Top 5 AAC Football Quarterbacks In 2013

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With the start of the 2013 NCAA football season less than two months away, the hype and analysis of teams are in full force. There will be a much different look in many conferences with the flurry of realignment sweeping across the country over the past two years, including the AAC, formerly the Big East.

The 2013 AAC slate will only be intact for one season, as the Louisville Cardinals (ACC) and Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Big Ten) move on to bigger opportunities next year, while East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will join in 2014. Football will not be a strength this year, but the AAC will have no shortage of playmakers and teams that could do some great things on a national level. Louisville head coach Charlie Strong has the program on the rise after shocking the country by beating the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl, while the Cincinnati Bearcats and South Florida Bulls got their guys in Tommy Tubberville and Willie Taggart in hopes of avoiding a stretch of down years.

Regardless of the one-year scenario, the AAC has its stable of upper-tier athletes that should make for an interesting season. Over the next few weeks, we will compile a list of the power rankings for the top five players at each position in the league, starting with the quarterbacks. This list is not a projection of who has the best chance to make it to the next level or who will be the best by season's end, but rather the top five quarterbacks entering the 2013 season based on last year's play. Teams that have ongoing battles for who will be the starter will not be listed, only the players who have firmly cemented themselves as the head signal caller for this year.

Several teams have quarterbacks that did not make the cut and not because they can't toss the pigskin around. The Bearcats have two capable signal callers in Munchie Legeaux and Brendan Kay, with Legaux starting eight games last year before being replaced by Kay for the final five after inconsistency. Neither set themselves apart from the other through the spring and the battle looks like it could go on until just before their first game. Both have the potential to be a top-five quarterbacks in the league, but until one wins the job and performs well during the season, they will not make the power rankings.

Also with experienced guys under center are the Connecticut Huskies, Chandler Whitmer, and SMU Mustangs, Garrett Gilbert. Whitmer was too inconsistent last year to make the preseason power rankings, throwing only nine touchdowns to 16 picks. Gilbert, like Whitmer, was way too inconsistent to crack the list. In 2012, Gilbert threw for 15 scores, but also had 15 interceptions with just a 53.0 percent completion percentage and has thrown 28 touchdowns over his career with 38 picks. Any one of these guys could easily make their way into the top five during the season with improvement, but for now, let's take a look at the top five entering the AAC's inaugural year.

Bryan Heater is an AAC football and basketball columnist for RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, Friend him on Facebook or add him to your Google network.

Source: http://www.rantsports.com/ncaa-football/2013/07/07/top-5-aac-football-quarterbacks-in-2013/

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