Syracuse football: transfer quarterbacks are taking over college football

The Syracuse Orange will take the field on Saturday night led by starting quarterback Garrett Shrader they will be part of a growing number of FBS programs with a transfer starting at the position.

247Sports details the full picture in this recent article detailing the growth of transfers leading FBS offenses.

The ACC has four other transfers in the starting role as the season starts. Players who don’t win jobs aren’t waiting around for their opportunity and coaches who need a signal-caller are leaning towards someone who has experience in the college game.

When you dig deeper into the numbers you see that part of the Orange’s challenge in 2022 is that their FBS opponents quarterbacks are primarily experienced veterans. Right now only three of the 11 FBS teams that Syracuse will face are starting new quarterbacks and that includes Slovis who threw 30 touchdowns as a freshman at USC.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s look at the number of games each has played in their college careers.

Louisville: Malik Cunningham- 46 games

UConn: Zion Turner (the new starter for the Huskies)- 1 game

Purdue: Aidan O’Connell- 21 games

Virginia: Brennen Armstrong- 28 games

NC State: Devin Leary- 24 games

Clemson: D,J, Uiagalelei- 22 games

Notre Dame: Tyler Buchner- 10 games

Pittsburgh: Kedon Slovis- 27 games

Florida State: Jordan Travis- 26 games

Wake Forest: Sam Hartman (if he’s back)- 36 games

Boston College: Phil Jurkovec- 24 games

Shrader has 22 games at quarterback so he’s right in line with many of the players he’ll go up against this season. It’s just a sign of the current college football landscape that schools can’t expect to take advantage of inexperienced quarterbacks.

When coaches have to replace an incumbent starter they are often going to turn to the transfer portal to find someone looking for a new opportunity. Syracuse would rather see some new faces under center this fall but having an experienced transfer themselves could level the playing field each Saturday.