Who is the next Joe Burrow will be the top question on the minds of college football fans. But forget it. There is no ‘next Joe Burrow.’
Joe Burrow was the story of the 2019 college football season. The former LSU quarterback broke out in a big way, winning the Heisman, leading LSU to an undefeated national title and setting the FBS record with 60 touchdowns along the way.
After his college career, Burrow was the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals and is the betting favorite to be the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
It’s good to be Burrow. It’s why colleges are looking for the ‘next Joe Burrow’ wherever they can find one. Burrow’s story isn’t uncommon but the results certainly were.
Burrow went to Ohio State as a four-star recruit after a decorated multi-sport career at Athens High School. He didn’t beat out Dwayne Haskins for the starting job so he transferred to LSU where he was fine his first year, albeit with flashes of brilliance, like the Fiesta Bowl win vs. UCF, before his record-breaking senior season.
That’s the blueprint to being the ‘next Joe Burrow’ and why you’ll see a dozen or more articles between now and the start of next season about candidates who fit that bill.
The comparisons don’t have to be exactly like Burrow’s to be the next Burrow, but the comparisons are already beginning. Bleacher Report, 247Sports and even FanSided has examined the ‘next Joe Burrow’ candidates.
Whether it’s at Miami where D’Eriq King left Houston after three years of big-time production. Or whether it’s Kyle Trask who enters his first full season as the starting quarterback at Florida. And then there’s Wake Forest transfer, Jamie Newman, hoping to pull off a Burrow at Georgia. It spreads far and wide across the nation with programs and fanbases trying to sell themselves on their quarterback being able to follow the Burrow route.
The truth is there is no ‘next Joe Burrow’ so quit askin’ (extreme Nick Saban voice).
What Burrow did last season was historic. Unprecedented. Unlikely to be duplicated, certainly not the very next season.
It’s like when the NBA kept trying to find the ‘next Michael Jordan’ or with golf trying to find the ‘next Tiger Woods’ because once-in-a-lifetime talents only come around once-in-a-lifetime and not on an annual basis.
Burrow’s season was the best we’ve ever seen from a college football quarterback. Winning the Heisman, national title and being the No. 1 pick had only ever been done by Cam Newton in 2010.
But when you factor in setting the record for most touchdown passes on top of all that, the list is Burrow and Burrow alone.
So you can have all the debates you want to talk yourself into believing why your unheralded quarterback will suddenly break out and have the greatest season of all-time, but it’s going to be a waste of time.
There is no ‘next Joe Burrow’ there is only the original.
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