The 2009 college football season is sure to be the Year of the Quarterback. That’s not to say all the quarterbacks mentioned below will move on to the NFL to rival the draft class of 1983 (Dan Marino, John Elway, Jim Kelly) or 2004 (Ben Roethlisberger and Eli Manning and three combined Super Bowl wins), but they have a chance to make a serious impact now and in the future.

FIVE BEST QUARTERBACKS
Sam Bradford, Jr., Oklahoma
Tim Tebow, Sr., Florida
Colt McCoy, Sr., Texas
Jevan Snead, Jr., Mississippi
Daryll Clark, Sr., Penn State
THE NEXT FIVE
Zac Robinson, Sr., Oklahoma State
Terrelle Pryor, Soph., Ohio State
Jeremiah Masoli, Jr., Oregon
Case Keenum, Jr., Houston
Max Hall, Sr., Brigham Young
FIVE ON THE HOT SEAT
Matt Barkley, Fr., Southern Cal
Jimmy Clausen, Jr., Notre Dame
Joe Cox, Sr., Georgia
Blaine Gabbert, Soph., Missouri
Michigan’s trio of Tate Forcier, Fr.; Denard Robinson, Fr.; and Nick Sheridan, Jr.
FIVE BEST STORIES
Greg Paulus, Sr., Syracuse. He scored 1,193 points in four years of playing basketball at Duke.
Dave Shinskie, Fr., Boston College. Now 25, he pitched in farm systems of Minnesota and Toronto.
Taylor Potts, Jr., Texas Tech. He is the latest on coach Mike Leach’s passer assembly line.
Dan LeFevour, Sr., Central Michigan. He is second to Colt McCoy in career passing yards among active players.
Russell Shepard, Fr., Louisiana State. The top high school prospect in ’08, he has abundant speed and athleticism.
FAMILY TIES
Carson Coffman, Jr., Kansas State, is a son of former Green Bay tight end Paul Coffman’s and the brother of Cincinnati tight end Chase Coffman.
Cody Hawkins, Jr., Colorado, is a son of Buffaloes head coach Dan Hawkins’.
Max Hall, Sr., BYU, is a nephew of former Dallas quarterback Danny White’s.
Andrew Luck, Soph., Stanford, is the son of former Houston Oilers quarterback Oliver Luck.
AND THE TOP 10 ...
1 Heisman Trophy watch
It’s difficult to pick against one of the Big Three — 2008 winner Sam Bradford, 2007 recipient Tim Tebow, and Colt McCoy — because they’ll get most of the attention. If your tastes prefer a running back, you’d be right to consider Jahvid Best of California or Jonathan Dwyer of Georgia Tech. And for our money, the best receiver is still in the Big Twelve, Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant.
2 The non-quarterbacks
Some of the other bests in the nation are defensive backs Eric Berry of Tennessee and Taylor Mays of Southern Cal, wide receiver Arrelious Benn of Illinois, defensive end George Selvie of South Florida, defensive linemen Terrence Cody of Alabama and Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma, and tight end Jermaine Gresham of Oklahoma.
3 Change of scenery
Some transfers will be worth watching this season — for Penn State fans, probably none more than defensive tackle Phil Taylor, who moved on to Baylor after Joe Paterno kicked him off the team last summer. Taylor was named the preseason Big Twelve newcomer of the year. Others expected to make an impact are quarterbacks Ryan Mallett of Arkansas (from Michigan) and Greg Paulus of Syracuse (from Duke) and offensive tackle Justin Boren of Ohio State (from Michigan).
4 Don’t look back
Charlie Weis saw Notre Dame improve from 3-9 in 2007 to 7-6 last season but will find his job security tenuous again unless the Fighting Irish consistently make the rankings this season. Other coaches on the hot seat are South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier, Virginia’s Al Groh, Louisville’s Steve Kragthorpe, and Colorado’s Dan Hawkins.
5 And then there’s ...
Tennessee rookie coach Lane Kiffin, the former Oakland coach, who was on the enemies list of only Raiders owner Al Davis until he took the Volunteers job. Since then, Kiffin has accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of a recruiting violation (Meyer was cleared; Kiffin apologized), hired assistants away from other Southeastern Conference schools, and told a South Carolina recruit he’d be “pumping gas for the rest of his life” like other Gamecocks players. Thankfully for Rocky Top fans, the guy can recruit.
6 Why so high?
Preseason rankings tend to overvalue traditionally good teams, including Penn State, which has gotten much top-10 consideration despite holes in the offensive line, at wide receiver, in the secondary, and at backup quarterback. Then you have Southern Cal, pretty much a consensus No. 4 pick. The Trojans named freshman Matt Barkley to start at quarterback, lost their three starting linebackers to the NFL, needed to replace their offensive and defensive coordinators, and play all their tough games (Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Cal) on the road. Good luck.
7 10 games to watch
Thursday: Oregon at Boise State.
Saturday: Virginia Tech vs. Alabama in Atlanta.
Sept. 12: Southern Cal at Ohio State.
Sept. 19: Utah at Oregon.
Oct. 10: Alabama at Mississippi.
Oct. 17: Texas vs. Oklahoma in Dallas.
Oct. 31: Southern Cal at Oregon.
Oct. 31: Florida vs. Georgia in Jacksonville, Fla.
Nov. 7: Ohio State at Penn State.
Nov. 28: Florida State at Florida.
8 The Big Easy, er, East
The Big East is the only Bowl Championship Series conference without a team in The Associated Press’ preseason top 25. That’s not to say the league, where parity among the top five teams makes it anyone’s guess who will be on top by bowl selection time, won’t be entertaining. But the conference isn’t going to rate a lot of national attention, even if it did finish 4-2 in bowls last season, compared with the Big Ten’s 1-6.
9 Sound familiar?
Who is this? “Cruelly, everybody and everything seems to be conspiring against him. Fans of other teams mock his age. Opposing coaches use it against him in recruiting. Even many of (his team’s) own fans feel as if he has become a liability.” It might have been Joe Paterno a few years back, but this is from a column last week by Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel on Florida State coach Bobby Bowden.
10 The real Top 10
1, Florida. 2, Texas. 3, Oklahoma. 4, Virginia Tech. 5, Oklahoma State. 6, Alabama. 7, Southern Cal. 8, Mississippi. 9, Ohio State. 10, LSU.
And the national champion is ...
Texas. The Longhorns will win their second title in five years at the Rose Bowl in the BCS championship game, knocking off Florida, 34-27.