Bomar resurfaced at Sam Houston State, a I-AA school. Bomar started nine games last season and posted respectable stats before a knee injury sidelined him for the final two games. Once the most highly coveted passer in the nation, Bomar enters his final college season having thrown 20 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions.

Finally, there is Xavier Lee. In Florida, a state with a surfeit of prep gridiron talent, Lee's stature was mythic. He left Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach as the Sunshine State's all-time leader in career passing yards (9,082), completions (549) and touchdowns (98). Here was a can't-miss prospect for a Florida State program looking to return to its glory days of the previous decade.

It never happened. Not for Lee and not for the Seminoles. The 6-foot-4, 234-pound Lee started just six games in three seasons for the Garnet and Gold. Following last season Lee was asked to move from quarterback to tight end. Instead, he left Tallahassee and opted for the NFL Draft, where his name was never called. The all-time leading passer in Florida prep history was not one of the 252 names called on draft weekend. Difficult to believe.

What does it say about college football, or about the quarterback position, that the attrition rate of the top two prep QBs of the past four seasons is above 50 percent? Certainly, blue-chip quarterbacks transfer annually when they are unable to wrest a starting position from a fellow underclassmen. Look at Demetrius Jones (formerly of Notre Dame, now Cincinnati) and Jevan Snead (Texas, now Mississippi). But that is not what occurred in these five players' cases which, by the way, are not hopeless cases.

Mallett is just starting out, and Perilloux was the MVP of last December's SEC Championship Game. They may very well write a happier ending to their college careers than Lee was able to do. As might Bomar.

It is Mustain, though, who finds himself in an extremely untenable position. At last month's Trojan Huddle (i.e., spring game) redshirt freshman Aaron Corp, the 3rd-stringer, outplayed Mustain — and, arguably, Sanchez. And out there on the horizon is Matt Barkley, a high school senior-to-be who has already verbally committed to USC for 2009. Last winter Barkley, an Orange County product, became the first prep gridder ever to be named Gatorade National Player of the Year as a high school junior.

In his first collegiate game as a true freshman, Mitch Mustain came off the bench to direct an 80-yard touchdown drive against USC in a 50-14 loss. He started the next eight games for Arkansas, all victories. How bizarre would it be if Mustain were to finish his college career coming off the bench for USC, without ever having started again?

MORE FROM COLLEGE FOOTBALL

College football Section Front

Penn State in BCS picture   CFT: ‘By the Numbers’ — LSU batting .467   CFT: Kentucky’s Brooks irate over retirement talk   CFT: USC’s leading WR doubtful to play vs. UCLA   CFT: FSU’s top lineman probably out vs. Florida   CFT: Buyout an obstacle to firing Friedgen? Florida’s Meyer says Notre Dame not an option Bama's defense rolling, Auburn's struggling CFT: Colorado coach regrets having son as QB QB Robinson resumes throwing for No. 11 Cowboys College football Section Front   Add College football headlines to your news reader: