No position in football is more important than the quarterback. While the college football season is still months away, there has been a lot of talk about this year’s class of college football quarterbacks and who deserves to be under center when the year begins. The majority of teams have settled on their starting quarterback already while some teams are hoping competition can bring out the best for them at the position. However, in some cases it seems as though the best quarterback on the roster is currently slated as the backup. Here is a look at the four college football quarterbacks that are better than their team’s current starter.
Tate Martell
Texas A&M Aggies
The Aggies lost their projected top two college football quarterbacks at the end of last season when Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray both headed elsewhere without much notice. Now they will turn to Trevor Knight with the hope the former Sooners’ quarterback can give them confident play for a year while they groom Martell. A&M doesn’t want to rush the top dual-threat passer and No. 29 overall prospect in the 2017 class so they will let Knight start this season while Martell learns from the sidelines. There is no doubt about which quarterback is the most talented on the Aggies’ roster but the team remains committed to developing Martell in to a star with him locked in as their projected starter for the next few years to come.
K.J. Costello
Stanford Cardinal
From Andrew Luck to Kevin Hogan, the Cardinal certainly have been spoiled by the level of talent they have had at the quarterback position under head coach David Shaw. However, with Hogan graduating this year Stanford is expected to turn to either Ryan Burns or Keller Chryst for one year while grooming K.J. Costello to be their starter. Costello was rated as the No. 3 pro-style quarterback in the 2016 recruiting class by 247Sports but the Cardinal will take their time with him and let him redshirt his freshman season. Stanford has a pair of capable quarterbacks in the redshirt junior Burns and the redshirt sophomore Chryst, so Costello will spend a year on the sidelines even though he is the most talented college football quarterbacks on the Cardinal roster right now.
Seth Green
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Minnesota has never been known for outstanding quarterback play but they might have found a very good one in Green. The Minnesota-native is the 10th-best dual-threat quarterback for the 2016 class according to 247Sports but the Golden Gophers aren’t in any rush to throw him in to the fire right away. Instead, Minnesota is committed to letting Mitch Leidner start this season with the hope that he can be the perfect bridge that allows Green a year to learn the system and prepare to be the starter. Green is only a career 56.4-percent passer with 28 touchdowns compared to 20 interceptions but for now, the Golden Gophers will continue to lean on him as their starter.
Chase Forrest
California Golden Bears
Sonny Dykes had it good with Jared Goff under center since his true freshman season, but Goff has graduated to the NFL and will be one of the top picks in the 2016 Draft. That means Dykes will need a new starting quarterback. Chase Forrest is one of the four quarterbacks Dykes has signed and while he appeared in only three games behind Goff last season he is already slated to start for Cal this season. However, that doesn’t mean he is the best quarterback on the roster as that designation appears to belong to Max Gilliam, who is a three-star prospect from the 2016 class that is the highest-rated of the quarterbacks Dykes has landed. Gilliam might need a little more time to get up to speed in new offensive coordinator Jake Spavital’s system so it makes sense that the Bruins would let him redshirt this season but he is clearly the more talented quarterback and the better long term option for Cal.
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