East Tennessee State University has one of the most loaded quarterback rooms in college football. Not just on the FCS level, but all of college football. Seriously.
The Buccaneers added a second high-profile FBS transfer on Tuesday in Jacolby Criswell.
ETSU enrolls approximately 15,000 students. It is located in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Although the Bucs’ college football team is historically pretty terrible, it won 11 games and reached the playoffs with former Florida State offensive coordinator Randy Sanders as head coach in 2021. Unfortunately, he retired after the season. His replacement went 3-8 in back-to-back years and got fired.
Enter Will Healy. The 40-year-old was hired as the next head coach at East Tennessee State on Dec. 12. Healy was once considered the fastest-rising star in the industry after rising to prominence at Austin Peay. He later led Charlotte to its first and only winning season in program history during his first season as head coach in 2019. 2020, 2021 and 2022 did not go as well so he was let go. The former FCS champion quarterback spent 2023 as the associate head coach at UCF. He spent 2024 as the associate head coach at Georgia State.
Quarterbacks want to play for Will Healy at East Tennessee State University.
It was announced on Saturday that former Michigan and Iowa signal-caller Cade McNamara committed to ETSU after a lengthy stint in the transfer portal. The soon-to-be 25-year-old seventh-year senior started 29 games for the Wolverines and Hawkeyes with a record of 22-7. Although it might seem like a downgrade to play on the FCS level, because it is, he wants to ball out and put up some big numbers for one more year before turning pro.
However, McNamara is now involved in an unexpected quarterback competition so it is not guaranteed that he will be the starter.
Jacolby Criswell committed to ETSU on Tuesday night. This upcoming fall will mark his sixth season of college football after three years at UNC, one year at Arkansas and one additional year back at UNC.
The 23-year-old was a former four-star recruit. He threw for 2,452 yards and 15 touchdowns for the Tar Heels in 2024.
Jacolby Criswell and Cade McNamara both transferred down to play for Will Healy at East Tennessee State. The Bucs immediately become a legitimate contender on the FCS level— with either guy. It is going be interesting to see who gets the starting job and how things play out from there.
Will the other guy choose to stick around as the backup? Will ETSU win games?