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CINCINNATI — Former Cincinnati quarterback Ben Bryant announced his commitment to Northwestern as a graduate transfer Wednesday for what will be his sixth and final season of eligibility in 2023.
Here’s what you need to know:
• Bryant joins a Northwestern quarterback group that saw five QBs take snaps for the Wildcats last season. Brendan Sullivan, who took over the starting role midway through 2022, was considered the most likely first-team option for Northwestern throughout spring practice.
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• Bryant seemingly will compete with Sullivan, Jack Lausch and Ryan Hilinksi for the starting position this fall. Hilinksi, who started the first six games of 2022 for the Wildcats, did not participate in spring workouts due to injury.
• The transfer is a homecoming for Bryant, who played for Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Ill., just outside of Chicago and less than an hour from Northwestern’s campus. He will be immediately eligible as a grad transfer.
• Bryant, who entered the transfer portal on April 20, initially left open the possibility of returning to Cincinnati to compete for the starting job in 2023. He split first-team reps with transfer quarterback Emory Jones in spring practice under new Bearcats head coach Scott Satterfield. Bryant took the first snap of the Bearcats’ spring game on April 15.
Thank you Cincinnati for all you have done for me. You will always be home. Thank you Coach Fitz for this incredible opportunity. Let's get to work pic.twitter.com/zVsUBcMNbB
— Ben Bryant (@benbryant_6) May 3, 2023
Backstory
Bryant went 9-2 as a starter for Cincinnati in 2022 before suffering a season-ending foot injury in a win over Temple on Nov. 19. The Bearcats lost their final two games of the season. Bryant finished with 2,732 passing yards (61.2 completion percentage), 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Bryant said this offseason that he originally planned to forgo his final season of eligibility and declare for the 2023 NFL Draft, but the recovery timeline for his foot injury led him to return to Cincinnati amid a coaching change. Bryant was limited to start spring practice before returning in full and quickly splitting first-team reps with Jones, who transferred in from Arizona State shortly after Satterfield was hired.
Bryant has appeared in 22 career games for Cincinnati. He spent the first three seasons with the Bearcats backing up now-Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder before transferring to Eastern Michigan in 2021, where he led the Eagles to a 7-6 record and threw for 3,121 yards, 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Bryant transferred back to Cincinnati ahead of the 2022 season and won the starting job in preseason camp.
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What Bryant’s transfer means for Northwestern
The Wildcats struggled through quarterback injuries and inconsistency in 2022, finishing the season 1-11. Sullivan ended the year 71-for-96 (74 percent) for 589 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions in five appearances. He entered 2023 as the odds-on favorite to win the starting job over Hilinksi (who led Northwestern with 1,644 passing yards, six touchdowns and seven interceptions across eight appearances in 2022) and Lausch, a second-year player who played in one game last season. The addition of Bryant and his two seasons of starting experience would seem to change that calculus for the Wildcats and put the Cincinnati transfer in pole position to be the opening-day starter on Sept. 2 against Rutgers.
Bryant’s play was uneven at times in 2022 and he suffered from a lack of mobility in and outside the pocket, but he has always possessed an NFL-caliber arm, completing better than 60 percent of his passes with a 3-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He led Cincinnati to nine wins last season, including a nonconference victory over Indiana, and put the Bearcats in position to compete for an AAC championship before his injury.
What Bryant’s departure means for Cincinnati
It means the Bearcats will have a new starting quarterback in 2023, in the program’s inaugural season in the Big 12 and under a first-year head coach in Satterfield. Jones, who performed well in Cincinnati’s spring game, is the overwhelming favorite to win the job and will enter preseason camp as the clear first-team option. That allows Satterfield to highlight the dual-threat quarterback and run-heavy offensive schemes he has utilized for much of his career as a head coach and play-caller, but it also leaves the Bearcats with a dearth of experience behind Jones. Evan Prater, who struggled this spring and in two starts last season, will compete for the backup role with sophomore Brady Lichtenberg and four-star true freshman Brady Drogosh.
Required reading
(Photo: Katie Stratman / USA Today)
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