It’s That Magical Time Of The Year… Football Season

The college football season kicks off in earnest this weekend, and at last – long last – the wizards who run the various programs have seen fit to name their starting quarterbacks.

One would have to think that, for the most part, they already knew which way they were going and didn’t want to give the opening-day opponent any edge in preparation. Maybe in some cases the unknown drove the players competing to perform at higher levels.

Whatever.

Here are a few QB decisions of note as the chase to be better than Alabama (which has NOT announced a starter) begins:

• First-year coach Scott Frost will have a true freshman QB, Adrian Martinez, at the controls as the rebuild at Nebraska (4-8 last year) gets underway.
• Florida State, also in rebuild mode under new coach Willie Taggart, reinstalled Deiondre Francois as the starter. He started in 2016 and was lost for the season in the opener last year (knee).
• Florida, trying to reestablish itself with Dan Mullen now the coach, will stick with red-shirt sophomore Feleipe Franks. He was also the starter for the opener last year, lost the job, got it back and lost it again (to a third quarterback). We’ll see.
• LSU coach Ed Orgeron, who might occupy one of college football’s hottest seats before the first snap has been taken, tapped transfer Joe Burrow (formerly of Ohio State) to start against Miami. Burrow backed up J.T. Barrett the last two years.
• Clemson, which should compete for the national title again, chose Kelly Bryant over true freshman Trevor Lawrence who will, in time, continue the Tigers’ run of success at the position.
• UCLA, which suspended six players for its opener against Cincinnati, has not named a starter. Chip Kelly, another first-year coach, has three fighting for the job – Michigan transfer Wilton Speight, Devon Modster and Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Kelly said a decision will happen “organically.” We can only assume he means no preservatives will be added.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman