Agreed, but their QBs have been in the system and they still return most of their OLs. CSU returns most of it's OL and future pro wr Rashard Higgins. For Phil to name a new QB transfer, on a team that was terrible at QB last year...and I know this is the MWC and not the PAC-12...but that is still saying something.
A breakdown of what Nevada, CSU, and Boise State return at QB. QB tends to be a position that unless you are a special talent, which none of those teams likely have, experience is a huge factor in production.
-BSU[TABLE="class: grid, width: 640"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Player[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Cmp[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Att[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Pct[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Yds[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Y/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]AY/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]TD[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Int[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Rate[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]
Ryan Finley[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]12[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]27[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]44.4[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]161[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]6[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5.8[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]111.6[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
-Nevada
[TABLE="class: grid, width: 640"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Player[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Cmp[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Att[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Pct[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Yds[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Y/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]AY/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]TD[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Int[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Rate[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]
Hasaan Henderson[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
-CSU
[TABLE="class: grid, width: 640"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Player[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Cmp[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Att[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Pct[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Yds[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Y/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]AY/A[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]TD[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Int[/TD]
[TD="width: 64, align: center"]Rate[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]
Nick Stevens[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]15[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]25[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]60[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]136[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5.4[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]6.2[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]118.9[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Those teams have damn near zero experience returning. The point I was making is that Wittek being named 1st team in the MWC isn't all that big of a deal, there's just not much returning in the MWC. The MWC loses 6 of their top 10 total yard passers this year. As far as career OL starts for CSU, they are #109 nationally according to Phil Steele, Hawaii ranks #68. A pretty important stat for future predictions is returning yards%, CSU is #107, Hawaii is #43. Hawaii returns a good amount, but CSU lost a ton again this year.