Fall camps around the country are heating up with just a few weeks before the start of the regular season. That means that quarterback competitions are kicking into high gear, particularly in the ACC.
A year removed from putting a team in the national championship, quarterback play is at a premium in the ACC. Teams know that they need to be as strong as possible there or risk falling behind in the conference. That’s, in turn, led to a few very interesting quarterback competitions.
With that in mind, here are a few quarterback competitions to keep an eye on in the ACC.
The Clemson Tigers are getting ready to replace Cade Klubnik at quarterback. Certainly, head coach Dabo Swinney would love for that to be Christopher Vizzina, but Tait Reynolds may be too good to overlook.
Vizzina is now in his fourth college season, all at Clemson, developing and sitting behind Klubnik. It should be his turn, but Reynolds may have other ideas. Swinney shared that he’s separated from the other quarterbacks competing, and he could even push Vizzina now.
The transfer portal put Duke in a tough spot at quarterback. Last year’s starter, Darian Mensah, entered on the final day. So, the Blue Devils had to find someone without the same benefit of the portal to do so.
Still, Duke took Walker Eget as a transfer from San Jose State. He’ll compete with Dan Mahan, who is in his second season at Duke. Eget offers proven success after he threw for 3,051 yards a season ago, though Mahan has experience is within the system at Duke.
With legendary quarterback Andrew Luck acting as the program’s GM, Stanford should be able to find a quarterback. However, without a winning record since 2018, that hasn’t necessarily been the case.
Under new head coach Tavita Pritchard, it looks like Michigan transfer Davis Warren is the favorite. He earned nine starts in four seasons there, but struggled when on the field. Behind him, Dylan Rizk and Michael Mitchell are also battling. Rizk has some experience from his time at UCF, though not as much as Warren. Meanwhile, Mitchell is a true freshman.
It’s a new era for Virginia Tech, with James Franklin coming in from Penn State. That has brought massive amounts of roster turnover and some level of uncertainty, particularly at the quarterback position.
Franklin did bring in Penn State transfer Ethan Grunkemeyer, who replaced Drew Allar after Allar was injured. Nothing is set in stone, though. Another transfer, Bryce Baker, not to mention Kelden Ryan and Troy Huhn, are all battling for time. They lack the experience Grunkemeyer has, but are doing what they can to push him, with Franklin still looking at the position.
