David Yost has been coaching quarterbacks at the highest levels of college football since 1996.
His method of assessing the sport’s premier position hasn’t changed much over the years.
The former offensive coordinator at FIU, Texas Tech, Utah State and Missouri has a checklist he uses to identify players he would like to coach.
Do the height and weight correspond to what is stated? Does his athleticism match my team’s needs? Can I live with the way the ball is released from his hand? Does he make deep passes?
What has changed for Yost over time is the importance he places on accuracy and the ability to make anticipatory throws in tight windows – something he learned while working for Mike Leach as a wide receivers coach at the Washington state from 2013 to 2015.
“Coach (Leach) wanted to know what the guy’s completion percentage was,” Yost said. “So what I want to see is the last 100 games of whatever season you just played. Of those, I hope to get 75 throws to try to get what I call a true completion percentage. No screens. What is your completion percentage when you throw the ball down the field? If you punch the guy in the hands but he drops him, I call that a completion. If you throw poorly and he makes an incredible catch, it’s an incompletion. If you find a QB above 50, 55 percent, to me that’s a pretty accurate thrower at the high school level.
“The guys who get that number or higher tend to become guys who complete everything when they go to college. The guys I didn’t take that didn’t hit that number never end up being accurate throwers.”
The problem for Yost and other longtime coaches is that high school recruiting and player development are no longer the primary methods used by college football teams to fill their quarterback needs. That makes way for the transfer portal.
Of the 141 FBS quarterbacks who started at least five games this season, more than half (76) were picked from the portal. And 30 of the top 50 quarterbacks in passing efficiency were on their second (at least) stop in college.
So, how do coaches identify the right guys, put them in the right system and avoid a big swing-and-miss that can sabotage a season and set a program back financially due to embezzled NIL funds?
Yost typically prefers a quarterback who has played a lot of snaps.
“The guys that have played, whatever level they’ve played at, they may not be a great quarterback, but they’re probably a pretty good player,” he said. “If you’re a pretty good player in the D2, FCS or Group of 5, that will probably translate at the next stop. It does translate. Like what Indiana did to (Kurtis) Rourke. He was a good player at Ohio. Guess what, he was a good player at Indiana. The risk is that you take the guy who hasn’t played much yet.”
There is plenty of evidence to support Yost’s theory.
• Rourke started 34 games at Ohio and was named the 2022 MAC Offensive Player of the Year before earning second-team All-Big Ten honors in his lone season at Indiana.
• Cam Ward was a second-team FCS All-American at Incarnate Word before starring at Washington State and Miami.
• Dillon Gabriel threw for 7,223 yards in his two healthy seasons at UCF before transferring to Oklahoma and Oregon.
• Diego Pavia led New Mexico State to 10 wins before leading Vanderbilt to a 6-6 record in 2024 — highlighted by a win over Alabama — and its first bowl game since 2018.
Diego Pavia was an AP second-team All-SEC pick in 2024. (Butch Dill / Imagn Images)
When coaches recruit a quarterback who hasn’t played much at his previous stop, it’s important to talk to as many people as possible to find answers to the following questions:
Did he have a bad attitude? Did he practice hard? Did he continue to compete even after failing to earn the starting role?
“It doesn’t matter if it’s college or the NFL, it’s hard,” said a Group of 5 offensive coordinator who was granted anonymity so he could speak candidly. “It’s hard to know exactly what you’re going to get from a talent standpoint, from a mental standpoint and all that kind of stuff. It’s hard. You just never know what habits they will form after a year of the program. There are so many things you don’t know.”
The coordinator said his program brought two quarterbacks out of the portal last cycle, but they were players he knew from camps and the high school recruiting trail.
He also made the point that the sport’s newfound reliance on transfers has affected the way some programs build offenses.
“One thing I think, and that sucks because it hurts the long-term development of these quarterbacks. It forces you as coordinators and players to stay simple,” he said. “It’s rare that you can build a system where you can use multiple players, including the quarterback, for two or three years. So you have to simplify things. … Some of these people who are doing pro-type things need to rethink or reframe some of the things that they do and believe in, because if they don’t, you’re putting a lot on these guys. It’s basically asking a rookie quarterback to go play in the NFL while learning a difficult system. That’s not going to go well.”
To further mitigate risk, another ex-G5 coordinator said he typically targets more athletic quarterbacks in the portal.
“It’s always a little safer to bring an athletic kid,” he said. “Even if he can’t throw it that well, he can still do something for you in that position. You can have a package done for him. That’s safer. That’s why so many people are looking for double threats now, while the pure pocket passer that doesn’t work is more or less stuck in the mud. There are still a lot of kids who can throw the ball and work in your system, but you’re less likely to make a mistake in terms of value by taking the more athletic guy.
Yost’s last quarterback, FIU’s Keyone Jenkins, ranked 21st nationally in efficiency in 2024. Jenkins entered the portal after coach Mike MacIntyre was fired along with Yost, but decided to return to school this week.
Yost didn’t have much time to develop Jenkins. He was FIU’s starting quarterback in his second game as a true freshman. Jenkins defeated veteran Grayson James, who transferred to Boston College and took over for the Eagles late in the 2024 season. James forced out Thomas Castellanos. Castellanos now finds himself at Florida State, which hopes to bounce back from a disastrous season that was derailed largely due to a poor evaluation (DJ Uiagalelei) from the portal.
Will Castellanos be the answer? Who knows.
But one thing is clear: The game of quarterback musical chairs isn’t slowing down.
Coaches continue to search for answers. And many will continue to swing and miss.
“Fit and system are important,” said a Big 12 offensive coordinator. “But for me, not everyone is going to hit 100 percent. No matter how you do it, sometimes you’re going to (misevaluate that position).”
(Top photo of Kurtis Rourke: Jason Mowry / Getty Images)