http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/travis-haney/post?id=211

Looking for a reason to keep tabs on college football's quarterback battles this August? How about the fact that a year ago Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel and UCLA’s Brett Hundley, among others, had not yet won their respective jobs?

There are several key starting decisions still to be made, and some of the winners will have the opportunity to step in and be impact players right from the beginning. Here's our ranking of the top 10 battles heading into camp.




1. USC Trojans

Every quarterback with an ounce of interest in playing college football prays, I’m sure, for just the right set of circumstances for his debut. Beautiful weather, good players around him, and a beatable opponent with a susceptible secondary.

Well, at least USC’s Max Wittek had one of those. Sort of.

Wittek was thrown into action after four-year starter Matt Barkley’s shoulder knocked him from the UCLA game, an eventual loss. The next week, with Barkley sidelined, Wittek had to go against a Notre Dame defense that was in the top five most of the season. He mustered 186 passing yards on a pleasant November night, about 100 yards below the team’s season average.

And then after a month of bowl prep, a 30 mph wind greeted Wittek and the Trojans in El Paso for the Hyundai Sun Bowl. While Wittek tried to get the ball out to talented receivers such as Marqise Lee and Robert Woods, Georgia Tech threw the ball 10 times. Ten. It was a good time and place to be an option offense.

At the end of his abbreviated and rushed first experience, Wittek had averaged just 5.6 yards per attempt, and thrown five interceptions and three touchdowns. A physically and mentally bruised USC team -- just months earlier a favorite to play for the national title -- finished the season 7-6, ending it with three consecutive losses.

“It wasn’t exactly ideal for a quarterback,” Trojans coach Lane Kiffin told me last week. “None of it was ideal for Max. I thought he handled it all really well.”

What did all of that earn him? A leg up, maybe, in one of this summer’s most contentious and important quarterback races. But Wittek, the redshirt sophomore who was the 58th overall prospect in his class in ESPN RecruitingNation's rankings, will have to hold off redshirt sophomore Cody Kessler and freshman Max Browne.

Kessler’s steadiness this spring allowed him to emerge as a legitimate possibility, though Kiffin said that wasn’t a surprise because Kessler had been solid in previous scrimmage opportunities.

Browne, who enrolled in January, is an intriguing option, even if he will not necessarily be ready by the opener. If Wittek and Kessler falter, it doesn't sound as if Browne’s eventual emergence would be all that shocking.

“He prepares in such as unique way,” Kiffin said of Browne, the former Elite 11 participant and the 20th overall prospect in the ESPN 150 Class of 2013. “He asks for all this extra stuff, he wants more and more. For a kid just out of high school, he acts like a pro.”

Kiffin said he has given Browne every chance to win the job since he arrived.

“We aren’t limiting any position by age,” he said.

If the race isn’t settled by the end of August, the Trojans do open with Hawaii, Washington State, Boston College and Utah State. So perhaps we should be asking who the starter will be for the legitimate opener -- Sept. 28 at Arizona State.





2. Oklahoma State Cowboys

This battle was so fierce in 2012 that one participant, Wes Lunt, transferred to Illinois. That leaves redshirt sophomore J.W. Walsh and fifth-year senior Clint Chelf for the job in Mike Yurcich’s first season as offensive coordinator.

Yurcich has said he wants the offense to go even faster than his predecessors -- energy-drink-fueled assistants Dana Holgorsen and Todd Monken -- had it moving.

That does not necessarily separate either player. In reality, both might play.

Walsh has a bit more of a running element to him, and that plays well in the no-huddle. In limited attempts -- he threw 163 passes, completing 109 -- Walsh was fourth among FBS quarterbacks in terms of efficiency. Chelf has the veteran presence you would expect, and he was steady (14 touchdowns, five interceptions) when he took over in November.

The Cowboys, who played all three quarterbacks last season for a variety of reasons, still were third in the country in yards per play (7.01). So whether it’s Chelf or Walsh, the offense appears to be in capable hands.




3. Kansas State Wildcats


Junior college transfer Jake Waters made this a race with his play in the spring, destroying the presumption that Daniel Sams -- who as a freshman played at times in place of Collin Klein -- would waltz into the job.

