Brady Quinn is entering his fourth season as Notre Dame’s starting quarterback. Over his first three years, particularly his junior season under coach Charlie Weis, Quinn has shattered just about every single-season and career school record for passing and total offense. Last season, he posted sharply improved numbers over his first two years. He was hovering around 50 percent in career pass completion average with 26 touchdowns and 25 INTs. Then in 2005 he completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,919 yards and 32 touchdowns, all school records, with only seven interceptions. He is the top returning Heisman vote-getter, finishing fourth last year. Sophomore Evan Sharpley and incoming freshmen Demetrius Jones and Zach Frazer will vie for No. 2.

Ohio State’s Troy Smith outplayed Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, this year’s Heisman front-runner, in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl. Smith, not Quinn, won the game’s MVP trophy. In 2005, Smith was 149-of-237 (63 percent) for 2,282 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also ran for 611 yards and 11 more scores. He led the Big Ten in passing efficiency and became the first Buckeye quarterback to pass for over 2,000 yards and rush for over 500 in the same season. In two starts against Michigan he has accounted for 723 total yards, and he racked up 408 yards in the Fiesta Bowl. Justin Zwick, with nine career starts under his belt, was 42-of-58 passing last fall and provides comforting depth, along with Todd Boeckman and Robbie Schoenhoft.

There’s an old saying that goes, “If you have two starting quarterbacks, you really don’t have any.� Coach Dirk Koetter’s quarterback situation at Arizona State flies in the face of that logic. Veteran Sam Keller started the season amid high expectations and responded by completing 59 percent of his passes for 2,165 yards and 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions in seven starts before he was sidelined by an injury. Rudy Carpenter moved into the breach and posted even better numbers, the best in fact by a freshman in school history despite not taking over as the starter until late in the season: 68 percent completions, 2,273 yards, 17 touchdowns, two picks. Keller and Carpenter both return, and Keller enters the fall No. 1 on the depth chart.

After concluding his stellar high school career, throwing for over 10,000 yards at Louisville’s Trinity High School, Brian Brohm decided to stay home, honor his family tradition and play for the Cardinals. As a freshman in 2004, he came off the bench in 11 games and threw for six touchdowns and two interceptions. Last year, he started all season before tearing an ACL in Game 10. At the time of the injury he had thrown for 2,883 yards, 19 scores and five INTs. He is a 68 percent career passer — 273-of-399 — and is the reigning Big East Offensive Player of the Year. Hunter Cantwell stepped in after Brohm went down, beat Connecticut on 15-of-25 passing with a touchdown, threw for three scores against the Virginia Tech defense in the Gator Bowl and is back in ’06 as proven insurance.

It didn’t take Utah and first-year head coach Kyle Whittingham long to replace the sensational Alex Smith at quarterback. Brian Johnson took over the job to begin his sophomore year and proceeded to lead the Mountain West Conference in total offense and passing efficiency. He completed 64 percent of his passes for 2,892 yards and 18 touchdowns, and was the team’s second-leading rusher with 478 yards and eight more scores. After Johnson went down with an injury late in the season, junior college transfer Brett Ratliff took the reins and led the Utes to huge wins over BYU in the regular-season finale and Georgia Tech in the Emerald Bowl, throwing for four touchdowns in each contest. And Oklahoma transfer Tommy Grady joins the fray in the fall.

6. Michigan State
7. West Virginia
8. Florida
9. Florida State
10. LSU

6th Annual Athlon Awards
Quarterbacks – Published Thursday, June 29, 2006
Running Backs – Published Friday, June 30, 2006
Receivers – Published Saturday, July 1, 2006
Offensive Line – Published Monday, July 3, 2006
Defensive Line – Published Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Linebackers – Published Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Defensive Backs – Published Thursday, July 6, 2006