Doc 5: Best QB transfers that didn't play in 2013 -- No. 5 T.J. Millweard
This offseason we will count down various topics from Monday through Friday, bringing you the top five of the important and definitely some not so important issues in college football. It's the Doc Five, every week until we will thankfully have actual games to discuss.
TOP FIVE QB TRANSFERS WHO DIDN’T PLAY LAST SEASON
NO. 5: T.J. MILLWEARD, KANSAS
When players transfer and sit out a season, it’s easy to lose track of them, especially if they’re quarterbacks.
It seems like every year there’s a mass exodus of quarterbacks leaving one school for another, so remembering where everyone landed -- especially if they’re not eligible to play the following season -- can be tricky.
But sometimes that year off is necessary, not only because it’s an NCAA rule, but it also gives a player an entire year to concentrate on the playbook, learn the system and wait for the guy in front of them to either move on or screw up.
Such is the case for the five members of this week’s Doc 5.
Each of the quarterbacks you’ll read about this week left top programs in hopes of contributing somewhere else. Some were starters, some were recruits, but all five have a chance to make a name for themselves with a fresh start.
Coming in at No. 5 is redshirt sophomore T.J. Millweard.
Millweard transferred to Kansas after spending the 2012 season at UCLA. The transfer made sense considering his was behind Brett Hundley, but what Millweard probably didn’t know at the time of his transfer was that no program in the country would be in need of a quarterback more than Kansas.
Kansas ranked 117th in passing offense last season and managed just nine passing touchdowns compared to 12 interceptions. It had just one multiple-passing-touchdown game in 2013. Overall, the Kansas offense was pretty abysmal.
Much of that was because coach Charlie Weis couldn’t get much consistency out of quarterbacks Jake Heaps and Montell Cozart, who split snaps last season. They’ll be Millweard’s primary competition this spring along with redshirt freshman Jordan Darling and junior Michael Cummings.
Transfers haven’t exactly excelled during Weis’ time at Kansas. Dayne Crist was a five-star quarterback, who transferred from Notre Dame. He started one season with the Jayhawks, won one game and finished with the worst quarterback rating in the FBS. Heaps was a highly-touted recruit that came from BYU where he didn’t quite pan out. In his one season with Kansas, he has yet to show the promise he had in high school.
The difference between Millweard and Crist and Heaps is that Millweard wasn’t a major recruit. He was a three-star out of Texas that was considered the No. 26 rated passer in the country coming out of high school.
Millweard has a major opportunity to win the starting job this spring and lead a Kansas team that hasn’t won more than three games since 2009 and hasn’t had a winning season since 2008.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter Follow @YahooDrSaturday
