Fewer than 2 weeks to kickoff: Do you know who your starting QB is?

The 2025 college football season kicks off in less than a week for those teams playing in Week 0, and in less than two weeks for the rest of the country. 

And with season openers about a dozen days away, the quarterback situations for four of the five FBS schools in Michigan are at least somewhat murky.

So with multiple signal callers vying to start across the state, he’s a look at the five respective quarterback situations and the four competitions to seize a starting role, and a moment to ask and answer the basic question: Is there a clear starting quarterback yet?

Central Michigan

No. But it’s trending toward redshirt senior Joe Labas retaking the role. 

Labas started the first six games of the 2024 season for Central Michigan before getting hurt, but the new coaching staff is letting the quarterbacks compete in an open format through the first part of camp before making any big decisions. 

But halfway through the third week of camp, head coach Matt Drinkall said Labas was probably the favorite to be the starter against San Jose State. 

“It's all going to be about who are the best 11 guys and what do those guys do really well,” Drinkall said. “But Joe's been killing it. He's running with the ones and it's probably his job to lose and he's doing a great job. 

Besides Labas, the other options at quarterback for the Chippewas are redshirt freshman Jadyn Glasser and a pair of transfers: Marcus Beamon, a JUCO prospect from Butte College and Angel Flores, coming from Northern Arizona, an FCS program. 

Offensive coordinator Jim Chapin sees upside in all of their respective games, albeit in varying fashions.

“I think we have several guys that can play and win right now,” Chapin said. “And we felt that way coming out of spring ball.”

Labas is the most experienced at the FBS level, with six starts from 2024 under his belt. He completed 59 percent of his passes for 1114 yards and seven touchdowns and seven interceptions in his action in 2024.

Glasser ended up starting in four games after Labas got hurt, and showed off some of the high athletic upside he has in that small sample. But he was still obviously raw, completing 54 percent of his passes for 439 yards and two touchdowns with four interceptions. 

Flores played sparingly in his year at Northern Arizona, attempting just 16 passes in three appearances. He played more in 2023 and the coaching staff has liked what he brings to the room. 

Beamon is maybe the most enticing of the quartet. A JUCO All-American in 2024, Beamon was an 11 game starter for Butte, completing 65 percent of his passes for 2104 yards and 33 touchdowns to five interceptions. He’s also a real rushing threat, with 304 yards and seven touchdowns on 91 carries. 

And while it might ultimately be Labas’ job to lose, the Central Michigan coaching staff doesn’t seem opposed to creating packages to situationally use multiple quarterbacks. 

Eastern Michigan

No. But it’s either Noah Kim or Jermiah Salem. 

In a way, the Eastern Michigan quarterback battle is a microcosm of the tension between how college football has worked and how it’s going to work going forward. 

Salem is a former walk on who toiled for years deep on the depth chart. He eventually got put on scholarship in 2024 and got to compete for the starting quarterback job. After losing out to Cole Snyder last year, Salem is back for another season and another quarterback competition. He appeared in three games in 2024, going 8-for-11 passing for 126 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Kim is a journeyman, a familiar name to Michiganders as he started his career at Michigan State before transferring to Coastal Carolina for the 2024 season. Now on his third team in three seasons, Kim brings notable starting experience to a room that didn’t have much, and immediately wedged into the discussion to start under center. 

Were it solely down to track record, Kim would be a lock. But it’s about a lot more than that, as head coach Chris Creighton explained recently. 

“Always, always, always first looking for a leader and a winner,” Creighton said. “And our group of guys, there's five of 'em, they all have that. They all have leadership ability. They're different, stylistically. They're winners. That doesn't take me or anybody long to figure that out.”

Michigan

No. But it’s seemingly boiling down to a choice between the coaching staff’s preferred veteran transfer — Mikey Keene or Jake Garcia — or the much-heralded freshman Bryce Underwood. 

A big factor shaping this race through camp has been an undisclosed injury to Keene that has limited his ability to practice fully. Head coach Sherrone Moore said on Aug. 12 that Keene was “managing” what needed to be handled and they were continuing to evaluate. 

Keene is the most experienced quarterback on the roster, and is in Ann Arbor after a strong 2024 season at Fresno State: 2892 yards and 18 touchdowns with 11 interceptions while completing more than 70 percent of his passes.

Garcia comes from East Carolina where he wasn’t the full-time starter (he was behind, perhaps ironically, former Michigan State QB Katin Houser on the depth chart). He’s got a fair bit of collegiate experience under his belt, and was a former high-level high school prospect in the 2021 signing class. He threw for 1426 yards and eight touchdowns with 12 interceptions in six appearances in 2024. 

And, of course, there is Underwood. 

The top recruit in the 2025 signing class by most evaluators, Underwood enrolled at Michigan early and the former Belleville star has the physical makeup to play right away. The coaching staff has praised his advanced football intelligence and the true freshman’s biggest hurdle to starting will be similar to most any touted freshman quarterback: Demonstrating consistent, reliable command of the offense and good decision making as a passer. 

“And just comes to work every day, lunch pail, ready to go,” Moore said of Underwood. “Does everything the right way and attacks it the right way.”

And no matter who starts the season at quarterback for Michigan, most of the best-case scenarios involve Underwood being the clear starter by the end of the season. 

Moore said he will announce his decision the week of Michigan’s first game, presumably on Aug. 25, at his regularly-scheduled press conference.

Michigan State

Yes. It’s Aidan Chiles.

There’s not much to note here, other than the fact that Chiles’ backup, Alessio Milivojevic, has earned consistent praise from coaches and solidified himself as a backup option the coaches feel comfortable with. 

But make no mistake, Chiles is the guy in East Lansing. He’s still a physically impressive presence and has a year of starting for the Spartans under his belt. There’s little doubt about who the Michigan State staff will hitch the wagon to in 2025. 

Western Michigan

No. But it’s going to be either Brady Jones or Broc Lowry taking the first snaps against Michigan State on Aug. 29. 

At a recent practice, Jones worked primarily with the first team offense and Lowry was the next out with the second group. No decision has seemingly been made, though, as Lance Taylor and Co. have been monitoring this competition since the beginning of camp. 

“I want competition to decide itself on the field,” Taylor said. “You know, we talked about one of our mottos in the off season was ‘earned not given,’ so I want them to earn it.”

Jones comes to Kalamazoo after a prolific season as the starter at Riverside City College. Playing at the JUCO level, Jones started 12 games and completed 64 percent of his passes for 4456 yards and 44 touchdowns with eight interceptions. He also carried the ball 62 times for 377 yards and six touchdowns. 

Lowry is less experienced but has a year in Kalamazoo under his belt after transferring in ahead of the 2024 season. Lowry also played regularly in a running quarterback package for the Broncos last fall to spell Hayden Wolff. Lowry carried 25 times for 133 yards and three scores. 

A decision is likely to come in the next week or so, and even if Jones does take the starting job, it’s possible Lowry again carves out a role as a ball-carrying change-of-pace.