With the start of the NFL season around the corner, and college football week zero concluding, excitement and speculation over the upcoming games have reached their boiling point. Quarterback battles raging across the league are coming to a climax, and our first taste of meaningful football has football in the forefront of our minds.

Rookie QB Battles

Quarterback being the most important in football, there was no surprise that five were taken in the first round of last year’s NFL draft and less surprisingly, fans are already clamoring for many to take the field as soon as week one. With the highest two picks with little to no competition for their jobs, we turn to Trey Lance, the polarizing prospect from North Dakota State drafted by the San Francisco 49ers. While impressive in the preseason like any other rookie quarterback Lance has his highs and lows and with incumbent quarterback Jimmy Garrapalo still on the roster, it seems very unlikely we see Lance take the field till mid-season sometime in Oct. 

In stark contrast, Justin Fields, the big-time Ohio State quarterback picked by the Chicago Bears looks to be the most enticing option at signal-caller as he has answered all the questions that surrounded him throughout his college days. Fields might not be the readiest but expect him to play early and often for a Bears team that looks to contend this year. Replacing Tom Brady will never be easy and it looks like Mac Jones, the former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback, will have a chance this season to do that for the New England Patriots since the expected starter Cam Newton is dealing with issues related to COVID-19. 

Prospect Highlight

With the first meaningful football of the 2021-2022 college football season concluding, this would be a perfect time to highlight one of the most impressive players from college football week zero, UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet. Charbonnet, a physically imposing runner who recently transferred from the Michigan Wolverines program, was playing like his hair was on fire against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in their season opener. Showcasing explosiveness, vision, and power, Charbonnet showed he was the best player on the field every time he touched the ball. This was a standout performance with multiple touchdowns and a yards per carry average over 17 that could put the UCLA running back on multiple draft radars and cement him as a top player for this college football season.