by Patrick Zier | Feb 24, 2026 |
This is the last of a five-part series analyzing the quarterback position at the state’s five major universities, Florida, Florida State, Miami, UCF and South Florida. Today, USF.
The American has always been a stepping stone conference. Even before there was NIL, before the courts settled the antitrust case that now allows colleges to pay athletes directly, players and coaches were constantly on the move.
So, once he established himself at a Group of Six level, South Florida’s Byrum Brown was gone. Once he proved he was one of the best quarterbacks in the country, not just one of the best quarterbacks in the Group of Six, once he established that he could take a team to the top, he was going to move up.
The Group of Six has some good football teams – South Florida being one of them – and some decent conferences, but they don’t play at the level of the Power Four. The Group of Six is a proving ground for players like Brown to show they can make it at the next level.
And he will try and do that now at Auburn, where his former coach at South Florida, Alex Golesh, has taken over. Golesh not only brought Brown to Auburn, he also brought Locklan Hewlett, USF’s quarterback in waiting and Brown’s potential successor with the Bulls.
So, South Florida’s quarterback room has been wiped out. Nobody’s back. But that doesn’t mean things are all bad. USF and it’s new coach, Brian Hartline, have restocked the position with talented transfers, and they have the potential to make South Florida one of the most dominant teams in not just the American, but the Group of Six as well.
The most experienced is Michael Van Buren, who came over from LSU, where he started the Tigers’ final four games and played in seven. Van Buren, a junior, threw for 1010 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions and had 129 yards rushing with another TD.
The year before at Mississippi State, Van Buren made eight starts and was 140-0f-156 for 1,886 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also ran for five more scores. The issue with Van Buren has been turnovers, although he cleaned that up a little bit at LSU.
If Van Buren doesn’t start, Luke Kromenhoak probably will. In fact, many observers think Kromenhoak, who transferred from Mississippi State as a redshirt soph, is the better choice.
Kromenhoak played in three games for Mississippi State, and was in six games with two starts at Florida State in 2024. When FSU recruited him, Kromenhoak was regarded as the No.4 prep quarterback in the country by 247 sports.
According to ChopChat.com, he left FSU after his father asked for more money because he felt that Kromenhoak should be FSU’s starting quarterback in 2025, while the ‘Noles staff appeared to think he needed more time to develop.
“Quarterback is definitely a point of emphasis for us,” Hartline commented according to USF’s football website. “You’d like some guys who want to compete; if you’re a guy who’s coming in with the attitude ‘Oh, I’m this, I’m that’ and they think it’s being handed to them, that’s not healthy,” Hartline said.
“Not only in the quarterback room, but all the rooms, it’s a blank slate,” Hartline commented. “It’s a great opportunity for everybody. With the quarterbacks especially, I wanted to find two, at least two, or three guys that were going to go out there and compete for the spot.
“Ideally, you’d love to have some guys who have some eligibility left after their first year here, guys with maybe multiple years available to them,” Hartline said. “But it wasn’t the only factor.
“Ultimately, if it was a guy that we wanted in the room and he was willing to compete and only had one year left, so be it. For us, it was two things,” Hartline remarked.
“One, guys who wanted to compete and two, trying to find some guys with some years left and then from there, building it out to where maybe some young guy, maybe a young guy from high school, could come in and provide depth. For the most part, I’m really excited about that (the quarterback) room,” Hartline added.
Under Golesh, USF revived its program and with a new stadium rising on campus and other improvements, South Florida is setting itself up to become the next dominant team in the Group of Six. That assumes, of course, that it can find a quarterback who can get it there.
by Patrick Zier | Feb 21, 2026 |
This is the fourth in a five-part series on the quarterback position at the state’s major universities. Today, UCF.
It really hasn’t been because they haven’t had a quarterback. Have they had a Blake Bortles? No. A Dillon Gabriel? No. But ever since UCF took a step up to the Big 12 in 2023, it hasn’t really been held back because of its quarterbacks.
John Rhys Plumlee was pretty good in 2023 before he left for Ole Miss. K.J. Jefferson was thought to be one of the better quarterback prospects in the country when he enrolled at Arkansas and led the Hogs to a 9-4 record before transferring to UCF.
And last year, Tayven Jackson was solid and made some big plays, although his season was marred by injuries and he didn’t ignite the offense like Coach Scott Frost, in his second go-round at UCF, wanted.
So Jackson left. He didn’t really want to go, but Frost really didn’t want him to stay, so…
“It doesn’t make any sense to comment on any individual; you know, this is college football now, it’s a crazy time,” Frost remarked on UCF’s football website after Jackson left.
“We have to decide what’s best for our team and who needs to stay and who needs to go, and players need to decide what’s best for them and who wants to stay and who isn’t going to stay,” Frost commented.
So now, Jackson is at North Texas and Central Florida is looking for a new starting quarterback – again. And Frost and UCF General Manager Trent Mossbrucker, in charge of football player personnel, acquisitions and roster management, think they’ve found him in Alonzo Barnett III.
Last season, playing for James Madison, Barnett was the Sun Belt Player of the year after guiding the team to the College Football Playoffs. He was 213 of 355 for 2,598 yards with 26 touchdowns and just four interceptions throwing the ball and ran for 442 yards and four touchdowns.
CBS Sports ranked him as the 22nd best pickup among transfer portal quarterbacks and ESPN had him at No. 21. Interestingly, Miami’s Darian Mensah was No. 1 in the CBS rankings and No. 3 at ESPN, and Florida’s Aaron Philo, although he has no starting experience, was ranked No. 18 by CBS and No. 12 by ESPN based on his potential.
