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Our college football conference previews continue this week here at The Comeback with a look at the Big Ten. I’ll kick off our position previews by looking at the league’s quarterbacks.

Q. Who are the top returning quarterbacks in the Big Ten this year?

3. Trace McSorley, Penn State – One of the more pleasant surprises in college football last year, McSorley earned second-team All-Big Ten honors. He led the league in several categories including passing yards, yards per attempt, and touchdown passes. His ability to connect on the deep ball (64 completions resulting in 20 yards are more) prevented opposing defenses from loading the box to take away Saquon Barkley. Expect him to improve on his red zone completion percentage (38.9%), which is about the only thing he didn’t do well last season. Regardless, he’ll be among the top quarterbacks in the nation again in 2017.

2. Wilton Speight, Michigan – After winning a hotly contested QB duel last year, Speight had a fine season in 2016. He was one of the more accurate passers in the league, ranking second in completion percentage and throwing the second-fewest interceptions among starting quarterbacks. In addition, he was impressive on third down, leading the Big Ten in passer rating in this all-important situation. Although Michigan has to replace a number of its top targets from a year ago, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him earn a spot on the All-Big Ten team after finishing on the third team last season.

1. J.T. Barrett, Ohio State – To many in the media, a quarterback is only as good as the last game he played. Using that metric, Barrett would be lower on the list after less-than-stellar showings against Michigan and Clemson. However, Barrett gets the nod here because of what he has done throughout his career. In three seasons, he’s thrown for 6,381 yards and completed 62.9% of his passes with a respectable 69/21 TD-to-INT ratio. With Kevin Wilson calling the shots, the Buckeye offense will look more like the system that Tom Herman used back in 2014 (in which Barrett averaged 9 yards per pass attempt). That will add up to another huge year.

Q. Which quarterback will have a breakout season?

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I’ll go with David Blough at Purdue. That’s not to say that Blough was bad last year. He wasn’t. In fact, he led the Big Ten in yards per game and finished second in the league with 25 TD passes. Unfortunately, he also threw 21 interceptions, which was the worst in the conference.

However, that will change with Jeff Brohm taking over as the head coach this year. One of the best in the business at producing great quarterbacks, Brohm will help Blough become one of the more polished passers in the league. Even though he’ll throw more passes, Blough will throw half as many INTs as he did in 2016.

Q. Who is a newcomer to keep an eye on this fall?

Keep an eye on Nebraska quarterback Tanner Lee. The Tulane transfer won the starting job with a strong spring. Although he hasn’t stepped on the gridiron since 2015 (he sat out 2016 as a transfer), Lee still gives the Huskers a much-needed veteran presence under center. In two years at Tulane, Lee threw for 3,601 yards and 23 touchdowns, while completing 53.5% of his passes. Those totals include three games against ranked opponents, in which he connected on 59.2% of his throws. It’ll be interesting to see how he fares against the aggressive secondaries of the Big Ten.

Q. What is the most intriguing quarterback situation in the conference?

Without question, it’s Michigan.

Wait a minute, Johnson: didn’t you say Wilton Speight is the second-best returning quarterback in the Big Ten? If that’s so, how could the Wolverine quarterback situation be the most intriguing? Isn’t the position settled?

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Quite frankly, I don’t know that it is. After all, Jim Harbaugh said that the starting position is up for grabs. While Speight had a great season in 2016, redshirt freshman Brandon Peters had a solid spring. In addition, they’ll both have to compete with John O’Korn, who’s thrown for over 4,000 yards in his collegiate career.

Who will emerge victorious? It’s tough to say at this point.

However, having to compete for the job day in and day out will make all of them better. Even if the order of the depth chart doesn’t change, it’ll be something to keep an eye on during summer camp.

About Terry P. Johnson

Terry Johnson is the Associate Editor for The Student Section. He is a member of the Football Writers Association of America and the National Football Foundation.