2010 FBS Positional Analysis: Quarterbacks

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06/23/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - They probably get too much credit when things are going good, and too much blame when things aren't. But that's the nature of the quarterback position at every level, and the FBS is certainly no exception.

With that said, here are the top signal-callers heading into the 2010 college football season.

JAKE LOCKER, WASHINGTON

There was a real chance that Locker would have been an early pick in this year's NFL Draft, as the St. Louis Rams, among others, were reported to be extremely high on him. Locker has everything needed to be a cornerstone of a NFL organization for a decade or so, including prototypical size (6-3, 225) and experience in a pro-style offense at WU. He has a quick release and strong arm, with the ability to make things happen with his legs as well. Locker just missed out on a 2,000-yard passing, 1,000-yard rushing campaign in 2007, then rushed for just under 400 yards in 2009, while upping his passing number to the 2,800 range. If he continues to improve as a passer (completed 47.3 percent in 2007, 53.8 percent in abbreviated 2008 campaign and 58.4 percent in 2009), his status in the eyes of scouts will only improve.

RYAN MALLETT, ARKANSAS

He won't run away from anyone, but at 6-7, 238 pounds, Mallett doesn't need to. Mallett transferred from Michigan, where he started as a freshman before exiting after Rich Rodriguez's offense made him obsolete. After sitting out 2008, Mallett earned the starting job last spring and never looked back. He completed a modest 55.8 percent of his passes, but did throw for 3,624 yards, with 30 TDs and just seven interceptions in head coach Bobby Petrino's system. A strong-armed pocket-passer that the pros covet, the junior could certainly feel the gravitational pull of the NFL by mid-season if all goes well.

TERRELLE PRYOR, OHIO STATE

Pryor has been on this list since the day he stepped on the field in Columbus, and perhaps even before. The expectations were so high that it was almost impossible for Pryor to live up to the hype, but the 6-6, 233-pound junior has continued the maturation process within the OSU offense. During the 2009 campaign, the former blue-chipper threw for just over 2,000 yards and 18 TDs, while rushing for 779 yards and seven more scores. Expect more of the same in 2010. He won't lead the nation with gaudy passing numbers, but should be a regular on highlight reels week-in and week-out, as Ohio State will once again be in the hunt for the Big Ten title and factor in the big BCS picture as the season nears a conclusion.

KELLEN MOORE, BOISE STATE

Perhaps the best quarterback in the country, with the least amount of hype. Moore has been a model of consistency since stepping onto the blue turf in Boise a couple of years ago, and has been a major factor in his program crashing the BCS party of late. He lacks ideal size (6-0, 187), but makes up for it with great football instincts, competitive nature and superb leadership skills. In two seasons, Moore has completed over 66 percent of his passes with over 7,000 passing yards, 64 TDs and a mere 13 INTs. With the heightened national profile afforded Boise State this season (the Broncos should be a preseason top-five program), expect to hear plenty from Moore in 2010.

CASE KEENUM, HOUSTON

A product of the system in Houston? Probably, though there is still no denying the impressive nature of the numbers Keenum has put up with the Cougars. The 6-2, 210-pound All-American has led the nation in total offense the last two years, throwing for over 10,000 yards in his sophomore and junior campaigns combined, with 88 TD passes over that span. Keenum threw for a jaw-dropping 5,671 yards a year ago, with a 70 percent completion rate. It's hard to imagine his numbers plummeting this year.

ROBERT GRIFFIN, BAYLOR

The face of Baylor football, there may not be a more athletic QB in this group than Griffin, and that includes Pryor. As a freshman in 2008, the 6-2, 210- pounder threw for 2,091 yards, with 15 TDs and just three INTs, while rushing for 843 yards and 13 more scores, en route to All-American honors. He lasted just two-plus games into his sophomore season before being lost for the year with a knee injury, and will have to prove that he can recover his reputation as one of the fastest QBs in college football history. A hardship waiver got Griffin's sophomore year back, and in even better news, he participated in all non-contact drills in the spring.

JACORY HARRIS, MIAMI-FLORIDA

After showing flashes of brilliance as a freshman in 2008, Harris took it to another level as a sophomore last year, his first as the full-time starter. Harris completed around 60 percent of his passes, for 3,352 yards and 24 TDs, emerging as the face of the Hurricanes offense. Harris and the Canes will try to take another step forward this season in their hoped-for return to college football elite status. For his part, you can expect another jump in terms of production from the athletic Harris, as Miami pursues an ACC title in 2010.

COLIN KAEPERNICK, NEVADA

Yet another quarterback from a non-BCS program that can do a little bit of everything. With great size (6-6, 220) and extreme athleticism, Kaepernick has been a big fish in the small pond that is the WAC. Last season, the Wolf Pack's field-general passed for over 2,000 yards with 20 TD passes, while eclipsing 1,000 yards rushing (1,183), with an additional 16 scores. There isn't a whole lot of national attention lavished on the Nevada program, but Kaepernick may change that in 2010. Expect to see plenty of good things from the signal-caller in Reno this season.

LANDRY JONES, OKLAHOMA

Thrown into the toughest of situations a year ago, when Heisman-winner Sam Bradford went down with a shoulder injury, Jones actually performed admirably as a freshman in Norman. Named the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, the 6-2, 210-pounder completed almost 60 percent of his passes, for 3,198 yards, with 26 TDs. The Sooners struggled to an 8-5 record, but it was difficult to pin those struggles on Jones, who seemed to improve with each passing week. With a strong arm and a nice feel for the game, expect inflated numbers from Jones this season, as OU becomes relevant in the big picture again.

JERROD JOHNSON, TEXAS A&M

Johnson already holds numerous single-season passing records at Texas A&M, and heads into his senior season looking to climb the career charts as well. With attention-grabbing 6-5, 243-pound size, Johnson is coming off a stellar season in which he completed almost 60 percent of his passes, for 3,579 yards and 30 TDs, while adding another 500 yards on the ground and eight more TDs. If the Aggies are going to make a move in the Big 12 this year, the talented Johnson will be the main reason why.

OTHERS TO KEEP AN EYE ON: John Brantley (Florida), Cameron Newton (Auburn), Zach Collaros (Cincinnati), Christian Ponder (Florida State), Andy Dalton (TCU), Matt Barkley (USC), Tyrod Taylor (Virginia Tech).

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2007 online football betting Preview

My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."

The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.

To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.

However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.

Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.

Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.

Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.

2007 College Football Betting Preview

There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.

The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.

So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.

USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.

USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.

Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.

That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.

The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"

The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.

Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.

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The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.

It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."

The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.

The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.

Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.

After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.

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