The Conference of Quarterbacks

The Pac-12 Conference lived up to its nickname as the "conference of quarterbacks" by having three of them selected in the recent NFL draft (tied with the Big 12) and another being signed as a free agent. But with the positive attrition comes the headache (in some instances) of replacing the Andrew Lucks, Brock Osweilers, and Nick Foles of the world.

To some, the job of naming a replacement starter for a departed signal-caller is a no-brainer. To others, finding that new starter is about as easy as finding Neptune on a cloudy night. But, in either case, knowing who will take the first snap of the upcoming season for their team is what keeps the fire fueled for most fans of college football.

The losses of Luck, Osweiler, Foles, and Tyler Hansen to the NFL, and Darron Thomas to an ill-advised draft declaration (he's yet to be signed by a pro team), no doubt created some gigantic holes in the depth charts of their now alma maters. In fact, of those five schools, only one of them has a clear-cut starter to begin the 2012 season. Arizona has apparently decided that senior Matt Scott will take over for Foles under center. The ironic thing about that is that Scott didn't take a snap in 2011 because Foles's backup, Bryson Beirne, was lost to graduation.

But Stanford's heir apparent to Luck is still up in the air as junior Brett Nottingham is receiving some serious pressure from senior Josh Nunes, and Arizona State, Colorado and Oregon all have up-and-comers vying for the starting job. The Sun Devils have a trio of sophomores — Mike Bercovici, Michael Eubank and Taylor Kelly – duking it out for the top spot. Bercovici and Kelly both saw limited action last season, but experience is lacking throughout on the ASU roster. Colorado is looking at Texas transfer Connor Wood and incumbent backup sophomore Nick Hirchman for the starting role. And just about everyone in Eugene thought sophomore Bryan Bennett, who looked just as good as Thomas in his brief appearances, would be the starter, but redshirt freshman Marcus Mariota outplayed him in the Ducks' spring game.

Meanwhile, only two other schools to lose starters (sort of) to graduation were Washington State and Utah. At Wazzu, senior Jeff Tuel, who was last year's starter until injuries sidelined him for most of the season (Marshall Loebbestael started the majority of those games), is being pushed by sophomore Connor Halliday, who looked brilliant at times last year (and like a freshman at others). But, barring further injuries and a collapse in ability, Tuel should be the signal-caller for new coach Mike Leach come September. Conversely, Utah's situation appears to be in hand with senior Jordan Wynn taking over for the graduated Jon Hays.

The rest of the Pac-12 seems to be more decided regarding who 2012's starting quarterbacks will be, with a couple exceptions. UCLA, under new coach Jim Mora, thought that one of its two seniors would be the definite starter, but redshirt freshman Brett Hundley appears to be a worthy challenge for Richard Brehaut and Kevin Prince. My hunch is that Mora will go with one of the seniors out of respect and for their game experience. Meanwhile, Oregon State also thought that sophomore Sean Mannion would be the starter this coming season, but a late surge this spring by fellow sophomore Cody Vaz has a few people in Corvallis taking notice.

As for everyone else, it's pretty much chiseled in stone who the starting quarterbacks will be in four months when the season starts, and they're also pretty much no-brainers. Can anyone compete against Matt Barkley at USC, or Keith Price at Washington, or Zach Maynard at Cal? Not really.

So, with those three quarterbacks firmly ensconced at the top of the depth charts, could they be the next Luck/Osweiler/Foles trio to be drafted next year? Quite possibly. But getting through the upcoming season and putting their teams in the best possibilities to win are more on their minds than playing at the next level — which is also the priority of the other quarterbacks fighting for the top job at their schools. Some will have to fight long and hard to get and keep their starting roles. But whether they've been the starter for years or are trying to win it, 2012 should be another exciting year in the Pac-12 thanks to another good crop of quarterbacks.