From Joe Burrow to Jalen Hurts, 2019 was the year of the transfer quarterbacks
Transfer QBs and Clemson's playoff resume are among our biggest takeaways from the 2019-20 college football season.
Welcome to Before The Snap, For The Win’s college football show where we’ll break down the sport’s trending storylines, examine each week’s biggest matchups and track the College Football Playoff and Heisman Trophy races.
No. 1 LSU took down defending champion No. 3 Clemson in the College Football Playoff National Championship game Monday in New Orleans. Quarterback Joe Burrow stunned and enjoyed the victory like a legend, coach Ed Orgeron said he planned to celebrate with a ham sandwich and Odell Beckham Jr. was so fired up about his team winning that he passed out cash to the players, which the school then claimed was fake so they don’t get into trouble with the NCAA.
Sadly, this means the 2019-20 college football season is officially over. But we’re here to break down two major takeaways from this season.
First up, let’s look at Clemson. The 2018-19 national champions had their College Football Playoff resume called into question all season, largely because of the Tigers’ strength of schedule in a declining ACC, plus their slow start to the season (by their standards).
But judging by Clemson’s performance in the playoff this season, even with the loss to LSU in the title game, and its dominant victory over Alabama to win the national championship last year, it’s clear two things can be true. Clemson can simultaneously play in a terrible conference and be one of the best two or three teams in the country. Even though it didn’t work out this season, the Tigers deserved their shot at a second straight title.
Read more about that on For The Win.
(Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
Looking at the 2019 season overall, perhaps the biggest takeaway is this was clearly the year of the transfer quarterback.
Three of the four College Football Playoff teams were led by transfer quarterbacks, who were all also Heisman Trophy finalists: LSU’s Burrow, Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts and Ohio State’s Justin Fields. There are plenty of players who flourish with the teams they commit to when they’re still in high school, but that’s not the case for everyone. There are a variety of reasons some might want to transfer, but the NCAA needs to make it easier for players to do so — especially when coaches freely and regularly change jobs.
Take Burrow, for example. He didn’t have the starting job at Ohio State a few years ago, and transferring to LSU, a program of the same caliber, changed his life. Had he not transferred, there’s a chance he would have remained on the Buckeyes’ bench throughout his college career, meaning he wouldn’t have won the Heiman and wouldn’t currently be the projected No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick.
Similarly, had Hurts not transferred from Alabama, he would have remained Tua Tagovailoa’s backup and would have only started late in the season following Tagovailoa’s season-ending injury. Hurts played that game during the 2018 season, and it worked out for him in the end. But he transferred to Oklahoma, a program where he started in a system that allowed him to excel even more.
If Fields had stayed with Georgia, he most likely would have remained on the bench behind Jake Fromm. Instead, he led Ohio State’s high-powered and dynamic offense, and after only finishing his sophomore season, his future in college football is looking good.