Florida State’s Ashton Daniels was not ranked in either poll.
“What I love more than anything about Alonzo is he’s a winner and he’s a proven winner,” Frost commented on UCF’s football website. “I think when you’re a really good team, you have really exceptional leadership from that position (quarterback).
“You have somebody that’s tough, somebody that other people want to get behind and play for and believe in. So, not even speaking about the talent that he brings, just really impressed with his demeanor and excited about the level of toughness and leadership that we should get from him,” Frost said.
“Obviously, a lot of the quarterback evaluation, everything that was going on has been going on for a long time,” Frost continued. “There’s a lot of skilled players that when you talk to their agents about potentially coming to our school, one of their first questions is ‘who’s the quarterback going to be?’
“That made getting a quarterback a priority for us for more reasons than the obvious ones. It would be a priority anyway, but I think that’s one of the first dominoes that needed to fall in order for us to fill out the team with the players we were able to bring in,” Frost declared.
“I think Alonza is a guy that can really throw it. I think he plays courageously, stands in the pocket when he needs to make throws, takes off when he needs to.
“Probably a better athlete then some people realize, but, you know, he was able to accomplish a lot of really good things at James Madison and hats off to them,” Frost said.
“We expect the same kind of production from him at this level,” Frost added. “I think he can do everything really well. So, we’re looking forward to getting him with the rest of the guys and just seeing how it all comes together.
“But, you know, we’re definitely approaching this year with the thought we have our No. 1 quarterback, and I think the battle is for two, three and beyond,” Frost said.
Vying to back up Barnett will be Kaleb Annett, who came over from Boise State and has not played, and Keyone Jenkins, who appeared in 33 games for FIU with 20 starts.
But in Barnett, UCF has it’s man, a guy they hope can make the Knights relevant again, only this time at a Power 4 level.
Next, USF.
by Patrick Zier | Feb 18, 2026 |
This is the third in a five-part series on the quarterback position at the state’s major universities. Today, FSU.
It isn’t too much of a stretch to say that whoever wins the quarterback job at Florida State will have one major challenge. Simply put, he will be asked to save the program.
FSU Coach Mike Norvell has to get this right. His job depends on it. FSU must become relevant again. And to be relevant in today’s college football, you need to have a top-of-the-line quarterback. If you don’t have that piece, whatever else you have really doesn’t matter.
And as the Seminoles head for what is likely a make-or-break season, the quarterback position is in a state of flux. Tommy Castellanos, the brash transfer from Boston College who called out Alabama before last year’s season opener and then backed it up with a huge win, lit a spark but it flickered and died.
Now, it’s up to somebody else. Maybe Ashton Daniels, who came over from Auburn. Daniels played three years at Stanford before transferring to Auburn last year.
Or maybe Kevin Sperry. Sperry was the No. 12-rated prep quarterback in the country when he came out of high school, and looked good in a brief, three-game appearance with the ‘Noles last season.
The thing is, unless the inexperienced Sperry can make a huge jump, FSU doesn’t have a real playmaker at quarterback. There’s nobody back there who can take over and win games for you.
Despite a lot of positive talk from Norvell about the available talent, right now, it seems mediocre at best. Over his career, Daniels has played in 37 games and started 23 but he has been turnover prone – as he himself concedes – and has never been able to establish himself as a starter.
He wasn’t highly regarded when he entered the portal and there is some thought the Seminoles took him because he was all they could get.
“I’m really excited about the (quarterback) room,” Norvell said recently on the AAC Network’s Inside ACCess. “Anytime you bring in a transfer quarterback who has experience, and Ashton (Daniels) has played a lot of football; I think this last year you saw him going into Auburn and redshirting throughout the course of the year and playing in those last few games, you saw growth in his productivity late in the season,” Norvell commented.
“We do have big expectations for what he is going to look like here at Florida State and I’ve got a lot of confidence in all the guys we have here in our quarterback room,” Norvell declared.
If Daniels doesn’t show championship form; Norvell has said repeatedly that he expects FSU to compete for championships this year, then the load may fall on Sperry. Sperry is regarded as Florida State’s future at quarterback, but it may turn out that the future is now, whether he’s ready or not.
“Kevin Sperry is a very talented young man who is excited to compete and that is what these guys are gonna do,” Norvell said. “Every day they’re gonna show up and put their best foot forward and push to lead this football team.
“When you’ve got a guy (Daniels) that is older, that has experience, there are high expectations for what that is going to look like,” Norvell said, “and I think Ashton is excited to get the opportunity.
“It (choosing a quarterback) will always be the most important decision you make on a football team,” Norvell continued. “The guys you bring in, their growth, their development, is something that’s essential for your team’s success.
“I’m really excited about the group that we have and I’m excited about the ability that they’ve shown,” Norvell declared. “There are so many factors that go into developing a roster and player acquisition, it all matters,” he added.
For his part, Daniels recognizes he hasn’t done enough during his career to walk in anywhere and expect to start. Darian Mensah he is not. “Regardless of where you go in college football nowadays, you’re going to have to compete,” Daniels said on FSU’s football website.
“Nothing is just handed to you. I’ve had that in my mindset everywhere I’ve gone in the past. I have a history of not taking care of the ball as well as I need to and I think at least this past year, I’ve seen a huge amount of development in that area,” Daniels remarked. “I just want a chance to compete.”
He’ll get that chance. But whether competing and winning at quarterback will translate into competing and winning on the field is another matter.
And if Florida State falters again, Daniels will be gone and so will Norvell. And FSU’s chances of rebuilding its shattered image? Well, they’ll probably be shot as well.
Next, UCF.
