5 thoughts on QB carousel in 2023 college football recruiting

Painful misses for Michigan, others

When you are talking about college football recruiting and elite quarterbacks, there are always going to be some coaches/teams left with broken hearts and right now, that’s Michigan.

Georgia and its fans probably have a similar feeling about missing out on Arch Manning, because man, that defense coupled with a Manning would have been dangerous.

Yet, it wasn’t meant to be and the Bulldogs still have their own five-star QB from 2021 waiting in the wings in Brock Vandagriff, who was ranked 4th among QBs and 17th overall in the 2021 class.

Michigan has J.J. McCarthy, also a five-star from 2021, but the Wolverines didn’t land a four-star QB (via composite rankings) in the 2022 class, then whiffed on five-star CJ Carr (grandson of former head coach Lloyd Carr) and also are going to miss on another in-state, five-star QB in Dante Moore.

The Wolverines are the supposed leader for 2024 five-star Jadyn Davis, but Georgia will be in the mix there too, as is Clemson (he’s from North Carolina).

UGA could push for some other 2023 QBs and Michigan could too. But it’s more likely the two CFB Playoff teams from last season push for elite quarterbacks in 2024 and use most of their resources on that effort which includes also Julian Sayin and for Michigan, Michael Van Buren.

Dylan Lonergan is a name to watch for UGA since he’s from the state of Georgia and South Carolina is the favorite right now. Brady Drogosh, a Cincinnati commitment at QB, is a name to watch for Michigan. He’s ranked 11th in the state but hasn’t been offered by U-M, at least not yet.

The Bearcats offered him in April and got his commitment a few days later in May. So there isn’t a super long-standing relationship and if Michigan makes a move for the three-star ranked in the top 500, it should have a shot.

But pickings are slim in terms of quarterbacks in the 2023 college football recruiting class, which also means teams will be aiming for flips.