Charting the wildest offseason of college football movement ever

Clay Helton was fired as USC's head coach on the afternoon of September 13, 2021, after just two games, one of them a loss. USC's quick hook gave the coaching carousel an early spin, despite Helton entering the season on the hottest of seats. That's not the whole story. Many of the most recognizable quarterbacks in the sport were impacted by the Helton decision and other coaching changes.

College football's two highest positions are occupied by coaches and quarterbacks, and they're inextricably linked through the transfer portal. Most of the major moves by the two groups are connected. After Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for USC, quarterbacks were able to follow coaches and play immediately. The carousel and portal allow for more than one type of move, such as the return of quarterbacks Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel to their former teams at Oklahoma and Oregon.

The quarterback moves set off a chain reaction and sent other notable quarterbacks to new places.

All the coach and quarterback shuffling around the sport, and how it impacts teams, was examined by ESPN. This past winter was different because of who moved and where, but it also served as a preview for what will become an annual coach-quarterback hopscotching around the country.

There were head-coaching changes at USC, Oregon and LSU. How do they all connect?

The final evidence that athletic director Mike Bohn needed to dump Clay Helton came from a 42-28 USC loss toStanford at the LA Memorial Coliseum. After several unsuccessful hires, USC got an early jump on a critical coaching search, which led to the hiring of Bohn.

After Oklahoma lost to Oklahoma State, Lincoln Riley made it clear that there was no connection to the LSU job. USC made a concerted effort to get Riley, but no one asked about it. He was the first Oklahoma coach since 1946 to leave for another college job by the end of the weekend.

The state of Oklahoma continued to hire prominent assistants. Venables was an assistant to Bob Stoops when he was an OU assistant. He was the highest-paid assistant in the country and had turned down many head-coaching opportunities. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Venables' first priority was to maintain the offensive excellence that Riley started and keep Williams in town. He looked to Jeff Lebby, a graduate of Oklahoma who went on to become a head coach at UCF and Ole Miss. The ideal complement to Venables was Lebby, who was a good mentor to quarterbacks such as Gabriel.

Spencer Rattler entered the transfer portal the day after USC introduced Riley as its head coach. Rattler lost the QB1 tag to Williams midway through the season. He was going to join the South Carolina team with the coach.

Gabriel, who missed most of the season with a broken clavicle, needed a new landing spot after entering the portal in November. He committed to UCLA in December after visiting Ole Miss. On January 3rd, Williams entered the portal and headed to USC. Gabriel and Lebby were together the same day. Gabriel passed for 3,663 yards and 29 touchdown as a freshman at the University of Central Florida.

“Obviously, me leaving, I think there are at least 15 top quarterbacks that entered the portal. A spot opened up and I ran with it. ... Got to talk to [Lebby] and just felt like it was a no-brainer.”

The transfer portal was opened about two weeks after Riley was hired. After setting a single-season record for completion percentage as a freshman, and earning first-team All-Pac-12 honors, he looked elsewhere.

The transfer of Slovis to Pitt was announced on December 21st. There was a transfer to USC.

The other USC quarterbacks were also looking to relocate. A month after entering the portal, Jaxson Dart was aware of the Williams-to- USC transfer talk. On January 29th, Dart announced he was joining Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. Williams made it official three days later.

“When I got the call, I kind of realized everyone was staying except for [quarterback] Kenny [Pickett]. Looking at the opportunity, it was kind of a no-brainer, and [Pitt] jumped to the top of my list immediately.”

The quarterback room at South Carolina was put on notice by Rattler's announcement. On the same day that he started four games with South Carolina, he entered the transfer portal again. The day after Grant Wells announced he would be a Hokie, Brown landed at Virginia Tech. Wells was named the opening day starter.

There was an opportunity at quarterback because of Gabriel's departure. Plumlee started at quarterback for Ole Miss before moving to wide receiver under Kiffin. Plumlee jumped at the chance to be in an offense more suited to his skills as a mobile quarterback.

