Tag: Ben Bryant

WATCH: Former Wisconsin commit leads Northwestern on miraculous comeback vs Minnesota

A former Wisconsin commit had a career night as Northwestern beat Minnesota Saturday:

Northwestern starting quarterback Ben Bryant’s college career has been quite the rollercoaster.

The La Grange, Illinois native originally committed to Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin Badgers during his recruiting process in 2018, before reversing course and signing with Luke Fickell and Cincinnati. A colliding of worlds four years in advance.

Bryant then went on to redshirt in 2018, play at Cincinnati in 2019 and 2020, transfer to Eastern Michigan to play in 2021, transfer back to Cincinnati to play and start in 2022 and finally transfer to Northwestern this offseason for his final season of eligibility.

A lot is currently going wrong for the 2023 Wildcats, from a 4-20 record the last two seasons to unforeseen coaching turnover immediately before the start of 2023. It entered Saturday’s contest with Minnesota with a 1-2 record and not much hope for the rest of the year.

Related: Big Ten Power Rankings after Week 4: The Big Ten West is really, really, bad

On paper, Minnesota was supposed to enter Evanston and take care of business easily. Luckily, the games aren’t played on paper and on Las Vegas computers.

Former Wisconsin commit Ben Bryant played probably the best game of his long collegiate career — 33/49 passing, 396 yards and 4 touchdowns — while the Wildcats erased a 21-0 deficit to win 37-34 in overtime.

Here are some of Bryant’s best highlights:

It was truly a terrible loss for Minnesota and P.J. Fleck, who yet again project to finish the season without a trip to Indianapolis.

Cincinnati QB transfer Ben Bryant reveals transfer destination

The Northwestern Wildcats picked up a big commitment out of the transfer portal on Tuesday from a former AAC quarterback.

University of Cincinnati quarterback transfer Ben Bryant won’t be moving all too far this summer. The redshirt senior quarterback out of Lagrance, Illinois, will be heading close to home for his final season of eligibility in 2023. He committed to the Northwestern Wildcats on Wednesday.

Bryant was Cincinnati’s starting quarterback this past season, completing 213-of-348 passing attempts for 2,732 yards and 21 touchdowns with just seven interceptions. In the process, the Bearcats went 9-4 on the season including 6-2 in AAC play before losing 24-7 in the Fenway Bowl.

For Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern, the commitment from Bryant is a major one. Last season, three quarterbacks had 40 or more passing attempts for the Wildcats Ryan Hillinski, Brenden Sullivan, and Cole Freeman.

All three quarterbacks had some struggles in the process. Hillinski completed 55.8% of his passes for 1,644 yards and six touchdowns while throwing seven interceptions, Sullivan completed a strong 74% of his passes but had three interceptions to just four touchdowns in the process. Finally, Cole Freeman struggled the most with just a 48.9% completion percentage while throwing five interceptions.

With the poor quarterback play, the Wildcats struggled mightily, averaging just 13.8 points on offense which ranked 128 out of 131 teams nationally, leading to a 1-11 overall record. Their only win on the season came in Ireland, in their season opener against Nebraska 31-28. The Wildcats have not won on American soil since October 16, 2021 against Rutgers 21-7.

Bryant should bring consistency and all-around strong play to the Wildcats next season.

Coming out of high school in the 2018 recruiting cycle, Bryant was a consensus three-star recruit who committed to Cincinnati over offers from Georgia, Ole Miss, and West Virginia as well as other Group of Five programs.

Auburn is at the ‘forefront’ of the transfer quarterback market

Chris Hummer of 247Sports expects Auburn to make a splash by landing a top name in the transfer portal.

There have been rumblings that Auburn could be on the hunt for a transfer quarterback ever since Hugh Freeze took over the program as head coach.

Following the announcement of T.J. Finley’s decision to enter the transfer portal, the discussion of Auburn being at the top of the market has grown immensely.

In the final days of the spring transfer portal window, three quarterbacks with substantial experience threw their names into transfer consideration: Nebraska’s [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag], Michigan State’s [autotag]Payton Thorne[/autotag], and Cincinnati’s [autotag]Ben Bryant[/autotag].

The next question becomes, “Where will those three quarterbacks land?” There are several Power Five programs that could use a boost at quarterback, but there is one program at the forefront, Auburn.

In a recent episode of “The College Football Recruiting Show” from 247Sports, analyst Chris Hummer discussed several of the biggest headlines regarding the transfer portal. One of those was of course Auburn’s need of a quarterback from the transfer portal.

