Howard head coach Larry Scott already knew he had to restock his quarterback room immediately after their Celebration Bowl loss to Florida A&M last December.
While he’s confident in the quarterbacks on this year’s roster, the competition is still open, and he won’t announce a starter until Thursday night when the defending MEAC champion Bison visit Big Ten opponent Rutgers.
“The guys in the room have done a really good job, from the meeting room to the grass,” Scott said during Monday’s MEAC coaches’ conference. “They’ve competed, which has amped up the competition throughout the team. I think we’ve got a couple of guys we’ve identified that are more than capable. The media and everyone will find out when we run that guy out there on Thursday night.”
Among the quarterbacks competing for the starting role are North Carolina A&T transfer Zachary Yeager and returners Kaden Cobb, Ja’Shawn Scroggins and Jaylon Tolbert. This group of signal callers look to replace longtime starter Quinton Williams and Scott had been planning for this change since the conclusion of the 2023 season.
“That’s the natural transition of college football,” Scott said of Williams moving on. “It’s not the NFL where you’ll have your quarterback for X amount of years. You’re always recruiting, looking at your roster, trying to build and put the right pieces together. We were already prepared to make sure we were doing the right things to get the right people in here.”
Scott is encouraged by the mentality each quarterback brings to the team.
“You want that group to have a certain level of maturity and how they carry themselves in the locker room, on the field, in workouts, and the classroom,” he explained. “The level of maturity from guys that young are impressive. We’ve spent a lot of time on positive, developmental leadership. Your quarterbacks are not just the leaders of your offense they’re the leaders of your team.”