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Mountain West Quarterback Rankings
After each game the rankings will be updated.
Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire
What team has the best signal caller?
With the offseason finally over and a full-ish slate of Mountain West games to begin this week, we are bringing out our Mountain West quarterback rankings. This is something we will do each week and throughout the year and track these players.
There was no spring football and a lot of changes like Donald Hammond III not on the roster, UNLV having a grad transfer be eligible, and Utah State losing Henry Colombi but gaining Utah’s Jason Shelly.
12. Kenyon Oblad, Max Gilliam and Justin Rogers – UNLV
The good news is that new head coach Marcus Arroyo has his guy in Justin Rogers eligible through a waiver after transfering in from TCU. The bad news is that he has not publicly listed a starting quarterback. Perhaps he is just playing it close to the vest or is unsure and multiple will play.
Oblad was the starter last year for the Rebels and played in 11 of the 12 games and started to improve in the second half of the season in which he had 10 touchdowns to just three interceptions. Gillam saw most of his action in 2018 when he took over for Armani Rogers but was beat out in 2019 by Oblad.
11. Nick Nash or Nick Starkel – San Jose State
The depth chat lists both as the starter and Starkel is a grad transfer who came from Arkansas and was part of that game last year vs. the Spartans who defeated his Razorbacks. There is experience with him and as for Nash, his quarterback action was limited as San Jose State had Josh Love who is one of their best quarterbacks in a long time.
Nash is more of a dual-threat quarterback who uses his legs, so this could be a split-situation all year but it is too early to tell where this unit will be overall.
10. Tevaka Tuiotito – New Mexico
Tuiotito has been around the New Mexico program for a few years and has the most experience as a starter. He is about these others due to the fact he is the man for New Mexico. Tuiotito only had seven touchdowns to six interceptions in the nine games he played, but he can make some plays with his legs and had a respectable 262 rushing yards and averaged five yards a run.
9. Jake Haener – Fresno State
There is not a lot to know from Haener from the average observer. He transferred in from Washington last year and sat out and was running the scout team. The good news is that he knows his teammates and practiced all last year with them but now he has to learn a new system with new head coach Kalen DeBoer.
Haener beat out Ben Wooldridge who saw very limited playing time last year, so the Fresno State quarterback room is listed here since there is not much known about Haener until they play Hawaii this weekend.
8. Jason Shelley – Utah State
Another transfer on this list and it is a late one. First, Utah State lost Henry Colombi to Texas Tech which is where former Aggie head coach Matt Wells is currently at. Colombi is also now the starter in Lubbock.
Utah State picked up Jason Shelley from just down the road from the University of Utah. Shelley has seen significant time as a quarterback when Tyler Huntley went down in 2018 and he filled in and started five games which included a Pac-12 title game appearance, which the Utes only scored three points in the 10-3 defeat. Shelley has experience at a higher level and did beat Oregon and BYU during his starting stretch.
7. Carson Baker – San Diego State
The Aztecs landed on Baker to be the starter as he played late last year when Ryan Agnew went down with an injury. He was more of a game control quarterback with few attempts and did not turn the ball over. The first year under Brady Hoke they will need a quarterback who does not give up the ball and move the offense well enough. San Diego State will be led by its defense and the offense just needs to find its typical strong running game and a quarterback who doesn’t make mistakes.
6. Haaziq Daniels – Air Force
No Donald Hammond for Air Force this year as he has no officially transferred from the Academy. This led to a scramble to see who would start for the Falcons and it ended up being Haaziq Daniels. Daniels has played in one game so far against Navy and looked sharp running the offense. In that game he rushed for 96 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown, and he was just OK with his 4 of 9 passing for 44 yards.
Mountain West Football: Every Team’s Initial 2020 Depth Chart
5. Levi Williams or Sean Chambers – Wyoming
The Wyoming quarterback position is going to be one of the most interesting of the battles, and it ended up with both being listed as starters.. Last year, Chambers was the guy all year long but he moved the ball with his legs and rarely put the ball in the air. It was very effective and worked well but when he got hurt it eventually was Levi Williams who stepped in and ran almost as well but he had the passing arm to guide the offense in the air. This should be a battle during fall camp and if Williams wins the job he could shoot up these rankings, if it is Chambers it might be a bit tough for him to crack the top three.
4. Carson Strong – Nevada
Strong is finally the man at Nevada. Last year, the Wolf Pack mixed and matched quarterbacks for a good portion of the season. Strong was the main quarterback in 2019 but now going forward he will not have to worry about being pulled this year.
The talent around him is good and this could lead Strong to being in the running for one of the best signal-callers in the Mountain West. He will need to get more accurate as he threw seven touchdowns and hopefully his offensive line can help him out more and reduce is total number of sacks which was 23 last season.
3. Chevan Cordeiro – Hawaii
Cordeiro has seen plenty of time over the past two years as the Hawaii quarterback but the offense is going to change a bit with Todd Graham as the new coach. Plus, the bulk of the wide receivers are gone which means there is a new set of pass-catchers. The talent is there for Cordeiro it really depends on how much the offense changes.
2. Patrick O’Brien – Colorado State
O’Brien has one of the best receiving groups to work with in the conference and last year when he played for Collin Hill he did well. The loss of Warren Jackson hurts O’Brien’s stock just a bit but there are other solid wide receivers such as Nate Craig-Meyers and Dante Hall. New head coach Steve Addazio is known to run the ball a lot and that could diminish how good O’Brien can be.
1. Hank Bachmeier – Boise State
Bachmeier had some bad luck last year being hurt and missing a lot of the season. He has the potential to be the top signal-caller but he will have to earn it by being healthy. If Bachmeier plays the entire year unscathed he has the talent himself and around him to end the year at the top but he is still sort of in a wait-and-see if he is an elite quarterback. Yet, right now heading into the season he has the most potential to easily be the top quarterback.
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