Ranking the Sunbelt Quarterbacks

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# Ben Wooldridge, Louisiana

After starting '22 as the backup to Chandler Fields, Wooldridge became the team's starter prior to a road win at Marshall. However, after five starts, Wooldridge suffered a season-ending ACL tear in November and was lost for the year.

All signs point to a full recovery in time for the '23 opener by Wooldridge and a recovery to the No. 1 spot on the depth chart. The California native was solid in 10 overall appearances for the Ragin' Cajuns last year, completing 56.6 percent of his passes for 1,661 yards and 15 touchdowns to only five picks. Wooldridge also added 188 yards and two scores on the ground.

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[RaginDave]

I think the difference between #3 and #9 in this list is very small. I know BW is starting out at #9 according to MSN, but believe me the guys in front of him, with the exception of Carter Bradley and Grayson McCall are not that much greater than Ben, when Ben is healthy.

McCall and Bradley both have a chance to either be drafted or get UDFA options in the NFL, after that we have seen that Darren Grainger who has been up and down is super talented, but is a crap shoot from one week to the other. Brin from Georgia Southern is a little of an unknown commodity, he played off and on at Tulsa due to injury, but has some real talent. I am not sold on Gunnar Watson, he has been in and out of the lineup both with injuries and being benched throughout his career, the talent is there, but I don't think the consistency is. Jordan McCloud is another completely unknown commodity, he has been on the roster at both USF and Arizona which means he has talent to play and I never count JMU out, because this team has been able to reload year after year (while at the FCS level). Texas State will probably go with Malik Hornsby who played sparingly at Arkansas, but reminds me of Malik Willis at Liberty, huge upside athletically but kind of all over the board as a passer, but tons of talent. We saw Cam Fancher from Marshall last year and I am not sold on him, but you don't need to be, Marshall will be a RUN FIRST offense and all he has to be is capable.

Burger at App will have tons of talent around him, but has only played in one game vs Robert Morris as a college player. I think he will eventually be very good, but maybe not this year. It will be about consistency for him. After injury after injury after injury at USM, they went out to the transfer portal and got two guys and Wiles is probably the guy. Wiles has not played, but was on the Clemson roster. He is a complete unknown. JT Strout will be the starter at Arkansas State, I am not sold on him nor am I sold on Butch Davis' offenses. Jiya Wright who is a RB playing QB for ULM will be a guy who can run and run well. I think he is limited on what he can do as a passer, but he will be a very talented runner, but not in the traditional elusive type, Jiya Wright from what I have seen runs like a downhill guy. Then Grant Wilson at ODU, who came with the OC from Fordham. He knows the offense that the Fordham OC will be running, but he was not the started at Fordham, which is concerning for ODU.

[moorecajun]

I think the difference between #3 and #9 in this list is very small. I know BW is starting out at #9 according to MSN, but believe me the guys in front of him, with the exception of Carter Bradley and Grayson McCall are not that much greater than Ben, when Ben is healthy.

McCall and Bradley both have a chance to either be drafted or get UDFA options in the NFL, after that we have seen that Darren Grainger who has been up and down is super talented, but is a crap shoot from one week to the other. Brin from Georgia Southern is a little of an unknown commodity, he played off and on at Tulsa due to injury, but has some real talent. I am not sold on Gunnar Watson, he has been in and out of the lineup both with injuries and being benched throughout his career, the talent is there, but I don't think the consistency is. Jordan McCloud is another completely unknown commodity, he has been on the roster at both USF and Arizona which means he has talent to play and I never count JMU out, because this team has been able to reload year after year (while at the FCS level). Texas State will probably go with Malik Hornsby who played sparingly at Arkansas, but reminds me of Malik Willis at Liberty, huge upside athletically but kind of all over the board as a passer, but tons of talent. We saw Cam Fancher from Marshall last year and I am not sold on him, but you don't need to be, Marshall will be a RUN FIRST offense and all he has to be is capable.