Both could play, because Sams seems to be more of a runner (at least he was in game action last fall). But I was told last week by a Big 12 coach that the quarterbacks are actually quite similar, so the platoon could be moot.

To that end, Waters did run for 256 yards and six touchdowns as he led Iowa Western CC to the junior college national championship. They’re similar in stature, too. Sams is listed as 6-foot-2, 207 pounds; Waters is 6-1, 210.

In short, no wonder it’s a race, and one that might not be resolved even when the season begins. Coach Bill Snyder could wind up just going with the hotter hand week to week.

Here’s a boost for the player who emerges: The Wildcats’ entire offensive line is back. So is underrated running back John Hubert, who averaged 5.0 yards a carry and scored 15 times.




4. Oregon State Beavers

I met coach Mike Riley for the first time last week, and he was telling me what a difficult time it was last season when he had to choose between Sean Mannion and Cody Vaz on almost a weekly basis. If you will recall, Mannion suffered an injury. Vaz played well in his absence, and then it was a coin flip for the final half-dozen or so games.

“I just was honest with the team about it,” Riley said. “I told them we had two quarterbacks and we had to support both guys.”

Not much has changed. Riley said there has been little separation between the two, and whoever is more “consistent” -- however that can be measured, on and off the field -- will be the starter for the opener against Eastern Washington.

Checking the schedule, the Beavers easily could be 7-0 when they play Stanford on Oct. 26. So there is plenty of time for the Mannion-Vaz battle to decide itself. Chances are, both will play as the season progresses.




5. Auburn Tigers

The Tigers might have the most populated battle in the country, with newcomers Jeremy Johnson and Nick Marshall joining spring participants Kiehl Frazier and Jonathan Wallace to create a four-man race.

Gus Malzahn, back at Auburn as the head coach after serving as its offensive coordinator from 2009 to 2011, does not share much. All of the information coming out of Auburn -- even what Malzahn indicated to me in person last week -- is roughly the same, with buzz phrases “wide-open” and “the earlier the better” used to address the quarterback competition.

Malzahn said the quartet would be put in “accelerated-pace evaluation” once camp begins, with as many “game-like situations” as possible. So that is perhaps a little different than a camp with a second-, third- or fourth-year starter. It’s Quarterback Idol in the South.

Many are looking toward Marshall because as a junior college (Garden City, Kan.) transfer with athleticism, he appears to be the closest thing to Cam Newton. And with Malzahn's return, Tigers fans are interested in anything remotely linked to Newton and the don’t-wake-me-if-I’m-dreaming 2010 season.

Remember, though, that the coaches have not even seen Marshall or Johnson, so the decision might not be made until closer to the Aug. 31 opener against Washington State -- despite “the earlier the better” rhetoric.

By the way, Malzahn and Mike Leach coaching in the same game? Turn away, Nick Saban and Bret Bielema. Turn away.




6. California Golden Bears

It isn’t Auburn’s four, but coach Sonny Dykes does have a three-way contest as he begins his tenure in Berkeley.

“I wish I knew ,” Dykes said.

Later, he was able to narrow it to two -- maybe. He said last week that entering camp, freshmen Jared Goff and Zach Kline appear to be ahead of junior Austin Hinder. Then again, he said Hinder is a bit more mobile. So maybe it's still three.

Regardless, Dykes and Tony Franklin’s offense does not figure to change significantly. That means the quarterbacks should be ready to throw, throw, throw. Louisiana Tech, with Dykes and Franklin in control, was eighth in passing attempts per game (44.4) nationally and third in passing yards per game (350.8) in 2012.

Here’s one thing that surprised me, to some extent: When I asked one Pac-12 coach for a team I should watch out for this fall, he said Cal.

“ Tedford had recruited pretty well there,” he said of the former Cal coach, who had been fired in December. “ inherited more than most people think.”

I met with Dykes just after hearing that, and ran the comment by him.

“It was better than I expected,” he said of the talent level, including the quarterbacks. That helps, but the schedule is brutal. Cal sees Northwestern and Ohio State before beginning the Pac-12 season Sept. 28 against Oregon.




7. West Virginia Mountaineers

A two-man race between junior Paul Millard and redshirt freshman Ford Childress became even more crowded when Clint Trickett transferred in May from Florida State.

And one person close to the program said that Millard and Trickett, the two with at least some game experience, enter camp with the lead.