Helton was the first coach to be fired and the first coach to be hired when he was hired by Georgia Southern. The team dumped Lunsford four games into the season and finished with a 3-9 record. Kyle Vantrease started 25 games for Buffalo and had 4,755 yards and 25 touchdown. On December 30th, Vantrease entered the portal and flew with Georgia Southern.

Most of Helton's assistants wouldn't return under Riley, but Graham Harrell was the only one who didn't. The West Virginia offense finished eighth in the Big 12 in scoring. After two-year starter Jarret Doege entered the portal in December, Texas Tech's record-setting passer was set to inherit a quarterback room without experience.

After leading Georgia to a strong finish a year ago, he watched his teammate, Stetson Bennett, win the national title. Bennett announced his return the same day that Daniels entered the transfer portal. Daniels chose West Virginia. Daniels tore his knee in the opener and was scheduled to coach USC in 2019.

One of the more anticipated USC seasons in recent years begins in September with a game against Rice. Since the end of the 2020-21 season, USC's Football Power Index ranking has risen from 58 to 35, despite the fact that the team was picked third in the preseason poll. Thanks to their transfer haul, the USC should have the most potent offense in the league. Riley is the most high-profile hire in the team's history, and the expectations are as high as they have ever been. If you don't make the playoffs in the next few seasons, you're a major disappointment.

Venables will return to Oklahoma to begin his tenure with Gabriel at quarterback and Lebby calling the plays. If OU can maintain its upward trajectory and upgrade the defense under Venables, a return to theCFP is1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556 is1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556

Several quarterbacks who were impacted by the USC dominoes will play for their new teams. Two former USC quarterbacks, Daniels and Slovis, will face off against one another in the upcoming Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia, which will also feature a call from the coach of the other team.

The loss to Florida State and the subsequent loss of the athletic director signaled the end for the UM coach. The end came slowly. After guiding the Canes to wins over Virginia Tech and Duke, and then hitting the road recruiting, he was left dangling for weeks. The morning of December 6th, Cristobal was hired after being hired the day before.

After Cristobal left for Miami, Oregon moved on quickly. The athletic director zeroed in on Dan Lanning after Cal's Wilcox turned them down. He had never been a head coach before and his defensive background was a change for the offensive-minded Ducks. He was in the middle of a national championship run that would keep him at the school for a month.

Lanning didn't stray from his roots when he was looking for a new OC. They were assistants on Mike Norvell's staff at Memphis. After working for offensive minded head coaches Norvell and Malzahn, Dillingham gets full playcalling freedom for the first time.

The man arrived in Oregon with something. Two days after he was hired, we learned his likely starting quarterback, Bo Nix, a starter at auburn for the past three seasons, was heading to Eugene as well.

Two, in fact, was the answer that auburn had. With former LSU quarterback Max Johnson transferring to Texas A&M, auburn went out and signed the starter from last year. It added to the open competition at the position by getting Oregon backup Robby Ashford, who was from Alabama. Eric Kiesau has a lot of options to choose from with the return of T.J. Finley.

“When Coach Dillingham got the job, we already had that connection. ... That had a lot to do with it. But it was just, why not Oregon?”

The most straightforward way to rebuild a program is to get the coach and quarterback. What about the rest of the team? That's not the same thing.

A number of players have left Miami in the last few months. It can be said of Oregon as well. Both teams were trying to backfill through the portal. After Cristobal from Oregon to Miami, offensive linemen Jonathan Denis andLogan Sagapolu joined the team.

The question is whether they're ready to compete now that they've had so many changes. Since January, Oregon's FPI rank has risen seven spots, but it has fallen from 12 to 16 in the Way-Too- Early Top 25. If Ty Thompson and Jay Butterfield are unable to win the starting job, the best hope of making a run at the Pac-12 title is if sophomore quarterback Cashmere Been rediscovers the form he showed in his freshman season at auburn. His first win was against Oregon. His past two years have been filled with highs and lows as a passer and a combined 13 picks. We will get a good look at his development and where things stand for Oregon as they play Lanning's old team, Georgia, in the season opener.

