Spring ball check-in: 5 burning questions for the KSU offense

We won’t come close to an answer on Saturday morning, when Collins and the other QBs will maybe get a couple series of live reps in an extremely controlled environment. We’ll still see our first live, public look at the guys vying to replace first-team All CUSA selection Amari Odom, who made the move up to the ACC.

The market for Elon’s Landen Clark said everything about the difficult of finding a transfer QB: Kennesaw jumped in with an early offer, one of his first FBS opportunities in the portal. Two short weeks later, he was committed to Lane Kiffin at LSU. That’s reality at our level, even if your evaluation process is spot-on: Proven experience comes with a price tag, so find a QB who’s a reclamation project or on the equivalent of a rookie contract. Those categories cover the entire QB room in Kennesaw: Redshirt freshman Skyler Williams, JUCO signee Landon Varnes, true freshman Jamarcus Harrison, and Collins — the one-time Elite 11 prospect who’s spent time at LSU and Syracuse so far in his career.

While out at the Bear Bryant Awards in Houston, Mack sat down for a quick hit with the ESPN radio affiliate in Baton Rouge. They jumped right in to discuss Collins, a BR native whom Mack spent time scouting while he was covering the area for Tennessee.

To be fair, what head coach would sign a P4 quarterback and relay anything other than optimism? I think the “he’s gonna be a superstar” sentiment does speak to the whole point of bringing in Collins, though. He’s a high ceiling guy, with massive variance between a first-team All CUSA peak or benched-in-September valley. Do Mack and Militello see an easy fix on the Collins film? That’s where I keep coming back on this pickup, especially when you dive into the numbers from his six games of action.

Out of 176 FBS quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks in 2025, Collins ranked 172 in PFF passing grade, 171 in drop-adjusted completion percentage, and 168 in turnover-worthy plays. CFB Numbers made his QB radar chart tool available online - here’s how Collins stacked up in terms of percentiles last season.

Drilling down on the passing numbers by depth, Collins was just 22/69 (31.9%) on passes further than 10 yards downfield. His drop-adjusted intermediate accuracy - from 10-20 yards - ranked 138th in the nation.

His rushing productivity - 6.0 YPC, 4.5 of which came after contact - does point to some level of mobility at the college level. Watching some of his Syracuse action, the first rusher rarely brings him down even though there’s not a ton of breakaway speed. Only 33 yards came on designed runs, though that probably speaks more to Cuse’s dire injury situation at QB. Can you really run the backup QB into the ground when the starter’s already out for the year?

If you take a look at the FBS defenses Collins faced during his time as starter, you’ll also see a much stronger competition level than he will come close to facing in Kennesaw. For context, the Owls only played against two top of SP+’s top 100 defenses the entire regular season.

Remember how hyped Owls fans were when Dexter Williams signed? He completed 34% of passes during a similarly bad era of Indiana football, then was a backup at Georgia Southern after multiple knee injuries. CUSA title game MVP Amari Odom was a 54.9% guy in FCS and only had a hundred yards rushing to his name. Maybe this works, maybe not - your guess is worth just as much as mine. There’s gotta be a reason Mack pulled the trigger, though.

One solution might be to lean into a perceived weakness from his time in Syrcause’s “pro-style” offense. “With Collins, he locks into the first receiver and the vision just isn’t quite there yet,” said PFF analyst Dalton Wasserman (via the Daily Orange). “It looks like Collins kind of predetermined throws before the snap.” That would explain a few of the head-scratching misses, which coincidentally looked like some of Odom and DWII’s lowlights from last year. Good news for Collins is that Kennesaw’s Veer and Hoot won’t ask for quite as many full-field progressions in the choice concepts that make up the foundation of the downfield passing game.

Syracuse also only used Collins in PA/RPOs situations on 13.3% of attempts, the fourth-lowest rate of any QB in the nation with 100+ dropbacks. How much was game state and how much was strategy? Amari Odom, on the other hand, ranked 9th in the nation at 48.3%. What happens when you split up regular ol’ dropbacks and PA/RPO usage? Those Collins numbers, in an admittedly tiny sample size, catch up to the pack while looking at the four qualifying QBs at Syracuse and Kennesaw.

What will happen if/when Collins triples his RPO dropbacks in Kennesaw?

I also think the signing could signal some confidence in what the Owls already had in-house for 2026. If Mack, Militello, and the rest of KSU’s offensive braintrust were that concerned at the possibility of relying on Skyler Williams or Landon Varnes, we would’ve seen Ulatowski stick around or they would’ve brought in a low-ceiling type guy with a slightly higher floor.

By the time Week 1 gets here, Williams will have been on campus for 20 months since rolling early as one of Mack’s first recruits. That gives him a leg up on the install, plus he’s added 10 pounds onto an already-sturdy dual-threat frame. In the buildup to last season, Militello actually said Williams could be the “most talented” guy in the QB room. That’s unfortunately the last time we’ve really heard the staff talking on the record about the redshirt freshman. You have to wonder what ‘25 looked like for him if Odom didn’t make that summertime leap. Would Williams have gotten an opportunity at some point? Either way, he’s in the mix to some degree this year - if Williams didn't have any shot he would’ve ended up in the portal in January.

Varnes comes up to FBS with three years of eligibility after posting video game numbers at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, including 31 TDs and nearly 299 yards per game last season prior to signing with the Owls. Something to consider: He only stayed INT-free in two of the 11 games in the fall and threw 24 picks in JUCO, according to the MGCCC website. That’s worth mentioning when Mack weighs arm talent vs. decision-making and control of the offense.

This is what Mack had to say about Varnes after the QB chose the Owls over offers from Southern Miss and Arkansas State.

Does anyone remember if there’s a track record of small JUCO quarterbacks succeeding in CUSA? Oh yeah, that one guy.

Congratulations. You bring back more rushing production than the Kennesaw State Owls this season. Jonathan Mathis and Davis Bryson are the only returners who logged any carries for the Owls in 2025, with a combined total of negative 5 yards.

That leaves plenty of opportunity for KSU’s running backs in an uptempo offense that necessitates finding at least two capable every-down backs. Last season, Militello’s offense produced three 500+ yard rushers (sack-adjusted in Odom’s case) and gained more than 2,000 yards on the ground for the first time since the triple option days. Who’s up next to take over from Coleman Bennett and Chase Belcher?