Switching schools doesn’t mean switching conferences for some QBs

By Canadian Press on August 26, 2025.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. wasn’t necessarily looking to stay in the Big Ten when he decided to leave Maryland and enter the transfer portal.

It just worked out that way.

Edwards is one of several potential Power Four starting quarterbacks who switched schools without switching conferences.

“That’s obviously something in the back of your head, but I don’t think that was a main thought of mine,” said Edwards, who threw for 2,881 yards and 15 touchdowns for a Maryland team that went 4-8 last season. “I think the best thing for me was just finding the right opportunity, the best opportunity for me. It happened to be in the same conference.”

Some other Power Four starting quarterbacks who previously played with a conference foe are Auburn’s Jackson Arnold (formerly at Oklahoma), Kentucky’s Zach Calzada (Texas A&M and Auburn), Florida State’s Thomas Castellanos (Boston College) and Rutgers’ Athan Kaliakmanis (Minnesota).

Kaliakmanis is in his second season as Rutgers’ starter, while the others are new to their current schools. Calzada played the last two years at Football Championship Subdivision program Incarnate Word after stints at Texas A&M (2019-21) and Auburn (2022).

Edwards makes his Wisconsin debut Thursday against Miami (Ohio), whose starting quarterback is in a somewhat similar situation. Dequan Finn was the Mid-American Conference most valuable player at Toledo in 2023, spent last season as a backup at Big 12 program Baylor and is now back in the MAC with Miami.

In a year when well over half of the 68 Power Four schools are projected to start quarterbacks who signed elsewhere out of high school, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that some end up at multiple schools within the same conference.

But it does reflect how much the game has changed in the last few years. Until the summer of 2021, the Southeastern Conference was requiring players who transferred within the conference to sit out a season of competition. The SEC still prohibits players from leaving one conference school for another during the spring transfer window, so UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava couldn’t consider an SEC school when he left Tennessee in spring practice.

Whether these guys have any more familiarity with their new schools due to their conference backgrounds is up for debate. After all, in this era of super-conferences, teams don’t face all their conference rivals. For instance, Edwards’ Maryland team didn’t play Wisconsin last year.

“I wouldn’t say there’s any more familiarity just because he played in the league,” Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said. “I do think it gives him, not to say credibility, but a leg up in understanding how this league works and how tough it is, how hard it is on the road and different things. I like that it bodes well not only for him but for us as we go through the season.”

Florida State knew Castellanos all too well before he joined the Seminoles.

After accumulating 305 yards passing and 95 yards rushing in a 31-29 loss to the Seminoles in 2023, Castellanos threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third score in a 28-13 victory at Florida State last year.

Castellanos left Boston College’s team and entered the transfer portal after losing his starting spot last year, but Seminoles coach Mike Norvell says the quarterback has been a model teammate.

“We had very high expectations when he joined the team of what he would bring,” Norvell said. “It’s easy to see the athleticism, the skill, the games he’s played, the impact he can make. I’m very proud of him for just the investment — the investment in others, the investment into the program. He brings a great spirit into this building.”

The list of starting quarterbacks who transferred within their conference would grow if Oregon’s Dante Moore, Maryland’s Justyn Martin and Oklahoma State’s Hauss Hejny win their respective quarterback competitions.

Moore started five games at UCLA in 2023 — when both UCLA and Oregon hadn’t yet left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten — before transferring last year. Martin made one start for UCLA in 2024. Hejny appeared in four games but didn’t attempt a pass for TCU last season.

There also is the case of Steve Angeli, who played at Notre Dame from 2022-24 and started a 2023 Sun Bowl victory before heading to Atlantic Coast Conference program Syracuse. Although Notre Dame is an independent, the Irish face at least five ACC teams each season and host Syracuse on Nov. 22.

The ability to transfer within a conference does create those potential matchups between a quarterback and his former school.

For instance, Kaliakmanis threw three touchdown passes against his old team last year when Rutgers defeated Minnesota 26-19. Edwards and Wisconsin host Maryland on Sept. 20. If Martin wins Maryland’s starting job, he will play against his ex-team Oct. 18 when the Terrapins visit UCLA.

Maryland coach Mike Locksley says this makes the college game more like the NFL, where players frequently line up against former teammates. Yet he also acknowledges these scenarios can create more incentive.

“We take pride in the name on the front of our jersey,” Locksley said. “I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that when guys leave here that I block them, I don’t follow them. I’m kind of petty with that. It’s just how I operate. It’ll be interesting to play against (our) former players. I’ve done that before, it’s not a first time, but it’s the landscape.”

Edwards says he’s trying not to make too much out of that upcoming matchup. Edwards notes he still has plenty of good friends at Maryland.

“It will be good to see all of them,” Edwards said. “There’s no hate. There’s no distaste or anything. They’re an opponent on the schedule, so we’re going to handle that week like any other week. I’m not circling it or anything. When it comes, it comes.”

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AP Sports Writers Aaron Beard and Noah Trister contributed to this report.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Steve Megargee, The Associated Press

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