USC, Oregon and Washington are connected in a few different ways. One prominent way in which these football programs are linked is that they all have Cadillac quarterbacks who won’t be around next year.
We asked our Pac-12 football panel the following question:
Next year, USC won’t have Caleb, UW won’t have Penix, and UO won’t have Nix. There are home-grown QBs waiting for their chance at these programs, but should each coach — Lincoln Riley, Kalen DeBoer, and Dan Lanning — focus on the portal for his 2024 quarterback?
Here’s how our panel responded:
Matt Zemek: I think so. There’s no moral or ethical obligation for Lincoln Riley to have to play Miller Moss or Malachi Nelson if there’s an elite portal QB willing to come to USC in 2024 and win big. Portal quarterbacks are a necessity, not a luxury, in modern college football. Bo Nix and Michael Penix are transfers just as Caleb Williams is. Dillon Gabriel of Oklahoma is a transfer who has the Sooners in position to make a run at the playoff. I don’t think coaches can trust that home-grown recruits at QB will be sufficient to win at an elite level in their first year of action.
Matt Wadleigh: The transfer portal is changing the game rapidly, and that should be a priority for each program this offseason. Malachi Nelson is a star in waiting at USC (potentially, at least), but examining the market for a top-tier QB, such as a Sam Hartman this past offseason with Notre Dame, has to be a consideration.
Zachary Neel: I wouldn’t be surprised if any of the schools bring in a transfer portal QB in the offseason to at least compete for the starting spots. I don’t know either UW or USC’s QB rooms well enough to speak in much detail, but I do know that the Ducks like what they have with Ty Thompson and feel good about his future. However, I don’t think that stops them from taking a portal addition if the right one pops up.
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