A battle between a Former Big Ten champion and an ACC starting signal caller highlights most unlikely FCS QB competition heading into 2025

When the average College Football fan discusses major quarterback battles this offseason, programs such as Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, and Alabama are going to grab most of the attention. As Fall camps open up all over the country, that is going to be where a lot of the media and fan attention will go. What the East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Buccaneers are doing behind center is understandably not going to be mentioned much, and not typically on the radar.

What if I told you that ETSU battle has two former FBS signal callers who combined to throw for 7,509 yards and 60 touchdowns on the Power 4 level, as well as another six scores on the ground? One of them also led a team to a Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff appearance, and together, they combined for 23 victories under their belt as starters. On paper, that is a very impressive quarterback battle, especially on the FCS level.

During this past week's SoCon Football Media Day, ETSU head coach Will Healy decided to bring both of those quarterbacks to Greenville, South Carolina to meet with the media as representatives of the Buccaneers program. In one corner, we have former Michigan and Iowa starting quarterback Cade McNamara. In the other corner is Jacolby Criswell, who spent time with the Arkansas Razorbacks and UNC Tar Heels. 

For McNamara, it has been quite a college football journey so far. After leading the University of Michigan to a 11-1 regular season and Big Ten championship in 2021, head coach Jim Harbaugh held a quarterback competition between McNamara and JJ McCarthy. Both players played early during that 2022 season, but McCarthy quickly took over as the full time starter.

McNamara was hoping for a fresh start last season with the Iowa Hawkeyes after graduating from Michigan, but inconsistency and injury once again derailed his time as a starter. With only one year of eligibility remaining, the former four-star signal caller opted for Coach Healy on the FCS level. 

Typically when a player like McNamara transfers down to that level, he is the assumed starter without question. With game experience, as well as a nice combination of processing and accuracy, it is a pretty easy sell. Unfortunately for McNamara, another talented quarterback also had a similar idea as him. 

Criswell has spent his five seasons with the Arkansas and UNC programs, and actually was the starter this past year for the Tar Heels after Max Johnson went down with an injury. With the coaching change from Mack Brown to Bill Belichick, Criswell opted for a fresh start. Coach Healy, and his values of faith, family, and winning ultimately won out. 

From a consistency perspective, Criswell does not rival NcNamara. He is, instead, the toolsier of the two and brings much more of a running element. This is a battle of much different signal callers, which makes it so interesting. What style the coaching staff gravitates toward is going to win out in the end. 

While the two quarterbacks joined as leaders in Greenville, that battle is going to continue raging on shortly. Whether we see one de facto starter, or a rotation, is still undecided. Regardless, having that type of experience and talent in one FCS quarterback battle is very unique. 

Will the decision for ETSU pay off for either quarterback, or somehow both? That’s the question that has no answer right now. The challenge for Coach Healy and his staff is to attract as much talent as possible, and they certainly did so in this case.