The Starting Quarterback Situation For All 14 Big Ten Football Teams

Nine of the 14 Big Ten teams have named a starting quarterback, and five have yet to publicly name one. Here's what we know about who will be starting at quarterback in the conference for 2023.

We finally made it. 

After a long spring and summer during which an entire Power Five conference was destroyed, college football is finally back. 

With every Big Ten team less than 10 days away from their first game of the season, one would think all of them would have announced a starting quarterback. 

(In extreme Lee Corso voice) Not so fast!!!

The starting quarterback has been named for most teams in the conference. But a few either refuse to reveal their choice for the starter, have not decided or plan on playing multiple quarterbacks in week one.

Here's where the starting quarterback situation stands for every team in the Big Ten nearing the start of the 2023 college football season:

Teams That Have Named a Starting QB

• Michigan: J.J. McCarthy
• Maryland: Taulia Tagovailoa
• Rutgers: Gavin Wimsatt
• Wisconsin: Tanner Mordecai
• Nebraska: Jeff Sims
• Purdue: Hudson Card
• Minnesota: Athan Kaliakmanis
• Illinois: Luke Altmyer
• Iowa: Cade McNamara

A couple of them already have started for a season or two, and their teams didn't even pretend there was a position battle entering 2023. 

Taulia Tagovailoa has always been the guy for Maryland. Wisconsin specifically brought in Tanner Mordecai from SMU to help change the offense under new coach Luke Fickell. And after the bizarre alternating starter experience Michigan tried in 2022 with J.J. McCarthy and Cade McNamara, McCarthy returns in 2023 as arguably the conference's top quarterback. 

While McNamara did not keep his starting job in Ann Arbor after his spectacular 2021 season, he was plenty good enough to be an appealing option to Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who is desperate to have just a below average offense than the most below average offense. 

However, the Michigan turned Iowa quarterback did suffer a non-contact, soft tissue energy weeks ago during the Hawkeyes' fall camp. He may have avoided the worst, and Ferentz is still hopeful McNamara will be starting against Utah State in the team's season opener. But for now, McNamara's status for game No. 1 is questionable. 

Kirk Ferentz says he’s very optimistic that Cade McNamara will start week one. Says he hasn’t practiced yet, but could be back at the end of this week or next Monday.

Doesn’t want to guarantee anything, but feels good.

— David Eickholt (@DavidEickholt) August 23, 2023

Purdue, Nebraska and Illinois also brought in transfer quarterbacks in Hudson Card, Jeff Sims and Luke Altmyer, respectively. All three were grabbed out of the portal this offseason with the expectation they would win a starting job in the Big Ten, and that's exactly what's happened. 

The other two names on the list to mention are Gavin Wimsatt at Rutgers and Athan Kaliakmanis at Minnesota, who started six and five games in 2022, respectively. 

Both are now the full-time starters after switching on and off with more established quarterbacks the prior year. 

No Starter Named, But We Already Kind of Know

• Penn State: Drew Allar or Beau Pribula
• Indiana: Tayven Jackson or Brendan Sorsby

It's frustrating James Franklin pretends Penn State hasn't decided on a starter.

The amount of "Drew Allar for Heisman" tweets you see from Nittany Lion fans tells you all you need to know. Beau Pribula is probably a solid quarterback, but Allar has been tabbed as the prince who was promised in Happy Valley for several years now. 

As for the quarterback battle in Bloomington, coach Tom Allen and Indiana have internally decided on the starting quarterback. However, the Hoosiers will not publicly name the starter before the season opener against Ohio State. 

But every Indiana fan kind of knows who they want and expect to be quarterback. Ever since Tayven Jackson — a Center Grove, Ind., product and the younger brother of former Indiana basketball superstar Trayce Jackson-Davis — transferred to IU from Tennessee, people have wanted him to be the guy. 

There's a non-zero chance that Brendan Sorsby ends up being the week one starter. But Jackson was considered the slightly more talented prospect coming out of high school (247 Sports had Jackson as a four-star recruit, while Sorsby was a three-star from Lake Dallas, Texas). 

Additionally, Jackson's considered the slightly more elusive runner. Given how much better Indiana's offense looked at the end of 2022 after dual-threat Dexter Williams II took over in Walt Bell's offense, Jackson is the odds-on favorite to start against Ohio State on Sept. 2.

Many Hoosier fans are eagerly anticipating a potential debut for quarterback Tayven Jackson after he transferred to Indiana from Tennessee early in the 2023 offseason.  :: © Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

Total Question Mark

• Ohio State: Kyle McCord or Devin Brown
• Michigan State: Noah Kim or Katin Houser or Sam Leavitt
• Northwestern: Ben Bryant or Brendan Sullivan or Ryan Hilinski or Jack Lausch

Even Ohio State's coaching staff has no clue who should start between Kyle McCord and Devin Brown.

Fortunately for coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes, they're undecided because both signal callers are so good they can't pick between them. That's in contrast to schools like Michigan State or Northwestern, where none of the options seem all that great. 

Ohio State likes its options so much that it appears both McCord and Brown will play in the season opener against IU. While no team wants to employ a two-quarterback system for an entire season, the Buckeyes seem comfortable keeping the competition going until playing at Notre Dame in week four. 

Mel Tucker insisted at the beginning of August that the starting job in East Lansing is a three-man race, even though most presumed it was just a battle between Noah Kim and Katin Houser. 

Northwestern, meanwhile, seems to ever so slightly be leaning toward Cincinnati transfer Ben Bryant. However, Brendan Sullivan and Ryan Hilinski started most games for the Wildcats in 2022 and could still find a way to take the job entering week one. 

Even fourth stringer Jack Lausch might make a cameo on the field for Northwestern. Interim coach David Braun told media members on Thursday that Lausch has seen plenty of reps during fall camp. 

"As we look at the entire roster, you look at Jack [Lausch] and you go, ‘How can we not consider this guy one of our top athletes, one of our top football players?’" Braun said. "We’ve got to find a way to get him involved."

Regardless, Northwestern figures to be bad enough that it should surprise no one if Braun and Co. routinely cycle through the trio of quarterbacks in Evanston. 

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