QB Future Rankings: How Stanford stays ahead in the Pac-12

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit has called the 2015 season the year of the question mark at the quarterback position. Thirteen of the AP Top 25 programs are projected to start a new QB this season, including six of the top 10. As many as six top-25 teams will start a quarterback who transferred into the program.

How important is experience at the position? After all, five of the past six national championship teams were led by first-year starting quarterbacks, and Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel and Florida State's Jameis Winston each won a Heisman Trophy as redshirt freshman quarterbacks.

Amid this uncertainty, Pac-12 reporter Kevin Gemmell and Pac-12 recruiting analyst Erik McKinney set out to evaluate the strength of each Pac-12 program at the quarterback position set out over a three-year period (2015-17), taking into account current depth charts and developments on the recruiting trail in the 2016 and 2017 classes.

Below is a ranking of the league's 12 teams based on the talent each has on the current roster, the work each has done on the recruiting trail, as well its pedigree in identifying and developing quarterbacks, and giving them the tools to be successful.

The question is perhaps most pressing in the Pac-12, which saw several program-defining players depart after last season, including Oregon's Marcus Mariota. The Ducks have found a stop-gap replacement in transfer Vernon Adams Jr., but have plenty of work to do to replenish the talent for the future.