ESPN Independents and Others Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson

Not every Mountain West team has the luxury of returning a starting quarterback like BYU, TCU and UNLV. Some schools are breaking in new personnel, some are hoping that veteran backups step up and some are hoping that competition will bring the best player forward in the fall.

Here's a look at some of the Mountain West's new starting quarterbacks, some of the competitions raging for starting roles, and my prediction on who will be the opening game starter.

Utah

Corbin Louks, Jr.
Louks is the frontrunner heading into the summer and fall camp. After two years of playing backup to Brian Johnson, Louks is ready to lead Utah back to the Mountain West championship. He's primarily known as a runner, but has spent most of the spring perfecting his throwing. During his career at Utah, Louks' completed 9-of-17 passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns, but has rushed for 380 yards and four scores.

Challenger: Terrance Cain, Jr.
Cain joined the squad in January and participated in spring drills. By the end of the spring, he closed the gap slightly on Louks and might see some looks in the fall. He was the NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year and an NJCAA All-American at Blinn Community College in Texas. He completed 68.4 percent of his passes for 3,138 yards and 29 touchdowns last season.

Opening game starter: Corbin Louks

Wyoming

Karsten Sween, Sr.
Sween won a three-man quarterback battle in the spring after being the first to pick up new head coach Dave Christensen's offensive style. He said it was similar to the style he played in high school. However, the challenge has just begun with a highly-touted freshman and junior college transfer coming in in the fall. Both players are dual threats, which fits Christensen's system a little more. Sween has completed 377-of-641 passes for 3,636 yards and 21 touchdowns during his career.

Challengers: Austyn Carta-Samuels, Fr., Robert Benjamin, Jr.
Carta-Samuels is a highly-touted incoming freshman from Bellarmine Prep in California. As a senior, Carta-Samuels completed 65 percent of his passes for more than 1,400 yards and eight touchdowns. He also rushed for 370 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Benjamin was the NJCAA Region I Offensive Player of the Year last season at Phoenix College. He completed 192-of-355 passes for 2,391 yards, 25 touchdowns and only five interceptions. He also rushed for 468 yards.

Opening game starter: Karsten Sween, but Benjamin could present a real challenge.

San Diego State

Ryan Lindley, So.
Lindley had a tough season last year because of injuries and little help on the offensive side of the ball. With a new coaching staff, Lindley should be able to show off his quarterbacking talent. The offense will still be a little raw, but it will be much better than it was a year ago. Lindley completed 56.7 percent of his passes for 2,653 yards, 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season.

Challenger: Drew Westling, Jr.
Westling arrived on campus for spring drills after spending a season at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, Calif. Prior to Southwestern, Westling spent a redshirt year at Tulsa. Last season at Southwestern, Westling completed 53 percent of his passes for 2,087 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Opening game starter: Ryan Lindley

TEAMS WITHOUT A DEFINITIVE STARTER AFTER CAMP

New Mexico

Donovan Porterie, Sr.
This should be Porterie's spot to lose. He threw for more than 3,000 yards in 2007, but played just four games in 2008 before he was lost to a knee injury. However, before he went down, he had thrown five interceptions to no touchdowns.

Brad Gruner, So.
Gruner started eight games in Porterie's place last season, but wasn't nearly as effective as the Lobos needed him to be against some of the better competition in the Mountain West. Gruner finished the season completing 99-of-184 passes for 1,037 yards with three touchdowns and six interceptions.

Tate Smith, Jr.
Smith is the darkhorse in this competition, but came on late in the spring with a strong showing in the spring game. He took advantage of Porterie coming back from injury this spring and Gruner being knocked out of the spring game with a hit to the head. Smith walked onto the team this year after spending the fall at Cisco (Texas) Junior College.

Opening game starter: Donovan Porterie

Colorado State

Before I go into detail about the Colorado State quarterbacks, I want to point out that this is the most open race in the conference, and that's not because there's a lot of competition.

Coach Steve Fairchild was dismayed about his quarterback play during the spring and he didn't hold anything back.

"The fact that we're so far away at quarterback right now is what stands out," Fairchild told the Fort Collins Coloradoan. "They were just awful. I mean, it was embarrassing [during the final spring scrimmage]."

With that said...

Grant Stucker, Sr.
Stucker played in four games last season, completed 3-of-5 passes for 22 yards and had four carries for 43 yards and a touchdown. Stucker is slightly ahead of junior college transfer Jon Eastman right now, but not ready to be the starter. During the team's final spring scrimmage, he completed 15-of-28 passes for 150 yards and no touchdowns.

Jon Eastman, Jr.
The Snow College transfer saw fewer and fewer reps as spring progressed. In the final spring scrimmage he completed 2-of-7 passes for 30 yards and an interception. But Eastman had good numbers coming in from a reputable school. Despite missing the first nine games of the 2008 season with injury, he led his team to the NJCAA national championship game. He completed 60-of-89 passes in 2008 for 804 yards, eight touchdowns and just three interceptions.

Klay Kubiak, So.
Kubiak might have been the starter coming out of camp had it not been for shoulder surgery that kept him out of drills. He was Billy Farris' backup last year and saw action in three games. He completed 19-of-37 passes for 252 yards and two interceptions as a freshman.

Nico Ranieri, Fr.
Ranieri set almost every school single-game and single-season passing record at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fla. He completed 173-of-280 passes for 2,496 yards, 26 touchdowns and just seven interceptions last season. He also rushed for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

Opening game starter: Klay Kubiak, if healthy