I’ll start with a disclaimer: Richie and staff here have made it very clear that this is Athan’s team next year and Surace’s starting in ‘26. I trust that the staff here knows their stuff. But after QB was brought up again in the portal thread, wanted to share some thoughts that have been rattling around. Again, I’m aware it is very, very unlikely, but consider the following:
Financial Considerations
QB is the single most expensive position to acquire in the portal.
Even with revenue sharing, NIL is still going to be needed to pull in a proven QB.
With top QBs pulling in $3M+/yr and good QBs still commanding $1M or so, using solely rev sharing to get a QB is going to chew up between 5% and possibly up to 15% of the rev share budget…that’s a lot for 1 player considering we’ll have somewhere between 85 and 105 guys on the team. With incoming freshmen with other P4 offers commanding around $150k/yr (some will make more and some less, but let’s assume an average of about $150k/yr per incoming recruit) that comes to $3.75M per 25-man class. Over 4 classes (100 total players), that comes out to $15M in committed funds, leaving around $5M for “raises” and portal acquisitions. That doesn’t leave much in rev sharing to go get a QB.
It’s no secret, our NIL isn’t the worst, but it’s not very good either.
QB & Scheme/System Continuity
The QB position is unique in that, outside of a Cam Ward, continuity is pretty vital to success. I think a large part of Athan’s ability to come in and play well this year was his familiarity with Kirk and his system, having played 2 years under him at Minny. More time with the same coach and in the same system can only help.
Portal Economics and Buying Low
We’ve seen an example of this most recently with our portal addition of O’Neill. Last year he went into the portal hoping to land an RU offer. Because we at least appeared to have a full cupboard at the edge position, the staff understandably passed on O’Neill and he ended up at JMU, for what is pretty safe to assume, minimal NIL. Fast forward to present day and if not for what’s likely a considerable raise in his NIL compensation, O’Neill may have ended up somewhere else (yes, Im aware he wanted to stay close to home, but a big enough offer from another school may have had this go the other way).
With GS’s ability to retain players and the culture he’s built around the program, we likely could have gotten O’Neill for a relative pittance last portal cycle instead of having to sweat it out this cycle.
Point being, getting a guy a year/cycle in advance of them potentially blowing up is a low risk/potentially high reward move. With limited resources, it’s something we will need to do to be successful.
The Ideal QB Profile
Currently, there are a number of QBs in the portal who fit the same profile as Athan did prior to coming to RU:
1. Showed enough in HS to be considered a good prospect, i.e. at least one service ranked them as a 4-star.
2. Showed some flashes at the college level, but performances have been inconsistent.
3. Overall, considered a reclamation project.
QBs that fit this profile don’t command nearly the same dollars, and if a program can hit on one it’s akin to having a good NFL QB still on their rookie contract, in that it allows resources to be used on other positions that don’t cost as much and are more likely to work out as a plug and play.
One guy that I think fits this profile that is currently in the portal- Tayven Jackson. Former 4 star, was recruited by GS out of HS and has 2 YOE left. Yes, he’ll be on his third school, but he was recruited over at both Tennessee and Indiana with future pros/highly touted recruits. At Tennessee, Nico was the heir-apparent as soon as he signed an NIL deal rumored to pay more than $3M/year; and at Indiana, Rourke proved to be a guy who deserves some Sunday consideration, followed by Mendoza whose ranked the 2nd best transfer QB this portal cycle. I don’t see any shame in losing out to any of those guys. I’m sure there are also other guys fit the aforementioned profile, just using Jackson as an example.
2026 and Beyond
I’ll start by saying, I hope Surace is a 3 year starter that breaks every RU passing record; and I genuinely think he has the potential to be that…but what if he isn’t ready in ‘26, gets hurt or worse, doesn’t pan out? We would have a redshirt soph in Sheppard (if he doesn’t transfer out after losing the starting job) and a redshirt freshman- neither of whom had any other P4 offers, both unanimous mid 3-star recruits.
Will Greg be willing to go into ‘26 with that QB room? I think it’s unlikely since it’s quite possible Sheppard transfers to play somewhere else, leaving just a RS freshman and possible true freshman behind Surace. Likely, we’ll be in the market for a portal QB next cycle, if only as an insurance policy.
If that’s the case, why not pick up a QB this cycle? Ideally one with only 2 YOE left- one to sit behind Athan, learn the system and compete for the back up job; and another to compete/push Surace in ‘26. And if this hypothetical QB were to win the job over Surace in ‘26, with only 2 YOE, Surace would still have 2 years left to play. Also could potentially save us a lot of money, as it would be way more expensive to go into ‘26 with a need for a starting QB, again, if Surace isn’t ready.
If you read this far, appreciate you. If you read the title and first couple lines before firing off a laughing emoji or quick remark on how stupid this idea is, I get it- from everything we’ve been told, we aren’t going after a QB this cycle. And while I’m usually one of the first to respond that GS knows what he’s doing and doesn’t need fans to tell him how to do his job when suggestions like this are made, I felt like this topic was at least worth some discussion.
