ASU football has seen the departures of three quarterbacks and offensive coordinator Billy Napier. How are they doing with their new teams?
With the departure of former head coach Todd Graham, Arizona State experienced a lot of changes with their personnel and coaching staff.
Before last season even began, quarterback Bryce Perkins announced his transfer from the program after an injury sustained buried him on the depth chart.
After Graham’s firing, quarterbacks Brady White and Blake Barnett announced their transfers. Herm Edwards was hired and promoted Billy Napier to associate head coach before he abruptly left to become the head coach at Louisiana Lafayette.
With Arizona State in the midst of their bye week, this seems like a good time to check in on how the quartet is doing with their new teams.
Blake Barnett
Barnett brought a lot of buzz to the ASU program after coming over from Alabama. Who could forget the video of him telling Graham that he was committing to ASU?
The hype evaporated once the season began as Manny Wilkins won the starting quarterback job outright leaving Barnett to ride the bench.
Barnett is now enjoying success at South Florida as he’s led the Bulls to a 5-0 (1-0 AAC) start with Power 5 wins against Georgia Tech and Illinois.
The former 5-star high school prospect has started every game for USF sporting a 65.1 completion percentage throwing for 1,313 yards, nine touchdowns and four interceptions.
Barnett ranks third in the American in passing yards per game (262.6) and total offense (286.6 total yards per game).
South Florida has a favorable conference schedule with Tulsa and UConn the next two weeks before a road test at Houston on Oct. 27.
The matchup that everyone should circle on their calendar is the War on I-4 with the Bulls hosting 10th-ranked Central Florida on Nov. 23. That matchup could decide who wins the AAC East.
It will be a chance for Barnett to shine on a national stage and derail the Group of Five’s best chance of getting a team into the College Football Playoff.
Brady White
White’s announcement that he was transferring was probably the most surprising departure as many saw him as the heir apparent to Wilkins once he graduates at the end of the season.
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Instead, White decided to join former ASU offensive coordinator Mike Norvell and the Memphis Tigers.
Novell’s Tigers are 4-2 (1-2 AAC) with conference losses to Navy and Tulane. Memphis is gearing up for a home showdown with No. 10 UCF this Saturday.
White has put up outstanding numbers for Memphis posting a 69.2 completion percentage, 1,549 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and one interception.
The redshirt junior ranks right there with Barnett in the American sitting in fourth in passing average per game (258.2 yards) and leads the conference in pass efficiency (183.1).
After this week’s matchup with the Knights, Memphis will play a road non-conference game at Missouri before closing out the regular season with four conference games.
With another year of eligibility, White will have the chance to finish as one of the best quarterbacks in the AAC.
Bryce Perkins
Most of have probably forgotten about Perkins.
The former backup with the Sun Devils announced he was transferring in the summer of 2017 eventually heading to JUCO school Arizona Western before transferring to Virginia for his junior season.
Perkins won the starting job out of camp and has led the Cavaliers to a 3-2 (1-1 ACC) start with the losses coming to Indiana and NC State.
The Virginia starter has been one of the most productive dual-threat quarterbacks in the ACC throwing for 1,125 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions. On the ground, he’s rushed for 452 yards and three touchdowns.
Perkins ranks third in the ACC in passing average per game (225.0 yards) and completion percentage (63.5).
The next two weeks will be tough for the Cavaliers as they host No. 16 Miami this upcoming Saturday and then travel to face Duke next Saturday.
After that, the schedule gets pretty light with games against North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Liberty and Georgia Tech before their season finale against in-state rival Virginia Tech.
A seven-win season is very much a possibility for Perkins and Virginia as it would be the school’s highest win total since 2011 when they went 8-5.
Billy Napier
It’s been tough sledding for Napier at Louisiana Lafayette as the Ragin’ Cajuns sit at 2-3 (1-1 Sun Belt) with blowout non-conference losses versus No. 1 Alabama and then-No. 16 Mississippi State.
Louisiana just snapped their three-game losing streak with a 42-27 win over Texas State and fortunately for Napier’s team, they are in the easier Sun Belt division.
Their 1-1 Sun Belt record has them atop the West division with the three unbeaten conference teams all in the other division (Georgia Southern 3-0, Troy 3-0 and Appalachian State 2-0).
The Cajuns have a non-conference game with New Mexico State before facing the three remaining unbeaten teams in a four-week span.
It’s only year one for Napier so can’t expect too much, but if they can get bowl eligible, that would be a pretty good achievement.