Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama and others are looking for new starting quarterbacks.
There are more than a few high-profile programs who haven't officially decided on a starting quarterback ahead of the 2025 season. And that includes the two teams that played for the national title in January.
Both Ohio State and Notre Dame need to replace their starters from the national championship game, while programs like Alabama and Colorado are looking for successors for their 2025 NFL Draft picks and Michigan is simply wanting adequate QB play this season.
Here's a look at the biggest quarterback competitions ahead of fall practices.
Ohio State
Lincoln Kienholz vs. Julian Sayin
The Buckeyes will defend their national title with a third different starting QB in the past three seasons. Will Howard transferred from Kansas State ahead of the 2024 season after Kyle McCord was the team’s starter in 2023. Howard was excellent in the College Football Playoff as Ohio State defeated Notre Dame for the national title.
Kienholz is a redshirt sophomore who got playing time in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 2023 season following McCord’s departure. Sayin is a former five-star recruit who originally signed with Alabama in the 2023 early signing period. He transferred to Ohio State following Nick Saban’s retirement.
Buckeyes coach Ryan Day hasn’t tipped his hand about a favorite just yet, either. Whoever wins the job will make his first start at home against Texas in one of the biggest games of the 2025 season.
Alabama
Austin Mack vs. Keelon Russell vs. Ty Simpson
Ty Simpson is the clear frontrunner to start for the Crimson Tide at the moment.
Coach Kalen DeBoer hasn’t officially named Simpson his starter but has been clear in recent weeks that Simpson is currently in the pole position.
“We did make it known at the end of spring if we played a game at that point — wouldn’t have changed it at this point because there’s nothing that’s happened as far as practicing — Ty Simpson would be the guy that would take the first snaps and be our starter,” DeBoer said at SEC media days.
“Challenged all of them at that time that they have to continue to take the strides, they got to continue in their own ways to improve. They’ve really worked hard to do that. Excited to see that progress two weeks from [Wednesday].”
Simpson has been with Alabama the longest and was Jalen Milroe’s backup in 2024. Mack initially signed with Washington when DeBoer was still with the Huskies and came to Tuscaloosa after DeBoer replaced Nick Saban. He was a four-star recruit in the class of 2023. Russell was a five-star recruit and the top player in the class of 2025. He flipped to Alabama over the summer of 2024 after initially committing to SMU.
Michigan
Bryce Underwood vs. Mikey Keene
Michigan needs much better quarterback play if it’s going to contend in the Big Ten and make the College Football Playoff.
The passing game was downright disastrous for the Wolverines in 2024. Michigan QBs threw just 11 TDs against 13 interceptions while averaging fewer than 129 passing yards per game.
Underwood is a Michigan native who initially committed to LSU before flipping his commitment to Michigan in the fall of 2024. He was a five-star recruit and the No. 3 player in the class of 2025. He’s set high goals for himself with the Wolverines and was coached in high school by Connor Stalions, the infamous man at the center of the Wolverines’ alleged advanced scouting scheme.
Michigan is Keene’s third school after he spent two seasons at UCF and two seasons at Fresno State. He’s been productive throughout his college career and has completed over 67% of his passes in each of the past three seasons. In his two seasons with the Bulldogs, Keene was 560-of-815 passing for 5,868 yards with 42 TDs and 21 interceptions.
Notre Dame
CJ Carr vs. Kenny Minchey
The player who many believed would start for the Fighting Irish in 2025 is now at Syracuse.
Steve Angeli spent the 2024 season as Riley Leonard’s backup but transferred during the spring. His move to replace Kyle McCord at Syracuse whittled the Notre Dame quarterback competition down to two.
Carr is the grandson of former Michigan QB Lloyd Carr and was a four-star recruit in the class of 2024 as the top player in the state of Michigan. Minchey signed with Notre Dame a year earlier and was also a four-star recruit. Neither player threw a pass in 2024 for the Fighting Irish and whoever wins the job will make his first start on the road against a Miami team that has serious hopes of making the College Football Playoff.