Financial Considerations
QB is the single most expensive position to acquire in the portal.
Even with revenue sharing, NIL is still going to be needed to pull in a proven QB.
With top QBs pulling in $3M+/yr and good QBs still commanding $1M or so, using solely rev sharing to get a QB is going to chew up between 5% and possibly up to 15% of the rev share budget…that’s a lot for 1 player considering we’ll have somewhere between 85 and 105 guys on the team. With incoming freshmen with other P4 offers commanding around $150k/yr (some will make more and some less, but let’s assume an average of about $150k/yr per incoming recruit) that comes to $3.75M per 25-man class. Over 4 classes (100 total players), that comes out to $15M in committed funds, leaving around $5M for “raises” and portal acquisitions. That doesn’t leave much in rev sharing to go get a QB.
It’s no secret, our NIL isn’t the worst, but it’s not very good either.
QB & Scheme/System Continuity
The QB position is unique in that, outside of a Cam Ward, continuity is pretty vital to success. I think a large part of Athan’s ability to come in and play well this year was his familiarity with Kirk and his system, having played 2 years under him at Minny. More time with the same coach and in the same system can only help.
Portal Economics and Buying Low
We’ve seen an example of this most recently with our portal addition of O’Neill. Last year he went into the portal hoping to land an RU offer. Because we at least appeared to have a full cupboard at the edge position, the staff understandably passed on O’Neill and he ended up at JMU, for what is pretty safe to assume, minimal NIL. Fast forward to present day and if not for what’s likely a considerable raise in his NIL compensation, O’Neill may have ended up somewhere else (yes, Im aware he wanted to stay close to home, but a big enough offer from another school may have had this go the other way).
With GS’s ability to retain players and the culture he’s built around the program, we likely could have gotten O’Neill for a relative pittance last portal cycle instead of having to sweat it out this cycle.
Point being, getting a guy a year/cycle in advance of them potentially blowing up is a low risk/potentially high reward move. With limited resources, it’s something we will need to do to be successful.
The Ideal QB Profile
Currently, there are a number of QBs in the portal who fit the same profile as Athan did prior to coming to RU:
1. Showed enough in HS to be considered a good prospect, i.e. at least one service ranked them as a 4-star.
2. Showed some flashes at the college level, but performances have been inconsistent.
3. Overall, considered a reclamation project.
QBs that fit this profile don’t command nearly the same dollars, and if a program can hit on one it’s akin to having a good NFL QB still on their rookie contract, in that it allows resources to be used on other positions that don’t cost as much and are more likely to work out as a plug and play.
One guy that I think fits this profile that is currently in the portal- Tayven Jackson. Former 4 star, was recruited by GS out of HS and has 2 YOE left. Yes, he’ll be on his third school, but he was recruited over at both Tennessee and Indiana with future pros/highly touted recruits. At Tennessee, Nico was the heir-apparent as soon as he signed an NIL deal rumored to pay more than $3M/year; and at Indiana, Rourke proved to be a guy who deserves some Sunday consideration, followed by Mendoza whose ranked the 2nd best transfer QB this portal cycle. I don’t see any shame in losing out to any of those guys. I’m sure there are also other guys fit the aforementioned profile, just using Jackson as an example.
2026 and Beyond
I’ll start by saying, I hope Surace is a 3 year starter that breaks every RU passing record; and I genuinely think he has the potential to be that…but what if he isn’t ready in ‘26, gets hurt or worse, doesn’t pan out? We would have a redshirt soph in Sheppard (if he doesn’t transfer out after losing the starting job) and a redshirt freshman- neither of whom had any other P4 offers, both unanimous mid 3-star recruits.
Will Greg be willing to go into ‘26 with that QB room? I think it’s unlikely since it’s quite possible Sheppard transfers to play somewhere else, leaving just a RS freshman and possible true freshman behind Surace. Likely, we’ll be in the market for a portal QB next cycle, if only as an insurance policy.
If that’s the case, why not pick up a QB this cycle? Ideally one with only 2 YOE left- one to sit behind Athan, learn the system and compete for the back up job; and another to compete/push Surace in ‘26. And if this hypothetical QB were to win the job over Surace in ‘26, with only 2 YOE, Surace would still have 2 years left to play. Also could potentially save us a lot of money, as it would be way more expensive to go into ‘26 with a need for a starting QB, again, if Surace isn’t ready.
If you read this far, appreciate you. If you read the title and first couple lines before firing off a laughing emoji or quick remark on how stupid this idea is, I get it- from everything we’ve been told, we aren’t going after a QB this cycle. And while I’m usually one of the first to respond that GS knows what he’s doing and doesn’t need fans to tell him how to do his job when suggestions like this are made, I felt like this topic was at least worth some discussion.
