The 2025 season is still over 100 days away for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, but as May tends to be a quieter month for the program, we're beginning to take early looks at the upcoming season. Today, we start by examining who each of Minnesota's opponents in 2025 are likely to start at quarterback in week one.

It will be program No. 4 for Roberson in 2025 after spending time at Penn State, UConn, and Kansas State. Over his career, Roberson has appeared in 24 games, completing 56.4% of his passes for 2,188 yards and 13 touchdowns with eight career interceptions. In 2023, Roberson started 11 games for UConn, completing 58.3% of his passes for 2,075 yards and 12 touchdowns. Last year with Kansas State, Roberson was behind Avery Johnson, playing in six games but only attempting seven passes. Roberson should be a good starting quarterback for Buffalo once MAC play begin,s but the Bulls shouldn't expect much against higher competition.

It's hard to predict who will be Northwestern State's starting quarterback in 2025. Redshirt freshman Abram Johnston appeared in a handful of games last fall, completing 22-of-46 attempts for 400 yards and one touchdown, but he did throw three interceptions.

The former Ohio State quarterback transferred to Cal after the Buckeyes' national championship came to an end. Brown with the Buckeyes appeared in 17 games over three seasons, completing 17-of-27 passing attempts for 331 yards and three touchdowns. He'll take over a Cal offense that saw their own starting quarterback from 2024, Fernando Mendoza, hit the transfer portal before landing with Indiana. Brown, despite entering his fourth year of college football, is still a rather unknown commodity at quarterback. The Golden Bears will hope that Brown lives up to his former four-star billing in 2024 and can pick up where Fernando Mendoza left off.

Kaliakmanis, in his first year with Rutgers in 2024, improved upon his play from his lone season as Minnesota's starting quarterback in 2023. Last season for the Scarlet Knights, the Illinois native was still rather inaccurate with just a 53.9% completion percentage, but he did throw for 2,696 yards and 18 touchdowns while cutting down his interceptions from nine to seven.

Despite the low completion percentage, Kaliakmanis did improve his numbers across the board from 2023 with Minnesota, when he completed 53.1% of his passes for 1,838 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Kaliakmanis's ceiling is ultimately going to be on the lower side because of the accuracy issues that are unlikely to change in 2025, but he should once again be a capable quarterback for the Scarlet Knights.

Sayin, a former five-star prospect, is likely to lead the Buckeyes in 2025. The former Alabama signee played in four games last season for Ohio State, completing 5-of-12 passing attempts for 84 yards and one touchdown. That being said, with the wide receiver room that Sayin has at his disposal, the redshirt freshman quarterback is going to be just fine in his first year as a starter, even if there are some struggles along the way.

Browne played in eight games for Purdue last season, completing 43-of-76 passing attempts for 532 yards and four touchdowns. The Florida native had an interesting offseason in which he entered the transfer portal, transferred to North Carolina, but then, in April, left Chapel Hill and returned to West Lafayette. It's not a certainty that he'll be the Boilermakers' starting quarterback entering next season, but we'll give him the edge. Malachi Singleton, an Arkansas transfer, is another name to watch.

The former five-star quarterback enters year two of his career at Nebraska after an all-around solid true freshman campaign. In 2024, Raiola completed 67.1% of his passes for 2,819 yards and 13 touchdowns but threw 11 interceptions in the process. He specifically struggled as the season went on, especially in the turnover department, with nine interceptions over the Cornhuskers' last eight games while throwing just four touchdowns. In 2025, the Huskers enter year three of the Matt Rhule era, which has historically been the year that Rhule's programs begin to show tangible improvements. If the Huskers are going to continue that trend, it will have to begin with Raiola taking a step forward this fall.

In their first year without Brian Ferentz leading the offense, the Iowa Hawkeyes went from 15.4 points to 27.7 points per game. That was despite suboptimal quarterback play from Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan. Now, the Hawkeyes hope they have the quarterback who can help them take an even bigger step in 2025, as they added South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski to their roster this offseason.

In 2024, Gronowski completed 60.9% of his passes for 2,721 yards and 23 touchdowns with just five interceptions. Notably, Gronowski saw a decrease in his completion percentage from 2023 to 2024, falling from 68.1% to 60.9%. The Gophers saw Max Brosmer, a former FCS quarterback himself, have a strong 2024 campaign after making the jump. The Hawkeyes would be over the moon with similar results.

Chiles enters his second season as Michigan State's starting quarterback after an up-and-down 2024 season in which he completed 59.4% of his passes for 2,415 yards and 13 touchdowns. However, he did throw a Big Ten-leading 11 interceptions in his 12 games played. Chiles is one of the more naturally gifted quarterbacks in the Big Ten, but he will have to take a big step up in his game this fall, including in his decision-making and accuracy.