Tennessee
Joey Aguilar vs. George MacIntyre vs. Jake Merklinger
The Volunteers have a quarterback competition in the wake of Nico Iamaleava’s spring transfer to UCLA. And Tennessee coach Josh Heupel didn’t even wait for questions at SEC media days before talking about his team’s quarterback situation.
“I know when I open it up for questions, the first one will be about our quarterback situation,” Heupel said. "So I’m going to touch on that a little bit here as I get started. We will have a competition at the quarterback position. The three guys inside of that room, really proud of what they’ve done.”
Aguilar came over from UCLA after Iamaleava arrived in Westwood. He had transferred to UCLA himself during the spring from Appalachian State and was the Bruins’ presumed starter before Iamaleava left Tennessee. Merklinger spent the 2024 season as Iamaleava’s backup while MacIntyre was a four-star recruit in the class of 2025 and the No. 4 player in the state of Tennessee.
Colorado
Julian Lewis vs. Kaidon Salter
Colorado coach Deion Sanders was very clear at Big 12 media day that he did not know who his starting quarterback was going to be. Both Salter and Lewis were among the Buffaloes’ player representatives for the team’s media session and Sanders explained why in his news conference.
“We brought both of them because I don’t know which one is going to start,” Sanders said.
Salter is a transfer from Liberty who had a down season in 2024 as the Flames couldn’t match the success they had in 2023. Salter threw for over 2,800 yards and rushed for over 1,000 two seasons ago as Liberty went undefeated in the regular season. Last year, he failed to crack 2,000 yards passing and had just 579 rushing yards.
Lewis is a five-star recruit who committed to the Buffaloes in the early signing period over a host of other teams. He’s the best QB prospect Colorado has signed in Sanders’ tenure by far and the clear quarterback of the future as Salter has just one season of eligibility left. Can he win the job right away? Or will Salter’s experience give him the edge to be the Week 1 starter?
BYU
Bear Bachmeier vs. Treyson Bourget vs. McCae Hillstead
The Cougars are looking for a new starter following Jake Retzlaff’s recent departure. Retzlaff won the starting job ahead of the 2024 season and played well as BYU finished in a tie for first in the Big 12. But he recently withdrew from school in the wake of a civil suit against him for an alleged sexual assault in October of 2023.
The suit was dismissed on June 30 — Retzlaff contended that he and his accuser had consensual sex — but Retzlaff’s admission that the two had sex was an honor code violation and he was facing a suspension during the 2025 season.
Without Retzlaff on the roster, BYU’s likely 2025 starter won’t have played a game in 2024. Bachmeier is a transfer from Stanford, while neither Hillstead or Bourget played a season ago for the Cougars. Bachmeier is also the brother of former Boise State, Louisiana Tech and Wake Forest QB Hank Bachmeier, while Bourget is the brother of former Arizona State quarterback Trenton Bourget.
North Carolina
Max Johnson vs. Gio Lopez
One of Bill Belichick’s first big decisions at North Carolina will be his starting quarterback.
Johnson opened the 2024 season as UNC’s starter but suffered a season-ending leg injury in Week 1 against Minnesota. He announced in January he was returning to Chapel Hill for a sixth season of college football. The son of former NFL QB Brad Johnson spent the first two years of his college career at LSU and then was at Texas A&M for two seasons. Overall, he’s played in 31 games over five seasons and has completed 61% of his passes with 47 TDs and 13 interceptions.
Lopez started at South Alabama in 2024 and was very efficient. He was 206-of-312 passing for 2,559 yards and 18 TDs to just five interceptions. He also rushed 83 times for 463 yards and seven touchdowns. North Carolina hosts TCU in Week 1. The Horned Frogs finished the 2024 season at 9-4 after winning six of their last seven games.
Category: General Sports