Burger at App will have tons of talent around him, but has only played in one game vs Robert Morris as a college player. I think he will eventually be very good, but maybe not this year. It will be about consistency for him. After injury after injury after injury at USM, they went out to the transfer portal and got two guys and Wiles is probably the guy. Wiles has not played, but was on the Clemson roster. He is a complete unknown. JT Strout will be the starter at Arkansas State, I am not sold on him nor am I sold on Butch Davis' offenses. Jiya Wright who is a RB playing QB for ULM will be a guy who can run and run well. I think he is limited on what he can do as a passer, but he will be a very talented runner, but not in the traditional elusive type, Jiya Wright from what I have seen runs like a downhill guy. Then Grant Wilson at ODU, who came with the OC from Fordham. He knows the offense that the Fordham OC will be running, but he was not the started at Fordham, which is concerning for ODU.

Nice breakdown, thanks!

[fanof71]

But can any play WR?

[R1Letterman]

How many of the other schools could have a qb2 higher on list?

[R1Letterman]

But can any play WR?

Great question!

[Louisiana84]

If I'm Ben and they vote me 9th, that's motivation.

[UL_Cajuns]

Ben is top 3. He just hasn't started as much as the others. Watch!

[R1Letterman]

And the others haven't had threads debating qb1 vs qb2

[fanof71]

Ben is top 3. He just hasn't started as much as the others. Watch!

True Dat...his sample size from last season is small compared to most listed...

[RaginDave]

True Dat...his sample size from last season is small compared to most listed...

I would not say top 3, but easily top 5, with the possibility of #3. Again, remember Grayson McCall is probably going to be drafted and Carter Bradley will get a chance in a training camp if not drafted. The problem for most "pundants/experts" is 3 things:

#1--Ben had a small sample size in 2022, so most guys don't know what he is truly capable of.
#2--And more importantly, Ben is coming off a major injury that keeps most players out a minimum of a year and he is coming back in about 7-8 months. There are a lot of questions about that.
#3--Finally #3 and one that is pretty important, Ben will be playing with a very young and inexperienced receiving corps. I think had Fleming and Rogers returned to the Cajuns, most people would be much higher on Ben. Ben loses Michael Jefferson who we think without the crash would probably have been drafted to the NFL, John Stephens Jr is in the NFL on a UDFA contract, Errol Rogers JR is playing for Liberty this year, Dontae Fleming is playing for Tulane this year, Lance LeGendre could be playing for no one this year, Chris Smith got a look at an NFL camp, Johnny Lumpkin is in an NFL camp.

That works out to 154 catches which is 60% of the Cajuns caught passes gone. Also, that works out to 1914 yards, which is about 66% of the yardage gone and 19 TD's which is 70% of the TD's from last year gone.

I truly believe that these young receiving corps is going to be good, but many that is allot of production off of a team that was not a great offensive team gone.

I actually left out one other and that is Jamal Bell who only had 2 catches for 39 yards last year, but even changes those numbers more.

The expectation is that Neal Johnson will have a very good year and that Jacob Bernard and Peter Leblanc as well as Pearse Migl are going to be solid veteran presences on this team. All have been productive at some point and will need to step up this year. I also think a year in the system for Dre'lyn Washington and he could be more productive as a pass catcher than even Chris Smith, who was a good one. But what I am excited about are these names.

Robert Williams, Charles Robertson, AJ Jayroe, Jaydon Johnson and Harvey Broussard and even Ty Stamey at TE. I think another guy who could end up his career being very productive as a WR (and it won't be this year, for a number of reason--1 he is learning to be a WR after coming in as a QB and 2 he is a PWO who is earning his workload as a Fresh) is Landon Baptiste, the QB from Southside High School in Youngsville. He is 6'3, but only 163 lbs. This kid is a special athlete, he played basketball and ran track at Southside as well as football. When he got to Southside, the expectation was not for him to be the QB, but his athleticism was off the charts. He is also extremely smart, with a 3.7 GPA at Southside as well as scoring a 28 on the ACT as a Junior. He reminds me (and this is going back in the way back machine) of Wayde Butler, another guy who came to UL as a QB and turned into a pretty good WR, getting a tryout in the NFL and playing in the CFL. Landon is taller than Wayde was, but a little smaller in weight. I think he is a guy who could get some looks on some Flanker screen passes as well, jet sweeps and even potentially because of his QB history some double passes, where he catches it behind the line of scrimmage and throws it deep to a streaking WR down the field.

[Louisiana84]

Dave, your analysis is far more complete than Steven Lassan's. I truly love reading your breakdowns!