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Greetings from “Can’t Wait For Saturday,” your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of longtime Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He’ll give you his views each day on the game he loves

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Illinois’ Katin Houser, who spent 2025 at East Carolina, stands No. 33 overall and ninth in the Big Ten in ESPN.com‘s Bill Connelly’s rankings of projected starting quarterbacks in 2026.

Of Houser, Connelly wrote: “Houser’s two years at ECU were a roller coaster: He produced QBR higher than 83 five times and lower than 34 four times, but when he was on, the Pirates were nearly unstoppable.  

“He cut the interceptions down in 2026 while learning to scramble more effectively.”

The eight Big Ten quarterbacks listed ahead of Houser included Ohio State’s Julian Sayin (2), Southern California’s Jayden Maiava (5), Oregon’s Dante Moore (6), Indiana’s Josh Hoover (13), Michigan’s Bryce Underwood (17), Washington’s Demond Williams Jr. (20), Wisconsin’s Colton Joseph (24) and Nebraska’s Anthony Colandrea (30).

Penn State’s Rocco Becht is right behind Houser at No. 34. He is an Iowa State transfer.

The lowest-rated Big Ten quarterback is Purdue’s Ryan Browne at No. 67.

  

Bob Asmussen is a college football reporter and columnist for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at 217-393-8248 or asmussen@news-gazette.com.