Spring football is in full effect, and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered in the SWAC.
The biggest question now is which team will have the best quarterback in the conference this fall.
No team can claim to be the favorite to win the SWAC. Still, there also may not be a quarterback who can definitively establish themselves as the top signal-caller in the conference.
Shedeur Sanders would have held that title — the 2022 Black College Football Player of the Year — if he did not transfer to Colorado in the offseason.
But if there was a player who could be the leader in the clubhouse heading into the 2023 season, it might be Florida A&M quarterback Jeremy Moussa.
Moussa was named to the All-SWAC Second Team last year after finishing with 2,730 passing yards and completing 57% of his passes with 21 touchdown passes.
While the All-SWAC quarterback with be without his top receiver from last season, Xavier Smith, Moussa still has some talented receivers on his squad, including fellow All-SWAC selection Jah’Marae Sheread.
Meanwhile, looking at the quarterback position for the remainder of the SWAC teams, there is still much to be desired.
For Jackson State, the Tigers will use their spring camp to find who will be their starter heading into Week 1. Among the possible predecessors for the starting job is University of Lousiana transfer Zy McDonald, Holmes Community College signal-caller Philip Short and former South Carolina and Virginia Tech quarterback Jason Brown.
Southern will search similarly for a new starting quarterback after Besean McCray entered the transfer portal in December and Bubba McDaniel is no longer with the team.
The Jaguars QB battle includes Harold Blood, Grambling transfer Noah Bodden and UAB transfer Dylan Mehrotra.
At Alcorn State, Aaron Allen showed some promise last season, highlighted by an impressive three-game stretch in which he averaged 302.6 passing yards and threw five touchdowns.
If he can keep up this production level throughout an 11-game season, the sky’s the limit for what he and the Braves can accomplish.
Many expected the 2022 season to be Texas Southern quarterback Andrew Body’s breakout year. While the team overachieved based on expectations, his numbers dropped from the previous year.
Body, a junior, threw for 1,812 yards, 13 TDs, six interceptions, and completed 56 percent of his passes. That was a drop off from the 2,000-yard passing season, where he posted a 142.3 passer rating.
Prairie View A&M’s Trazon Connely showed off his ability to run the ball, finishing third in the SWAC with 12 rushing touchdowns and 11 passing TDs.
The loss of leading receiver Jailon Howard, and the addition of former Mississippi Valley State running back Caleb Johnson, could potentially hold him back this year.
With four months left before the HBCU football season kicks off, the hierarchy in the SWAC at the quarterback position will be something to monitor.