After the national championship run, it took 17 games to get the shine back. It all fell apart because no Joe Brady, no Dave Aranda, and no Joe Burrow were going to be ready to step in. Bo Pelini as DC was a huge mistake. Ed Orgeron and LSU agreed to part ways at the end of the season due to losses on the field and mistakes off it.

The "How did it unfold so quickly?" department might have been a good place to start. The contract extension was granted in June of 2021. A lack of recruiting victories caught up with the coach. After losing in overtime at Missouri, the athletic director of the University of Florida wanted to leave. Less than 36 hours later, he was sitting in the living room of a coach who had won 40 games in four years. He said to expect an offer by the time he left.

The expectation was that Scott Woodward would look for a new coach. The buzz centered on Michigan State's Mel Tucker, who signed a 10-year, 95 million dollar contract. Lincoln Riley told reporters that he wasn't interested in the job. Brian Kelly was the last one to come. Kelly jumped at the challenge of going to the SEC and LSU despite not indicating publicly that he was ready to leave Notre Dame.

The quarterback room didn't expect as many twists and turns. Max Johnson and Myles Brennan entered the portal after Ed Orgeron was fired. After a call from new coach Brian Kelly, Brennan decided to return, setting up a three person competition with two sophomores and a freshman.

The spring arrived and Arizona State's dual-threat Jayden Daniels hit the portal. Kelly was hesitant at first to sign someone with three years of starting experience and 45 career touchdown passes, but he was able to sign someone with three years of starting experience and 45 career touchdown passes. Kelly said that it was about competing.

After less than two weeks of preseason camp, Brennan, a sixth-year senior, decided to step away from football.

“No matter where you go, you bet on yourself. I know what I present. It doesn’t matter who they start. It’s a great quarterback room. It’s one of the top quarterback rooms in the country.”

Jack Miller III was from Ohio State. Maybe it was the rise of Anthony Richardson. After one day of spring practice, the situation at quarterback changed dramatically.

Jones was the starter for most of last season and had been the safe choice for the new staff. Richardson was the presumptive starter instead. Richardson is thin on experience but he is high on potential. He could be a first-round pick. At SEC media days, he acknowledged that Richardson is the first-team QB, but added that he likes Miller's ability to move the football and that there's no limits to what he can do.

“[Richardson] is working hard to develop, improve as a person, as a leader. He’s working hard to increase his football IQ. His skill is developing. I think he’s primed to have a phenomenal year.”

There was a time when it was thought that Napier would be the next LSU head football coach. It is only an hour's drive from Baton Rouge to Lafayette. As Woodward worked his way through more high-profile candidates, Stricklin moved quickly to get him. Florida moved up from 34 to 29 and LSU went up from 42 to 10. As they go head-to-head in the cross-divisional rivalry game, they will inevitably be compared to each other. The tigers are going to Florida.

LSU's starting quarterback will be a topic of discussion. The spring game didn't offer any clues as Daniels and Nussmeier both threw touchdown passes. At SEC media days in July, Kelly said it will come down to who takes care of the football, who gets the ball to the players who make plays and who makes plays He will have to hit those three notes in order to make the ultimate decision on who that quarterback is. All of these guys can do that.

Don't think of it as the end of the story. Uncertainty is the only thing certain in the era of coaching carousels and transfer portals. The restriction against transferring multiple times in a player's career was recommended by the NCAA Division I Council. Don't be surprised if some of the same names are traded again next year.

The inquiry into coach Bryan Harsin's handling of the program in February is worth keeping an eye on. The heat is still on after a 6-7 debut season and a preseason media poll that projects a last-place finish in the SEC West. There is no guarantee that the dominoes will fall after the Tigers move on.