Where should Hudson Card go next?
Different players enter the transfer portal for different reasons. Quarterbacks are almost always looking to play and to start immediately, unless it’s a dude who’s unlikely to start anywhere of consequence and is really looking to begin an apprenticeship under a head coach before initiating a career in coaching.
In the NIL era, there’s the added consideration of making what money you can as a collegiate athlete. A starting quarterback is about the most marketable athlete in a college town, short of some basketball stars. Consequently a player may opt for a slightly weaker situation in terms of setting himself up for a professional career if there’s more to be gained as a semi-professional “student-athlete.”
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While Hudson Card‘s career at Texas hasn’t gone as expected, he’s still a highly promising athlete with NFL potential. He also has a particular skill set and comfort zone as a player we’ve seen borne out now and will tend to do better in some contexts (spread offense, for instance) than others (Steve Sarkisian’s pro-style set-up). The best way to make the NFL is to go to a program with good players who will play to your strengths with their system.
There are actually odds on where Card will go next available for gamblers.
I don’t think those odds are particularly good, but where SHOULD Hudson Card go if he wants to maximize his college career with an eye toward a potential NFL future?
What context suits Hudson Card best?
Sarkisian’s offense, with its distaste for actively mixing in the quarterback run game, wasn’t the ideal system for maximizing either Casey Thompson or Hudson Card. The latter was more apparent when Card showed off his speed during his stretch of starts early in the year despite playing on a bad ankle.
It’s not just the way the spread offense makes greater use of a quarterback’s legs than Sark’s pocket-oriented system. Card’s greatest comfort tended to come when executing throws and route patterns more typical to a spread offense. Sark gave him a steady diet of RPOs to execute down the stretch against West Virginia to burn clock and hold the ball which he executed well. He also successfully ran the multi-read RPO, Ezekiel’s wheel, in his early starts.
Most college teams these days run some variety of spread offense so most every college team in need of quarterback play would find Card interesting.
The more important part of Card’s game is his knack for the dropback passing game, which is potentially of greater relevance to his professional aspirations. He’s good at making quick, accurate throws underneath and at doing so on the move.
Ideally his next gig would find him at a program with good surrounding talent, a favorable depth chart, and a pro-spread offensive system which could allow him to continue his development.
The suitors
It makes sense why TCU would be listed as the favorite to land Card. Sonny Dykes is a terrific offensive coach who’s helped a few young signal-callers into the NFL.
There’s a number of reasons to be hesitant on TCU as an ideal fit though. One of those reasons is Max Duggan, who appears likely to move on from college but may not and it probably won’t be cleared up for a while yet. Card is probably a more talented passer than Duggan, but he didn’t just lead a Big 12 team to the playoffs while throwing 30 touchdowns to four interceptions. Another reason for hesitation around TCU is Chandler Morris, the heir apparent to Duggan who technically won the starting job over Duggan in fall camp before an injury in the season opener.
Beyond that, TCU is rebuilding a bit on offense this offseason. They’ll be talented, Dykes knows what he’s doing, but that team will take a hit from the draft and graduation. In particular, Quentin Johnston and many of the key pieces to their power-option run game will all be gone.
Wisconsin makes more sense in light of their recent hire of HUNH spread coordinator Phil Longo from North Carolina. They figure return two of their top receivers from 2022…when their starting quarterback threw for 2,136 yards and they ran the ball nearly 40x a game from Paul Chryst’s power sets. Card would really be putting a lot of trust in Longo and Fickell to quickly retool a historically plodding, power run offense into a HUNH spread and to do so in a cold, outdoor stadium against a schedule of physical Big 10 lines.
Notre Dame is looking for a transfer quarterback, which led to Drew Pyne transferring, and they’re looking at Hudson Card. You have to think Card would feel solid about winning the job against Tyler Buchner, a dual-threat lacking a great command of the passing threat. Notre Dame’s list of proven weapons isn’t amazing and will not include star tight end Michael Mayer but they return a pair of good young tackles, a power run game, and some pro-spread components to their offense. They also have several young receivers with more on the way, such as fellow Austinite Jaden Greathouse.
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Next up are the schools with connections to Card from the past. Coastal Carolina is listed because Tim Beck had a good relationship with Card and he’s now the head coach there, but choosing the Sun Belt over a choice like Notre Dame? Oregon just hired his former high school offensive coordinator Will Stein making them an interesting option.
The Ducks introduced the Pac-12 to a young corps of receivers this year with Bo Nix and return nearly all of them. They’ll have to rebuild the offensive line but can do so from a roster which was being recruited and developed by Mario Cristobal. Stein’s preferred schemes are likely to be as familiar and favorable to Card as any he’ll find anywhere.
Overall I think it’d be hard to top Oregon for the combination of NIL opportunity, talented supporting cast, and favorable schematics under his former coach. However Bo Nix has to choose the NFL to create an opening and he’s currently expected to play in their bowl game suggesting some questions regarding his ultimate choice.
Over the SEC East both Kentucky and Florida have also been tied to Card. Kentucky runs a pro-style offense akin to Sark’s but with less exciting shot-taking and more plodding ball-control, so while they may develop some of his key skills it’s not a setup for big success. Florida’s offense under Billy Napier is also more pro-style but also quarterback friendly and heavy on play-action rollouts. They’ll have some retooling to do with their offensive roster but Napier and the Gator brand is probably worthy of some trust.
Then there’s Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are returning their left tackle, hope to be much healthier and more competent across the O-line next season, will be more dynamic in the run game with Ollie Gordon in the backfield, and have an arsenal of young receivers who would be putting it all together in 2023. He’d also be a lock to win the starting job.
If Card is looking to stay closer to home and draw in eyeballs at the helm of a strong spread offense, Stillwater is a less complicated destination than Fort Worth. On the other hand, the last four years of Spencer Sanders playing hero-ball for the Cowboys behind shaky offensive lines can’t be inspiring for a transfer quarterback with the options Card has.
Most any and every school with an opening has been tied to Card, even Alabama and Georgia, but a quarterback who was yanked for Casey Thompson after one bad road game and set aside for Quinn Ewers despite a very freshman-like performance will probably crave surety in his next stop.
For Card, who has two years to play two, the chance to be the guy at Notre Dame and develop comfort over two offseasons with a young core of linemen and receivers will probably be the most alluring. He may as well wait a beat and hear out Oregon and Florida as well, the young man has as many good options as he had coming out of high school.
Ultimately Marcus Freeman and the Irish look the most stable. They just had to turn to their backup this season and went 8-2 with their passer throwing 22 touchdowns to six picks and are bringing in the nation’s #3 ranked class. They even have “Ezekiel’s wheel” in their playbook. Having an assured starting spot, a good O-line, a pro-spread system, and emerging weapons around him would be a welcome change for Card.
Best of luck to the Longhorn.
