LinkedUp: Pac 12 Camp Review, Will the Starting Quarterbacks Please Stand Up

Who Will be the Signal Caller for the Beavers This Year? It’s Still Up in the Air. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

The one glaring thing that stood out to me looking around the Pac 12 is close to half the teams have yet to name a Starting Quarterback for the season. Perhaps the most glaring – Oregon State and USC.

Well start in Duck Country and the ‘Prognosticators’ over at Addicted to Quack have their Pac 12 Predictions for the upcoming season, which includes who will make it to the Pac 12 Championship, as well as the Final BCS National Championship Game.

Oregon Ducks

Heisman Trophy talk is starting to heat up across the country and one QB who is garnering some attention is Oregon signal caller Marcus Mariota. Bleacher Report’s The Program recently posted a segment asking who they think will take away the award. Mariota was in the conversation.

I recently posted a piece on former Oregon Recruit Dontre Wilson and the Eleven Warriors (Ohio State Sports blog) took a look at the Contenders for 2013 – at the top of their list is Alabama – they also include Oregon, Texas A&M, Syracuse and Stanford.

Of the Ducks they say:

"Last season Oregon looked unstoppable until Stanford stopped them in convincing fashion, but what makes them dangerous is that their secret formula works about 90% of the time. Their uptempo style of offense infuriates guys like Saban because the Ducks force opposing defenses to react and be creative rather than attack in a regimented way, which is what many SEC defenses are predicated on."

We’re now going to head North to Oregon State

The Beavers are working on one big question right now. Who will be the Starting Quarterback? The Oregonian’s John Canzano always has a unique take on questions like this.

What makes it even tougher is Sean Mannion has been named team captain – Oregon State Head Coach Mike Riley still has a decision to make. 

Time for a California Roundup starting with the Cal Bears who face the Ducks on September 28th to open Pac 12 Play. What are they saying?

The first thing is Cal does not have a Quarterback problem as they recently named Freshman Jared Goff as the starter. The Bears do have some bad news on Defense as they have lost one Linebacker to Injury(Nathan Broussard, torn ACL) and another is transferring.

USC finished 2012 on a down note and some folks seem to think this will be a lackluster year for the Trojans. There was a scare early in camp when Wide Receiver Marquise Lee went down with a shoulder injury, but he as since returned to practice. The Trojans have a young Wide Receiver in Darreus Rogers who could step up nicely for them in 2013. Quarterbacks Max Wittek and Cody Kessler also still await Head Coach Lane Kiffin’s decision on who will start.

UCLA has found itself ranked at #21 in the first Associated Press Preseason Poll and have picked some help from  in transfer Linebacker Eddie Vanderdoes. SB Nation offers some video highlights during Fall Camp.

Stanford has been picked by several media outlets to take the Pac 12 this season, but both polls do not agree, at least to start. The Cardinal will retire John Elway’s number on November 7th(at halftime of the Oregon game). David Shaw and company start their season a week later than everyone else, on September 7th. I wonder if that will produce any ‘rust’ against San Jose State.

We head further south and east now to Arizona and Season 2 of the Rich Rodriguez era. The Wildcats also have yet to name a Starting Quarterback for the season. Meanwhile Arizona State is moving right along and getting set for their final scrimmage before the season starts and they were hit by the injury bug as Freshman Free Safety Marcus Ball injured his shoulder. Of the three Quarterbacks that played Michael Eubank looked the best going 10-14 with 2 touchdowns.

Washington has had bad luck facing the Ducks…for the last 10 years or so. Now Oregon has to travel to Seattle to face Senior QB Keith Price – I hope he’s healthy – it’s his last chance to become a hero forever for the Huskies. The storylines for the Huskies surround their kicking game and an easier workload for Travis Coons. Standout Tight End Austin Sefarian-Jenkins broke his finger in practice last week and it is not known how long he will be out – it’s not a season ending injury.

Washington State who comes to Autzen this year has options at the Wide Receiver position – that is until they get to Eugene. The other cool link I found deals with Washington State and ACTUAL Cougars.

Colorado – All you need to know is last year wasn’t good. There are some solid statistics and reasons to look ahead to the future – maybe starting this season, but then again – maybe not

Utah up until last season made a Bowl game for 10 years straight. There is no reason to think they won’t start a new Bowl Trend this upcoming season

Oregon kicks off the 2013 season next Saturday, August 31st vs Nicolls State (1pm, Fox Sports 1)

Oregon Ducks This Week:

 For more on the Ducks , the rest of the Pac 12 and any cool tidbits we find along the way follow us on Facebook and Twitter.