Pac-12's 2015 starting quarterback class may rank with its best

Dan Wolken | USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption Pac-12 boasts a wealth of talent at quarterback for 2015 USA Today Sports' Dan Wolken reports on the wide array of quarterbacks in the Pac-12 this season.

BURBANK, Calif. — For all the talk about facility investments and recruiting rankings, it's not hard to figure out why the Pac-12 is in the midst of a golden era. From almost every angle, quarterback play throughout the league has never been better.

"I said last year I thought the Pac-12 was better than the SEC, and one of the reasons I said it was the overall quarterback play in the entire league was better," Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre said. "That wasn't knocking the other league; we just had some really good ones. If you look at the NFL, the teams that win have a what? A quarterback. You have a more consistent team week in and week out if you have a good quarterback."

Whether it was Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC, Aaron Rodgers at Cal, Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf at Washington State or Jake Plummer at Arizona State, the Pac-12 has seen its share of elite quarterbacks over the years.

But the glut of talent entering 2015 is staggering, whether it's legitimate pro prospects (USC's Cody Kessler, California's Jared Goff, Stanford's Kevin Hogan), dynamic dual-threats (Arizona's Anu Solomon), veterans who are primed to capitalize on starting opportunities (Arizona State's Mike Bercovici) and potential stars (UCLA's Josh Rosen).

The Pac-12's proven depth stands in sharp contrast to the SEC, where premier programs like Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss enter fall camp with major question marks.

"Last year, as a quarterback league, might have been one of the best in history," Washington State's Mike Leach said of a group that included Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota and Oregon State's Sean Mannion. "This year, there will be some new faces, but there will be quality quarterbacks. Some of these guys were getting out ahead of the posse because the young guys were closing in on them anyway."

There may not be another Mariota, who accounted for more than 5,000 total yards and 57 touchdowns, but there are plenty of known quantities.

Because of Mariota's dominance, Kessler was mostly overlooked nationally last season despite thriving in Steve Sarkisian's up-tempo offense, finishing with a 39:5 ratio of touchdowns to interceptions. He projects to be just as effective after bypassing the NFL Draft for one more shot at a national title.

"It's Year 2 of our system, and everybody's comfort level is better," Sarkisian said. "We've got a really good quarterback that when we utilize the play action pass or we utilize your commitment to stopping the run, we can throw the ball down the field and create big plays. We are not a dunk-and-dunk offense."

The hype is similar around the 6-4, 215-pound Goff, who was given the reins to Cal's offense the moment he stepped on campus and has lived up to expectations, as the Bears progressed from 1-11 to 5-7 in Sonny Dykes' first two seasons.

Goff has a big arm, but his accuracy — he's completed 61.2% of his passes for 53 touchdowns against 17 interceptions — has given rise to the notion this may be his last season of college football before heading to the NFL Draft.

"Every quarterback in the Pac-12 tends to be very talented, and you have to be to compete in this conference and you have to be able to lead this team to a lot of points," Goff said. "That's the way this conference goes."

There are also plenty of good vibes coming out of Stanford, where four-year starter Kevin Hogan flashed early brilliance but struggled last season as his father was battling cancer — a situation few people outside the program knew about until he passed away in December.

Stanford coach David Shaw also said expectations have weighed on Hogan at various times — following Andrew Luck is no easy task, after all — but that his frame of mind changed at the end of last season when he began to play better.

"Kevin is really, really close to mastering our offense," Shaw said. "His spring was phenomenal."

Two of the league's most intriguing quarterback situations involve talented players who have yet to complete a season at the college level but project to be effective right away.

Bercovici started last season when Arizona State's starter, Taylor Kelly, missed three games with a foot injury . Bercovici has a big arm and played well enough — beating USC and Stanford, the former on a 46-yard Hail Mary — to attract the attention of NFL scouts. It also suggests Arizona State may actually be upgrading at quarterback, as Kelly wasn't quite as sharp down the stretch last season.

"Every player and coach voted for (Bercovici) as our sole leader," Arizona State coach Todd Graham said. "That tells you the respect he has. This guy has sacrificed for the opportunity to be the Sun Devil quarterback. He's not a first-year quarterback in my mind. He has a lot of experience under his belt and he sacrificed an awful lot to wait his turn to lead our team and that gives me a lot of confidence because it all starts with the quarterback."

UCLA could also be a team that lost an experienced starter but also upgraded at quarterback. For all the hype around Brett Hundley, who went in the fifth round of the NFL Draft, he never developed into an elite passer and struggled at times behind an inexperienced offensive line.

Rosen, the No. 1-ranked pro style quarterback in the high school class of 2015, has more tools to lead the Bruins to a Pac-12 title. The only question is how long it will take him to acclimate to the speed of the college game — and whether the Bruins can protect him better. UCLA got a peek of Rosen's ability in the spring — he enrolled early and got a jumpstart on learning the offense — but coach Jim Mora is preaching caution.

"It's crazy how many great quarterbacks there are in this conference, and they're all so different," Mora said. "They present different challenges defensively every week and they're all tremendously effective doing what they do. We'll see (with Rosen). He hasn't taken a snap at this level, so I don't want to put too many expectations on him. I want Josh to reach his potential. If he reaches his potential every day, at the end of his time at UCLA we'll look back and say it was a success."

Like the team he plays for, Solomon's accomplishments often get overlooked. As a freshman, he threw for 3,793 yards and 28 touchdowns for the Wildcats, who came out of nowhere to win the Pac-12 South. Though his first season ended with a loss to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl — a game that perhaps exposed some weaknesses in his decision-making process — his play was an indicator that the Pac-12 will be stocked with competent quarterbacks for a long time to come.

"I don't know if you can play well offensively if that guy doesn't play well at quarterback," Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said. "There are a bunch of really good quarterbacks in the West and they're staying out here. When I lived in West Virginia, you'd fly over the state and see more deer than you would homes. You fly over LA, just over the 405 and the 101, every time I look out I say there's got to be a quarterback somewhere."

Oregon, whose quarterback situation was the embodiment of stability with Mariota the past three seasons, is starting over. The assumption is Eastern Washington graduate transfer Vernon Adams, who put up huge numbers at the FCS level, will take the job, but the fact he hasn't completed his final degree requirement — preventing him from enrolling at Oregon until the last minute, if at all — is concerning.

Oregon coach Mark Helfrich can't talk about Adams yet per NCAA rules but said he is confident in fourth-year junior Jeff Lockie, who played spot minutes behind Mariota.

Regardless of Oregon's situation, the Pac-12 appears loaded at the sport's most important position, which should translate to wild games week in and week out.

"We have very unique coaches that have their style of offense and they're experts at their style, so I think there's going to be some teams that don't have a quote-unquote returning starter that play beyond expectations," Shaw said. "I know who they recruited at UCLA. We played against the next starter at Arizona State and I know how well he can play and we know who's going to end up at Oregon and see what kind of dynamic player he is. We have outstanding coaches that have really good talent, and that talent is going to show itself."

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