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Air Force Football: Ranking 2023’s Opposing Quarterbacks

A talented Falcons defense will tangle with some pretty good quarterbacks as they look to remain in the hunt for a Mountain West title.

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Can Air Force ground these passing games?

We are just a few weeks away from the start of the college football season. Coming off of back to back double-digit win season’s, the Falcon’s won’t be catching anyone by surprise in 2023.

As you look at this year’s schedule, there are quite a few teams that find themselves in the same situation as Air Force, breaking in a new quarterback. The Falcons are going to have to find a replacement for Haaziq Daniels, who had a fantastic career. They are also going to have to contend with some very talented passers mixed in the calendar.

We are going to rank the projected starting quarterback’s that the Falcons will be facing this season by degree of difficulty.

12. Sam Houston State — Keegan Shoemaker

Bringing up the rear in our list of quarterbacks, projected to face Air Force this year is Keegan Shoemaker. While 2022 was a lackluster year for Shoemaker, completing just 46% of his passes with six touchdowns, he is a guy that brings a lot of experience. As a freshman at Lafayette in 2019, he was selected as the Patriot League rookie of the year, as well as earning Freshman All-American status from Hero Sports. He transferred to Sam Houston State after that strong season and has yet to replicate that same performance consistently. Stepping up a weight class with Sam Houston State now competing in the FBS won’t make things any easier.

11. Army — Bryson Daily

Army was going to be breaking in a new primary signal caller regardless this season. Junior Bryson Daily had been running with the first team and appeared the starter, but had senior Alex Meredith pushing him through camp.

Daily is the clear front-runner now, as Meredith recently sustained a season ending injury that’s going to impact Army’s depth at the position. And depth is something Jeff Monken’s group has relied heavily upon in recent years. Perhaps the new offense featuring more shotgun concepts will aid in health for the quarterbacks. Time will tell, and it is going to be Daily’s job to lose.

10. Navy — Tai Lavatai/Blake Horvath

It’s a new era in Annapolis with former defensive coordinator, Brian Newberry now presiding as the head coach. A significant contributor to the change at head coach for 2023 has been an anemic Midshipmen offense in recent years. In particular, struggles for consistent play under center since Malcolm Perry departed for the NFL.

It doesn’t appear that any of the four primary competitors for the QB1 spot have been able to separate themselves. But headed into their clash with Notre Dame in Ireland, Bill Wagner of the Capital Gazette recently reported that a two quarterback system is likely to be deployed with Blake Horvath and Tai Lovatai. Horvath has no real game experience to speak of, while Lovatai is coming off a serious injury in 2022 and has been getting starts since 2021.

9. Hawaii — Brayden Schager

Schager enters his third year at Hawai’i with plenty of experience under his belt now. Unfortunately, a majority of that time Schager and the Bows’ have found themselves on the losing side of the scoreboard. In 2022, Hawai’i didn’t win an FBS game against a team that wasn’t in the state of Nevada. And in case you weren’t observing, most teams that played one of those Nevada schools left with a win.

Now, there are reasons to be optimistic. Not the least of which, another year of chemistry between now second year head coach (and College Football Legend) Timmy Chang and his quarterback. Schager could very well take another step forward in his development. But there are plenty of concerns to go around in Honolulu, many of which may not just affect the passing game, but the team’s overall ability to win games.

8. San Diego State — Jalen Mayden

One of the most interesting storylines of the Mountain West last season was the ascension of Jalen Mayden to starting quarterback at San Diego State. The converted defensive back had been playing in the secondary before getting the nod to move back under center.

Mayden made the most of his opportunity throwing for more than 2,000 yards and 12 touchdowns on the year. It would be reasonable to assume that with a full season under his belt, and two camps to hone his craft, the SEC transfer could be poised for a strong showing in 2023. In reality though, modest production out of the passing game has become the norm for the Aztecs, and that has to change before Mayden or their passing game are deemed a credible threat.

7. Wyoming — Andrew Peasley

Andrew Peasley’s ranking here is more indicative of his success against Air Force specifically, rather than broader success in the Conference. If you look at Peasley’s statistics from 2022 and prior, they aren’t going to wow you. With just a single game which he threw for over 200 yards in a game last year, it’s a healthy reminder that Wyoming’s offense leans on the ground game.

Take a look at his stat line against the Falcon’s for yourself though. Nearly 80% completion rate with a quarterback rating of 140 last year, 200+ yards, three touchdowns and a staggering 241 rating in 2022, and it’s clear this guy didn’t get the memo that Air Force featured one of the nations top defenses last year. Peasley is probably seven spots too low on this list.

6. Utah State — Cooper Legas

The story of Cooper Legas placement on this list is very similar to Peasley’s. Another guy who seems to crank up his game against Air Force, though in Legas case it’s a single game for a sample size. He averaged an interception per game (10) to lead the Mountain West in 2022, but it didn’t prevent him from putting together a solid all around performance in Logan versus Air Force.

The Aggies returning quarterback might now be operating Blake Anderson’s offense the same way that Logan Bonner did, when they took the conference by storm. However, he brings a gritty element with his run game that was particularly problematic for the Falcons last season. If he can cut back on the turnovers, Legas could be one of the top quarterbacks in the conference this year.

5. UNLV — Doug Brumfield

It feels like we have been getting teased with a potential breakthrough performer in the conference by Doug Brumfield for two years now. When healthy, it’s pretty clear why there is so much optimism around UNLV’s quarterback.

In his ten games last year, Brumfield put up pretty respectable numbers. The beginning of the year is the real catalyst to the hype train around the lefty though. Despite posting the second best completion percentage in the conference at 65%, with 15 tuddies to go along with it, it was clear he wasn’t playing at the same level after being injured midway through the season. Which version of Brumfield will be leading the Reb’s in 2023?