Every big-time quarterback recruit dreams of being Bryce Underwood. The No. 1 recruit in the country, Underwood won a battle in camp but became a Day 1 starter at his home state's flagship school and never looked back.
In reality, the typical aspiring FBS quarterback would be fortunate to repeat Katin Houser's career. A year ago, after studying all 136 day one starting quarterbacks in the FBS, we identified Katin Houser as the avatar for what the typical journey looked like. Hailing from SoCal power St. John Bosco, Houser was a top-250 recruit who signed with Michigan State, endured a coaching change, and then settled into a starting role at East Carolina. Houser never would've imagined himself as a Pirate while playing for Bosco, but life experience plus opportunity placed him in Greenville, N.C.
A year later, and of course Houser has transferred again. Now in his third school in five years, Houser will close his college career leading an Illinois team looking to break through to the College Football Playoff. To make a possible CFP run, Bret Bielema acquired a season veteran with more than two years of starting experience.
In fact, of the 16 returning, named, or widely anticipated starting quarterbacks in the Big Ten, the median number of returning starts is 17.5. Seven have more than two seasons of starting experience, led by Penn State's Rocco Becht, who owns numerous Iowa State passing records. Those numbers will grow if and when Aidan Chiles (Northwestern) and Dylan Lonergan (Rutgers) win their respective starting jobs as expected. Both players were highly-touted recruits with multiple transfers under their belts. Iowa and Michigan State are the only teams in the conference expected to start true first-time starters.
If Chiles and Lonergan win their respective jobs, 12 of the 18 Big Ten QB1s will start for a school they did not sign with out of high school. As many as 16 of the 18 will be on their third year of college or more.
Big Ten QBs by Signing Class
2026: 0
2025: 2
2024: 5
2023: 5
2022: 4
2021: 0
Big Ten QBs by Home State
4: California
2: Florida, Michigan
1: Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Texas
Big Ten QBs by Recruiting Ranking
5-star: 4
4-star: 3
3-star: 9
Unrated: 0
Big Ten Expected Starters at a Glance
Katin Houser, Illinois
fifth-year player with 26 starts in 33 games; signed with Michigan State out of Anaheim, but spent the past two seasons at East Carolina; a 4-star recruit in the class of 2022
Josh Hoover, Indiana
fifth-year player with 31 starts in 35 games; signed with TCU out of Heath, Texas; a 3-star recruit in the class of 2022
Jeremy Hecklinski, Iowa
third-year player with three appearances and no starts; signed with Wake Forest out of Marietta, Ga.; a 3-star recruit in the class of 2024
Malik Washington, Maryland
second-year player who started all 12 games last season; signed with Maryland out of Glen Burnie, Md.; a 4-star recruit in the class of 2025
Bryce Underwood, Michigan
second-year player 13 starts in 13 games; signed with Michigan out of Detroit; the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2025
Alessio Milivojevic, Michigan State
third-year player with 4 starts in 10 games; signed with Michigan State out of Naperville, Ill.; a 3-star recruit in the class of 2024
Drake Lindsey, Minnesota
third-year player with 13 starts in 16 games; signed with Minnesota out of Fayetteville, Ark.; a 3-star recruit in the class of 2024
Anthony Colandrea, Nebraska
fourth-year player with 33 appearances and 31 starts; signed with Virginia out of St. Petersburg, Fla. with a stop at UNLV; a 3-star recruit in the class of 2023
Northwestern -- too close to call
Julian Sayin, Ohio State
third-year player with 14 starts in 18 games; signed with Alabama out of Carlsbad, Calif.; a 5-star recruit in the class of 2024
Dante Moore, Oregon
fourth-year player with 20 starts across 29 games; signed with UCLA out of Detroit; a 4-star recruit in the class of 2023
Rocco Becht, Penn State
fifth-year player with 39 starts in 42 games; signed with Iowa State out of Wesley Chapel, Fla.; a 3-star recruit in the class of 2022
Ryan Browne, Purdue
fourth-year player with 13 starts in 21 games; signed with Purdue out of New Berlin, N.Y.; a 3-star recruit in the class of 2023
Rutgers -- too close to call
Nico Iamaleava, UCLA
fourth-year player with 25 starts in 29 games; signed with Tennessee out of Long Beach, Calif.; a 5-star recruit in the class of 2023
Jayden Maiava, USC
fifth-year player with 31 starts in 34 games; signed with UNLV out of Palolo, Hawaii; a 3-star recruit in the class of 2022
Demond Williams, Jr., Washington
third-year player 26 appearances and 15 starts; signed with Washington out of Chandler, Ariz; 4-star recruit in the class of 2024; nothing weird happened in the offseason
Colton Joseph, Wisconsin
fourth-year player with 20 starts in 21 games; signed with Old Dominion out of Newport Beach, Calif.; a 3-star recruit in the class of 2023