In recent seasons, the Sun Belt East has had no shortage of great quarterbacks: Jordan McCloud of JMU, Grayson McCall of Coastal Carolina, Kyle Vantrease of Georgia Southern, Zac Thomas of Appalachian State and Darren Grainger of Georgia State are just a few of the marquis names that have lit up scoreboards.

Who will take over the huddle in the East this year? Aside from select programs, most teams in the East are rebooting at quarterback. Will the SBC East produce another stellar class of signal callers? Let’s open the ledger.

Slingers of the Sun Belt East

Appalachian State, Joey Aguilar, Senior

Joey Aguilar, the incoming 2024 Sun Belt Preseason Offensive Player of the Year was pretty damn good last year: 3,546 yards and 33 touchdowns to lead the Mountaineers to a Sun Belt East title. Rather than cash his accolades for NIL coins, Aguilar stuck with Coach Shawn Clark and the township of Boone, making Appalachian State the favorite to repeat in the East. Aguilar made the Davey O’Brien Award watch list this preseason, and was one of two SBC slingers to make the Manning Award Watch List. Does he have competition in the huddle? Junior QB Billy Wiles, a former starter and transfer from Southern Miss, has arrived to Boone to keep Aguilar sharp.

Coastal Carolina, Ethan Vasko, Redshirt Sophomore or Noah Kim, Redshirt Senior

At the moment, this appears to be a toss-up in Conway. Ethan Vasko, a three-star prospect that transferred from Kansas, flashed moments of brilliance when subbing in for the oft-injured Grayson McCall, finishing the season with 580 yards, four touchdowns and a 63% passing percentage. He saved his opus for the EasyPost Hawai’i Bowl, hurling a career-high three touchdowns in an MVP performance against San Jose State. Meanwhile, Noah Kim is a three star prospect and transfer who signed with Michigan State in the Class of 2020. When given the starting gig last season, Kim started hot, leading the Spartans to victories over Central Michigan and Richmond. However, as the competition grew stout, Kim cooled, and was benched by Week 7.

Georgia Southern, Dexter Williams II, Redshirt Senior

Dexter Williams II is a three star prospect and transfer who arrives to Statesboro via Indiana, where he compiled his entire resume of pass attempts in 2022 (38/2TDs/2 INTs). A fresh start with head coach Clay Helton could be the catalyst needed to unlock his dual-threat potential, and he could do worse than having Derwin Burgess Jr. to throw to. Should Williams fail to find his footing, native Georgian JC French waits in the wings. The three-star prospect, who transferred from Memphis in 2022, completed 13 of 16 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown and a pick for the Eagles last year before suffering an elbow injury that shut his season down.

Georgia State, Zach Gibson, Redshirt Senior

Originally an Akron Zip, Zach Gibson later transferred to Georgia Tech before finding himself across town at Georgia State. In 2021 as a Zip, In 2021, Gibson delivered 1,262 passing yards and 10 touchdowns in seven games, then spent two years as a Yellowjacket making only six appearances. The 6’3″ 215 pound QB has competition in the form of redshirt freshman Braylen Ragland, a promising three-star who didn’t see action last season behind Darren Grainger, but he may find himself behind center in Atlanta sooner than later.

James Madison, Dylan Morris, Redshirt Senior

Red Wolves fans may remember Dylan Morris, the young Washington quarterback who torched Arkansas State for 367 yards and three touchdowns in 2021 – the last year Morris would see starting snaps. The next season, future Heisman winner Michael Penix took over, and in 2023 Morris was watching from the sideline as Washington took on Michigan in the National Championship game. With gas still left in the tank, Morris (a former four star prospect) has performed well in camp for new Dukes’ head coach Bob Chesney. Backing up Morris looks to be Alonza Barnett, a redshirt sophomore who hasn’t seen a lot of game time but was a 3-star prospect in 2022.

Marshall, Braylon Braxton, Redshirt Junior

Braylon Braxton had 8 career starts for Tulsa, tossing 19 touchdowns for the Golden Hurricane. But if you want a true bite of his salad days, look at 2022, when Braxton threw for 1,133 yards and 10 touchdowns (plus five more on the ground) in just three starts. Now the former 3-star prospect is aboard the Charlie Huff train in Huntington, where he’s in a tight race with the scion of Thundering Herd royalty, Cole Pennington a three-star recruit who looks to pick up where his dad Chad left off.

Old Dominion, Grant Wilson, Redshirt Junior

Last season, Grant Wilson started eleven games for the Monarchs, completing 178-of-312 passes for 2,149 yards, 17 touchdowns and eight interceptions. A transfer from Fordham, Wilson is just your second returning starter for the Sun Belt East (Ethan Vasko notwithstanding), delivering the 10th best offense in the SBC. One has to believe that the 6’3″ 217-pound Wilson will be a year wiser in 2024, but if he ain’t, Emmett Morehead, a 6’5″, 3-star transfer out of Boston College, may very well be the guy.

PHOTO: Sun Belt Media