Five High Profile Quarterback Battles That Will Resume In Preseason

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA – Keelon Russell of the Alabama Crimson Tide warms up prior to facing the Tennessee Volunteers at Bryant-Denny Stadium on October 18, 2025 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

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With the elimination of the spring transfer window, quarterback competitions that took place in the spring will carry over into preseason camp in identical fashion, barring injury. No new faces will enter quarterback rooms during the summer months and alter, or take over, the depth chart heading into the new season.

A few competitions, if indeed there was much competition, worked themselves out during the spring. Dabo Swinney, for example, has a fourth-year player in Christopher Vizzina, who made one start for Clemson last season and had more than 100 pass attempts in two years behind Cade Klubnik. It appears it is his job to lose.

In Tallahassee, Mike Norvell noted after the Seminoles’ final spring practice that the time was not right to name a starter among Auburn transfer and former Stanford signal caller Ashton Daniels, and Kevin Sperry, who backed up Thomas Castellanos (now with the Miami Dolphins) last season. A week later, Daniels was given the job.

There are few notable starting jobs that have yet to be called and will be a primary storyline when preseason camp commences in August.

Alabama

Austin Mack or Keelon Russell will take over in Tuscaloosa for a first-round pick. Who would have guessed that? Not Mack or Russell becoming the starter, but the fact Ty Simpson went No. 13 overall to the Rams.

Anyway, the 6-foot-6 and 230-pound Mack is in his fourth year with Kalen DeBoer having launched his collegiate career at Washington in 2023 before following the coach to Alabama. (Mack was recruited at UW by Tide offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who left the Huskies to be the Seattle Seahawks’ OC in 2024 prior to rejoining DeBoer in 2025.) Mack has thrown for 267 yards and three touchdowns in five games as a backup to Simpson and Jalen Milroe the past two seasons.

Russell saw action in a pair of games (143 yards, 2 TDs) last year as a true freshman. The 2024 national high school player of the year and a top three quarterback recruit out of suburban Dallas has a critical summer ahead.

“As good as they did and as nice a job that they had performing this spring, I’d expect for them to take another big leap here in the summer,” DeBoer said of both QBs.

Arizona State

With Sam Leavitt in Baton Rouge and Jeff Sims having expired his eligibility, coach Kenny Dillingham and offensive coordinator/QB coach Marcus Arroyo needed a couple of experienced quarterbacks. The most experienced by far is Arizona native Mikey Keene, who began his career at UCF in 2021 and has more than 8,000 career passing yards in two seasons with the Knights and two (2023-24) at Fresno State. Keene spent last season as a backup to Bryce Underwood at Michigan and did not attempt a pass after he was limited in spring due to a shoulder injury.

(While with Fresno State in 2023, Keene threw for 281 yards and two scores in helping the Bulldogs to a 29-0 win at Arizona State, which committed eight turnovers. It was the first time ASU was shut out at home in 35 years.)

Cutter Boley arrived from Kentucky where he showed plenty of promise as a redshirt freshman last season. He threw 15 touchdown passes and his 66.5 completion percentage in eight SEC games was third among the conference’s quarterbacks in league play. He was also picked a dozen times in 301 pass attempts and is 17/16 in 354 career pass attempts. Boley, has three years of eligibility and seemingly ample upside that Dillingham/Arroyo can tap into.

Cameron Dyer is the only returning quarterback. The Gatorade New Mexico high school player of the year as a junior in 2023 was sidelined last season while recovering from a knee injury sustained as a high school senior. Dyer got his share of practice reps and ultimately served as a backup to Sims in the final month of 2025, though he did not see action. He had a strong spring and at the very least built momentum heading into preseason camp. True freshman Jake Fette arrived in winter following a decorated high school career in his native Texas, including major outlets rating him as the Lone Star State’s No. 3 signal caller.

Florida

Coach Jon Sumrall, hired away from Tulane where he led the Green Wave to an American Conference title and a spot at the CFP table last season, arrived in Gainesville in need of a starting quarterback. One of the returning players, Tramell Jones, Jr., may prove to be the go-to guy.

Jones got his feet wet (two games, 191 passing yards) in relief of DJ Lagway last season. Lagway entered the portal shortly after Sumrall was hired and ultimately transferred to Baylor, where his father, Derek, was a running back. Lagway’s departure created a path for Jones to compete for the starting job, which he did with Aaron Philo this spring.

Philo, who has three seasons of eligibility, was the primary backup to Haynes King at Georgia Tech the past two seasons, both with offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. Sumrall hired Faulkner in early December and Philo arrived a month later. With the Yellow Jackets, the Georgia native threw for 938 yards with a pair of TDs in eight games.

Jones, who does not turn 20 until October, is a Jacksonville native and was the Sunshine State’s No. 4 quarterback in the class of 2025, according to Rivals. He has four seasons of eligibility.

Tennessee

With Joey Aguilar’s waiver for an additional year of eligibility denied by the NCAA in February, a denial that was the result of two seasons with a JUCO before transferring to Appalachian State ahead of the 2023 season, coach Josh Heupel went through the spring evaluating a competition that will continue in the preseason.

Redshirt freshman George MacIntyre saw action in a pair of games with the Vols last season (69 passing yards) while behind Aguilar and Jake Merklinger, now at UConn. Seeking more experience in the room, Heupel dipped into the portal and brought Ryan Staub to Knoxville. Staub spent three seasons at Colorado where he made two starts (2023 & 2025) and threw for 681 yards and four touchdowns in 99 attempts.

True freshman Faizon Brandon was the one to watch during the spring, and certainly will be in preseason camp. The dual-threat North Carolinian was a consensus top five QB recruit who has the measurables (6-4, 215) and showed much maturity and understanding of the offense – though not without typical freshman miscues – during the spring.

Virginia

Coach Tony Elliott had an experienced quarterback in Chandler Morris help lead the Cavaliers to the ACC title game last year. With Morris denied an additional season of eligibility, Elliott hit the portal to reel not one, but two experienced signal callers to compete in a new-look room. It is an intriguing competition because of the level of experience Beau Pribula and Eli Holstein brought to Charlottesville.

This is Pribula’s fifth and final year of eligibility having spent his first three seasons, including as a redshirt in 2022, at Penn State behind Drew Allar. Pribula totaled 19 touchdowns in his two active seasons in Happy Valley prior to transferring to Missouri when Allar decided to return to the Nittany Lions for the 2025 season. He was the Tigers’ starter last year – he sat out a pair of games due to an ankle injury – and threw for 1,941 yards and 11/9 while rushing for six touchdowns.

Holstein has two seasons of eligibility after starting 14 games the past two years at Pitt where he threw for 3,309 yards and 29 touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Louisiana native began his career at Alabama, where he redshirted in 2023, Nick Saban’s final season. With Jalen Milroe returning in 2024 and Ty Simpson waiting his turn, Holstein sought an opportunity to play and found one at Pitt.