Conference of QBs? It’s the Big 12

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Eight years ago, Kliff Kingsbury had only begun to learn the art of whispering to quarterbacks. He worked as a quality-control assistant at Houston, sharing an apartment with offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen as they cooked up schemes for coach Kevin Sumlin.

Kingsbury, at age 29 and fresh out of the professional ranks, knew a thing or two about great quarterback play, though, and as he peered over the landscape, he marveled at the passers in the Big 12 — seven who topped 3,000 passing yards in 2008 and five who led their teams to more than 40 points per game.

Patrick Mahomes is the nation’s returning leader in passing yards from last season. Scott Halleran/Getty Images

It was the dawn of a prolific era in college football, on the wings of which Kingsbury has refined a passing empire at Texas Tech in three seasons. The coach recalls with fondness his view of the Big 12 quarterbacks. No group was better nationally.

And Kingsbury issues these words of wisdom about the current crop of QBs in the conference: It’s just as good. If not better.

Big 12 quarterbacks experienced a renaissance in 2015 — from former walk-on Baker Mayfield at Oklahoma, fourth in the Heisman voting, to breakout stars Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech, Seth Russell at Baylor and Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph. Every team but TCU returns its primary starter this fall. While QB battles will rage in August at Texas, Kansas State and Kansas, elsewhere in the conference, players at the position are set to solidify the Big 12 as the best league for quarterbacks nationally.

Last month at SEC media days, Chad Kelly of Ole Miss labeled himself at the best QB in the nation. While the Big 12 quarterbacks declined to refute Kelly’s assessment, they were clear on their feelings about the league as a whole.

“Offensively, this is the best conference in the country,” Mayfield said. “It’s home to the best quarterbacks.”

The stats back him up.

Among returning quarterbacks in the Power 5, the top three in yards per attempt reside in the Big 12. Three of the top six and five of the top 10 in passing yards play in the Big 12. Its quarterbacks fill four of the top seven returning Power 5 spots in touchdown passes, four of the top six in yards per completion and two of the top five in completion percentage.

In total QBR, the metric designed to measure a …

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