The college football season may be over for the Big 12, but that hasn’t stopped the headlines and storylines from coming in. On Wednesday, the transfer portal closed meaning that for the first time transfers had a real chance to look at every team and see where they would potentially fit in without the fear of a player staying another season. It didn’t take long for the spotlight to hit the Big 12 at the most position in sports: Quarterback.
On Thursday, three Big 12 teams got serious news about the future of their quarterback. For one it was a dream come true, another was confusing, and the third was a known deal, but tough nonetheless. Here are all three.
Kansas State Officially Loses Will Howard
Will Howard leaving Kansas State was not a surprise. He entered his name in the transfer portal all the way back in early December and did not play in the bowl game. However, there was still a small hope that maybe, just maybe, the Wildcat legend would decide to come back for one more season.
Those small hopes were shattered today when he made the official announcement that he would be transferring to Ohio State.
THE Ohio State University.
Thank you God!! pic.twitter.com/FTVlrYEaZK
— Will Howard (@whoward_) January 5, 2024
During his time at Kansas State, Howard accumulated 5,786 passing yards, 48 passing touchdowns, 25 interceptions, 934 rushing yards, 19 rushing TDs and one TD reception at Kansas State.
The good news is that Kansas State may have already found their next quarterback with Avery Johnson who led the Wildcats to a win over NC State in the Pop Tarts Bowl.
Oklahoma State Gets a Nice Surprise
If you thought playing for four seasons seemed like a long time, imagine seven! That is what Oklahoma State quarterback Alan Bowman just received from the NCAA, and he has decided to stay in Stillwater. Bowman has had quite the career starting at Texas Tech before transferring to Michigan where he ended up redshirting, and then found his way to Stillwater this past season.
On the year, Bowman had 3,460 yards passing and 15 TD. Even more impressive, he did that with Ollie Gordon III leading the nation in rushing.
Both players will come back next year making it seem like Oklahoma State may be the frontrunner to win the Big 12 Championship. The Cowboys have been in the Big 12 Championship Game two of the last three seasons, losing both games.
BYU Gets Another One Year Transfer
BYU doesn’t have a clear starter at quarterback next year. That is crazy to think about when you consider their history and rich tradition of quarterback play where it has always seemed like a 3,000 yard passer was waiting his turn for the 3,500 yard passer to graduate.
That isn’t the case for 2024.
The Cougars went out and got Gary Bohanon out of South Florida. His name may sound familiar from when he led the Baylor Bears to a Big 12 Championship in 2021. Bohanon received a medical redshirt for 2023 and 2024 will be his final season.
It is not clear yet whether the plan is start Bohanon, or just give depth to an already deep, but unproven quarterback room. Some fans are hesitant to completely embrace Bohanon since he is a one-year player and that formula didn’t work great last year with Kedon Slovis.
Big 12 Starting to Come Together for the QB Position
Yesterday, Houston also announced a Zeon Chriss, a transfer from Louisiana Tech would be joining their team to compete for the starting job at quarterback. A few days ago former Arkansas QB KJ Jefferson announced he’d be playing for UCF. With these announcements, it seems that the Big 12 is starting to get an idea of who the quarterbacks will be in the league next year.
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