MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Even though he was nearly 2,000 miles from where he’d grown up, Ryan Hopkins felt right at home as a quarterback prospect visiting Wisconsin.
“I felt the energy from the city,” said Hopkins, a former three-star recruit from Mater Dei in Santa Ana, California. “I felt the energy from the coaches.”
But there was a complication that went beyond the distance factor. Hopkins had to deal with the dilemma facing just about every high school quarterback prospect since most Bowl Subdivision programs now overwhemingly rely on transfers at that position: About 65% of the FBS starting quarterbacks to open this season transferred at some point in their careers.
“It’s a totally different ballgame,” said Trent Dilfer, who has experienced quarterback recruiting from just about every angle.
Dilfer is a former Fresno State quarterback and first-round draft pick who started for the Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl championship team in the 2000 season. He coached a high school power at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, was a college head coach at UAB and now is back at Lipscomb.