“Auburn is certainly going to be at the forefront of that conversation,” Hummer said. “They are going to be the team, at least at the top of the portal QB market, determining where these dominoes end up falling.”

Thompson and Thorne are the two biggest names to watch right now within the portal. One of those appears to be leaning more toward Auburn.

“Casey Thompson is definitely at the forefront of a lot of teams’ plans. Auburn is certainly at the forefront with Casey Thompson right now,” Hummer said. “Auburn is going to fill a need in the portal. I don’t know if it will be Casey Thompson or Payton Thorne, but I can almost guarantee you that they’ll end up with at least one of the two.”

Several other programs to watch for in the quarterback market include Cincinnati, Houston, Purdue, Louisville, and TCU says Hummer.

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Ben Bryant becomes another transfer option for Auburn

Bryant has thrown for 5,853 yards over the last two seasons. Could Auburn use his services?

The final week of the spring transfer portal window is here. If Hugh Freeze and staff are looking to add another quarterback to the competition, the experience of former Cincinnati quarterback [autotag]Ben Bryant[/autotag] may be what they are looking for.

Bryant entered his name into the transfer portal last weekend after spending four seasons at Cincinnati, and one at Eastern Michigan. In his career as Cincinnati’s starting quarterback, he has tossed 3,285 yards and 23 touchdowns. Last season, he completed 61% of his passes for 2,732 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Bryant’s passing numbers are similar to what Freeze and offensive coordinator [autotag]Philip Montgomery[/autotag]’s quarterbacks are accustomed to doing, so if Auburn elects to pursue Bryant, he may fit in with the scheme well. He has one season of eligibility remaining, which could be a good buffer to allow [autotag]Robby Ashford[/autotag] and [autotag]Holden Geriner[/autotag] more time to learn the system.

In a recent post by Andrew Florio of BVM Sports, Auburn is listed as one of five great fits for Bryant.

The Tigers were heavily linked to Coastal Carolina’s Grayson McCall before he decided to return to the Chanticleers. Does Auburn still want to bring in a veteran signal caller? Robby Ashford has a lot of potential, but it would not hurt to bring in more competition. It still has Holden Geriner, a former four-star recruit, on the roster, so maybe Auburn just lets him compete for the job instead.

By entering his name into the transfer portal, Bryant is now the top available quarterback according to On3. Who else makes up the list?

Here’s a look at the top uncommitted quarterbacks who are currently in the transfer portal according to On3:

Cincinnati’s Ben Bryant becomes latest quarterback to enter the portal

The transfer portal just gained another quarterback.

Another quarterback has entered the transfer portal giving teams like the Auburn Tigers and Florida Gators another option.

It was reported on Thursday that last year’s starting quarterback Ben Bryant would enter the transfer portal. Bryant spent his first three seasons with the Bearcats before transferring to Eastern Michigan in 2021 and returning to Cincinnati in 2022. Bryant went into the offseason competing with another transfer quarterback for the starting job under Satterfield.

The 6-foot-3 quarterback played in 11 games last season throwing for 2,732 yards and 21 touchdowns while completing 61.2% of his passes. Provided that Bryant moves on, Satterfield will have Emory Jones as the likely starter after transferring from Arizona State.

Jones played with the Florida Gators from 2018 until 2021. His departure was likely due to the emergence of Anthony Richardson. Jones had issues with turning the ball over during his four seasons in Gainesville. After one year with Arizona State, he opted to transfer to Cincinnati.

The Bearcats are set to begin their season in the new-look Big 12 along with the BYU Cougars, UCF Knights, and Houston Cougars.

Top six players to watch in Arkansas-Cincinnati on Saturday

Here is a look at the best players to look out for during one of the best College Football opening weekend games.

The best thing about college football is watching the emergence of new players. And with the new transfer portal acting as an amateur-level free agency, we’ll also see new faces in new places.

No. 23 Arkansas and no. 22 Cincinnati offer new players making their first start in college football and transfers hoping to make noise in their new home.

The Hogs are looking to begin the season on a positive with the toughest schedule in college football. For a betting fan, the odds are in their favor, with a 59% chance of winning, along with the historical dominance the SEC has on non-conference opponents in opening games.

But with high expectations come unwarranted pressure, and the question is can the top players for the Hogs handle it?

The Bearcats, on the other hand, are playing with church money. Luke Fickell is bringing a young team into Fayetteville, but Cincy has shown over the last couple of years that they are a good football program.