Arizona State Sun Devils

ASU Football: Is There a Clear-Cut Quarterback Favorite?

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:30 p.m. ET

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With quarterback Bryce Perkins cleared to return from injury and transfer Blake Barnett ruled immediately eligible, is there a QB favorite right now?

It’s been a newsy-week for Arizona State football.

First, the Sun Devils officially announced the hiring of former Alabama wide receiver coach Billy Napier as their new offensive coordinator replacing Chip Lindsey who take the same position at Auburn.

Napier will have a lot of quarterbacks to work with during the offseason.

To go along with the current group of quarterbacks in Manny Wilkins, Dillon Sterling-Cole and Brady White, the Sun Devils received news on two more quarterbacks.

Bryce Perkins, who missed all of last season with a neck injury, tweeted out Monday that he has been cleared to play.

On Tuesday, Alabama transfer Blake Barnett won his appeal and the NCAA ruled him immediately eligible and won’t have to miss the first month of the season.

So that results in a very crowded and competitive quarterback room.

With Lindsey leaving the program to go to Auburn, there’s not much direction in where the coaching staff is leaning towards.

Up until he got hurt, Wilkins was have a productive season and was leading a potent ASU offense.

When he got hurt, the offense struggled to produce as the running game was being taken away by opposing defense forcing the freshmen White and Sterling-Cole to beat them.

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Perkins was in the running for the starting quarterback position last season up until he sustained his injury.

And Barnett started Alabama’s season opener versus USC before ultimately being replaced by Jalen Hurts.

It’s going to be interesting to see which type of offense ASU runs under Napier.

Under former offensive coordinators Mike Norvell and Lindsey, Arizona State has run more of a spread offense with a mobile quarterback setting up an effective running game.

Barnett doesn’t really fit that profile as he’s a pocket passer.

An advantage for Barnett is that Napier knows him since they were both at Alabama last season.

While and Sterling-Cole also performed well in a tough situation last season.

It’s too early to tell who’s the leader in the clubhouse, but these next couple of month we will see which quarterback can separate himself from the pack.

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