honest: It's not preferable to start a freshman quarterback. Often, it's done out of necessity. Most would prefer a veteran who has been in the offense for years, but that's not always feasible. Throwing a freshman into the fire can create its own set of issues.
"What if [immediate success] doesn't happen?" Limegrover said. "What then?"
Patience wanes. And the transfer market expands.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/23396659/the-rise-true-freshman-qb
It's a very long read but Jones succeeding as a True freshman is not out of the question if the OL improves.
