Greg McElroy believes Big Ten has most upside at quarterback

The quarterback spot is in a really healthy spot at several conferences, specifically in the Power Five. However, when it comes to potential, Greg McElroy thinks the Big Ten is the league with the best quarterback collection.

McElroy shared that prediction in a recent episode of ‘Always College Football’. While he recognizes that not every quarterback in the conference is going to be a hit, he says the combined capacity of the prospects across the board is too much to ignore.

“I’ll make a bold prediction. How’s this sound? There is not a conference with more upside at the quarterback position than the Big Ten,” McElroy said. “I just listed off six or seven guys that might by vying for All-Conference selections.”

“There might be some question marks at Rutgers, maybe Ben Bryant isn’t the answer at Northwestern. Maybe there’s a couple guys. I don’t know how it all works out. I don’t know if Indiana is going to necessarily have a guy that’s a difference maker,” said McElroy. “Either way, the upside, collectively based on what we know now? To what they might ultimately be at the end of the regular season? Nobody has a higher upside than the Big Ten.”

This conversation starts with Michigan’s JJ McCarthy and Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa as veterans who have been at their schools for some time. Then, from there, it deep dives into six quality transfers out of the portal in Wisconsin’s Tanner Mordecai (SMU), Iowa’s Cade McNamara (Michigan), Northwestern’s Ben Bryant (Cincinnati), Purdue’s Hudson Card (Texas), Nebraska’s Jeff Sims (Georgia Tech), and Illinois’ Luke Altmyer (Ole Miss).

That’s eight players before you even get to the fresh faces. That group would include Ohio State’s Kyle McCord, or Devin Brown depending on who you ask, Penn State’s Drew Allar, and Minnesota’s Athan Kaliakmanis. Besides Kaliakmanis, each of these players are set to get their first real dose of college football snaps this fall.

At that point, you’re at 11 at least with only Michigan State, Indiana, and Rutgers with names that don’t quite reach this level. In the end, that’s McElroy’s point. Other leagues might be heavier at the top but, from top to bottom, he says the Big Ten takes the cake when it comes to quarterbacks.

“McCord could be a dude, Aller could be a dude. (Athan) Kaliakmanis could be a dude, Jeff Sims could be a dude. All these things could be true,” Mcelory said. “We’ll find out. But, either way, it’s a really solid group of Big Ten quarterbacks across the board.”