Five High Profile Quarterback Battles That Will Resume In Preseason

Anyway, the 6-foot-6 and 230-pound Mack is in his fourth year with Kalen DeBoer having launched his collegiate career at Washington in 2023 before following the coach to Alabama. (Mack was recruited at UW by Tide offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who left the Huskies to be the Seattle Seahawks’ OC in 2024 prior to rejoining DeBoer in 2025.) Mack has thrown for 267 yards and three touchdowns in five games as a backup to Simpson and Jalen Milroe the past two seasons.

Russell saw action in a pair of games (143 yards, 2 TDs) last year as a true freshman. The 2024 national high school player of the year and a top three quarterback recruit out of suburban Dallas has a critical summer ahead.

“As good as they did and as nice a job that they had performing this spring, I’d expect for them to take another big leap here in the summer,” DeBoer said of both QBs.

Arizona State

With Sam Leavitt in Baton Rouge and Jeff Sims having expired his eligibility, coach Kenny Dillingham and offensive coordinator/QB coach Marcus Arroyo needed a couple of experienced quarterbacks. The most experienced by far is Arizona native Mikey Keene, who began his career at UCF in 2021 and has more than 8,000 career passing yards in two seasons with the Knights and two (2023-24) at Fresno State. Keene spent last season as a backup to Bryce Underwood at Michigan and did not attempt a pass after he was limited in spring due to a shoulder injury.

(While with Fresno State in 2023, Keene threw for 281 yards and two scores in helping the Bulldogs to a 29-0 win at Arizona State, which committed eight turnovers. It was the first time ASU was shut out at home in 35 years.)

Cutter Boley arrived from Kentucky where he showed plenty of promise as a redshirt freshman last season. He threw 15 touchdown passes and his 66.5 completion percentage in eight SEC games was third among the conference’s quarterbacks in league play. He was also picked a dozen times in 301 pass attempts and is 17/16 in 354 career pass attempts. Boley, has three years of eligibility and seemingly ample upside the Dillingham/Arroyo can tap into.

Cameron Dyer is the only returning quarterback. The Gatorade New Mexico high school player of the year as a junior in 2023 was sidelined last season while recovering from a knee injury sustained as a high school senior. Dyer got his share of practice reps and ultimately served as a backup to Sims in the final month of 2025, though he did not see action. He had a strong spring and at the very least built momentum heading into preseason camp. True freshman Jake Fette arrived in winter following a decorated high school career in his native Texas, including major outlets rating him as the Lone Star State’s No. 3 signal caller.

Florida

Coach Jon Sumrall, hired away from Tulane where he led the Green Wave to an American Conference title and a spot at the CFP table last season, arrived in Gainesville in need of a starting quarterback. One of the returning players, Tramell Jones, Jr., may prove to be the go-to guy.

Jones got his feet wet (two games, 191 passing yards) in relief of DJ Lagway last season. Lagway entered the portal shortly after Sumrall was hired and ultimately transferred to Baylor, where his father, Derek, was a running back. Lagway’s departure created a path for Jones to compete for the starting job, which he did with Aaron Philo this spring.

Philo, who has three seasons of eligibility, was the primary backup to Haynes King at Georgia Tech the past two seasons, both with offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. Sumrall hired Faulkner in early December and Philo arrived a month later. With the Yellow Jackets, the Georgia native threw for 938 yards with a pair of TDs in eight games.

Jones, who does not turn 20 until October, is a Jacksonville native and was the Sunshine State’s No. 4 quarterback in the class of 2025, according to Rivals. He has four seasons of eligibility.

Tennessee

With Joey Aguilar’s waiver for an additional year of eligibility denied by the NCAA in February, a denial that was the result of two seasons with a JUCO before transferring to Appalachian State ahead of the 2023 season, coach Josh Heupel went through the spring evaluating a competition that will continue in the preseason.

Redshirt freshman George MacIntyre entered this spring having gone through an entire year with the Vols, including playing in a pair of games last season (69 passing yards) while behind Aguilar and Jake Merklinger, now at UConn. Heupel dipped into the portal and brought Ryan Staub to Knoxville to have a more experienced player in the room. Staub spent three seasons at Colorado where he made two starts (2023 & 2025) and threw for 681 yards and four touchdowns in 99 attempts.

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - George MacIntyre of the Tennessee Volunteers warms up before their game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Neyland Stadium on October 11, 2025 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

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True freshman Faizon Brandon was the one to watch during the spring and certainly will be in preseason camp. The dual-threat North Carolinian was a consensus top five QB recruit who has the measurables (6-4, 215) and showed much maturity and understanding of the offense – though not without typical freshman miscues – during the spring.

Virginia

Coach Tony Elliott had an experienced quarterback in Chandler Morris help lead the Cavaliers to the ACC title game last year. With Morris denied an additional season of eligibility, Elliott hit the portal to reel not one, but two experienced signal callers to compete in a new-look room. It is an intriguing competition because of the level of experience Beau Pribula and Eli Holstein have brought to Charlottesville.

This is Pribula’s fifth and final year of eligibility having spent his first three seasons, including as a redshirt in 2022, at Penn State behind Drew Allar. Pribula, who totaled 19 touchdowns in his two active seasons in Happy Valley prior to transferring to Missouri when Allar decided to return to the Nittany Lions for the 2025 season. He was the Tigers’ starter – he sat out a pair of games due to an ankle injury – throwing for 1,941 yards and 11/9 while rushing for six touchdowns.

Holstein has two seasons of eligibility after starting 14 games the past two years at Pitt where he threw for 3,309 yards and 29 touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Louisiana native began his career at Alabama, where he redshirted in 2023, Nick Saban’s final season. With Jalen Milroe returning in 2024 and Ty Simpson waiting his turn, Holstein sought and found an opportunity to play at Pitt.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com