“I really like , but those other two are ahead,” he said.

Both, of course, will have to fill the void left by Geno Smith’s 11,000-plus career yards and 98 touchdowns. Top receivers Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey are gone, too, but the Mountaineers did secure transfers Charles Sims (from Houston) and Rushel Shell (from Pitt), though Shell will not be eligible for another year. There should be enough to mask whatever the team lost from the skill positions -- and at quarterback. From all I’ve heard, there will be a stark drop-off from Smith to Millard or Trickett.

“Geno was a first-round talent, regardless of where he went ,” one coach told me. “I don’t see first-round talent there anymore.”

Yes, the Mountaineers fell off after a crazy hot start, but Smith completed 71.2 percent of his passes, tossed 42 touchdowns and just six interceptions. A lot goes into it, granted, but it’s a wonder those numbers did not merit more of a Heisman look for Smith.




8. Oklahoma Sooners

Coach Bob Stoops all but bristled -- it’s kind of his thing during news conferences -- when someone suggested last week that this was Blake Bell’s job. He insists that Trevor Knight and to a lesser extent, Kendal Thompson, are still part of the discussion.

Bell and the Sooners belong in this conversation, though, because it marks a change at the position after what felt like a lifetime appointment for Landry Jones. Bell had made his mark as part of a specialized run package. But a quarterback who has more career rushing touchdowns (24) than passing attempts (20) will create some level of wariness.

Maybe that’s why Stoops is keeping the position open as camp begins. Those close to the program told me earlier in the year that Knight had wowed some observers late last season in practice and in the spring. They even called Knight “Johnny Football Lite,” though that might have been embellishment compared to Johnny Manziel’s Heisman season.

Still, it’s worth monitoring Bell and Knight as camp begins. Comparing Knight and Manziel is more logical than likening Bell to Tim Tebow. Bell has more passing ability, I’m told. Even if he doesn’t, there are worse things than being linked to one of the best college quarterbacks anyone can recall.




9. North Carolina State Wolfpack

First-year coach Dave Doeren wasn’t thrilled this spring, but that was before Arkansas transfer Brandon Mitchell enrolled.

“It’s competition we just didn’t have before,” Doeren said, adding that Mitchell is an experienced mobile quarterback and Pete Thomas is an experienced drop-back passer.

Doeren’s strength staff came from Arkansas, and that familiarity led it to recommend Mitchell to Doeren. Doeren, in addition, liked the fact that Mitchell had adeptly juggled playing quarterback -- where he backed up often-banged-up Tyler Wilson -- wide receiver, and hoops.

“We’ll see how he does,” he said. “On paper he learns really well ... He’s a high-football-aptitude guy. He gives us a blend of experience and age. Whoever wins the job now, we’ll know they will truly have earned it.”

Let’s be realistic, too. Whoever wins the job is a stopgap until Florida transfer Jacoby Brissett is eligible to play in 2014. Doeren can’t say enough positive things about Brissett, whom he has used as a resource when comparing the athletes he’s bringing in to the ones Brissett saw and practiced against at Florida.

This season, however, could be rough for the offense as it settles into a new system. Doeren said he inherited just six scholarship receivers and two scholarship running backs. He added three backs and six receivers in the 2013 class, and he said some inevitably will play.




10. Tennessee Volunteers

It sounds as if Justin Worley is fairly entrenched as the favorite, but the Volunteers are worth mentioning because freshman Josh Dobbs eventually could make this a race. I brought Dobbs up to a Tennessee staffer last week, and he said he believes Dobbs has as much desire to learn as any Vols quarterback since Peyton Manning.

Worley, a junior from Rock Hill, S.C. -- whom both Clemson and South Carolina passed on -- played some the past two years in Tyler Bray’s absence, but there is no visual or statistical evidence to demonstrate he will hold the job until his eligibility expires. Plus, Tennessee has a seven-week stretch that includes Oregon, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. That would be difficult for any new full-time QB to survive without aid.

One SEC coach told me the Vols were going to struggle so much on offense that it could look at the idea of playing Dobbs two different ways. On one hand, why not? It would be good to go ahead and get him reps. On the other, it could be a shot to a young guy’s confidence if he gets beat up both on and off the field.