A former five-star quarterback, Moore will get his second opportunity to be a starting quarterback in 2025. In 2023, Moore was the UCLA Bruins' starting quarterback as a true freshman, completing 54.8% of his passes for 1,659 yards and 11 touchdowns while throwing nine interceptions. It wasn't a poor performance by any means for a true freshman, but it was also clear that the Michigan native needed more time to develop.

After his true freshman season, Moore entered the transfer portal and found himself in Eugene with the Ducks, where he sat behind Dillon Gabriel this past season. After sitting behind Gabriel, Moore gets his second shot. What he will bring to the Ducks, however, remains to be seen. His development could play a big part in the conference's big picture in 2025.

A transfer from SMU, Stone joined Northwestern after four years at SMU. A former four-star prospect, Stone was the Mustangs' starting quarterback in 2023, completing 206-of-344 passing attempts for 3,197 yards and 28 touchdowns. He would begin the 2024 season as the starter but would be quickly replaced by Kevin Jennings.

Credit to Stone, he stuck around the SMU program throughout the season, including their postseason games against Clemson and Penn State, before transferring once their season came to an end.

Stone, when given opportunities in his career, has been solid and

Wisconsin's search for quality quarterback play continues in 2025. Since Jack Coan in 2019, the Badgers' quarterback play has been consistently among the worst in the Big Ten. This offseason, Maryland signal-caller Billy Edwards Jr. entered the transfer portal and was a hot commodity before ultimately landing in Madison.

Last fall, Edwards was solid for Maryland, completing 65.0% of his passes for 2,881 yards and 15 touchdowns while throwing nine interceptions. In a 48-23 loss to the Gophers last season, Edwards Jr. completed 19-of-35 passing attempts for 201 yards and two interceptions.

Edwards is a stopgap option for Wisconsin but should provide a somewhat stable floor for the Badgers at the position in 2025.

1. Julian Sayin - Ohio State: Sayin may have some ups and downs early, but his talent is undeniable. Paired with the Buckeyes' wide receiver room, he’ll put up major numbers. If Sayin is who we believe he is, the Buckeyes will have a great chance to go back-to-back, and Sayin could easily find himself in New York City this December.

2. Dylan Raiola - Nebraska: Despite struggles in 2024, especially late in the season, we expect Raiola to take a notable step forward in 2025 and be one of the better quarterbacks in the Big Ten. His accuracy as a true freshman was already impressive and among the conference’s best. If he can cut down turnovers and make the tougher throws he struggled with last year, Nebraska could be the 2025 surprise akin to what Indiana did in 2024. The Huskers have other holes that could limit that, but Raiola will largely determine their success.

3. Dante Moore - Oregon: Moore needed time to develop and got just that last year working behind one of college football’s most productive QBs. We believe that time with Dillon Gabriel will be big for Moore. Plus, being in a creative offense loaded with talent should help him be one of the conference’s top passers in 2025.

4. Mark Gronowski - Iowa: Gronowski was one of the FCS’s best quarterbacks over the last three seasons and has performed well in high-stakes games. He was one of the top quarterbacks available in this year’s transfer portal and a major recruiting win for Iowa.

5. Aidan Chiles - Michigan State: Chiles is another QB in the Raiola and Moore category — talented but needing to take the next step in 2025. He has the tools to be a high NFL Draft pick but still has questions to answer. He has one of the highest ceilings of anyone on the Gophers’ schedule and could win a game all by himself.

6. Athan Kaliakmanis - Rutgers: Kaliakmanis likely represents the last of the second tier of quarterbacks Minnesota will face this year. He has the talent to rank higher, but is too volatile. One game he looks spectacular; the next, overmatched. You never really know what you’ll get week-to-week. Still, if he limits turnovers, he’ll provide Rutgers a decent floor at QB.

7. Devin Brown - California: We were tempted to rank Brown higher, but you could also argue for him being lower. When Brown was on the field at Ohio State, he was impressive. He’ll join a strong Cal passing offense in 2025 and should have chances to showcase the arm talent that made him a four-star, top-50 high school prospect.

8. Preston Stone - Northwestern: Stone is a quality quarterback who should give Northwestern stability, but he’s not likely to light up the Big Ten. Expect pedestrian numbers from him in 2025.

9. Ryan Browne - Purdue: Browne did a decent job when on the field in 2024 and is talented, but with some of the worst skill position groups in the Power Five around him, his numbers won’t be pretty.

10. Ta’Quan Roberson - Buffalo: Roberson is a fine quarterback, but don’t expect much production against tougher competition like Minnesota.

11. Abram Johnston - Northwestern State: We won’t pretend to know much about Johnston and Northwestern State, but usually inexperienced FCS quarterbacks struggle in matchups like these.

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