Memphis football is 124 days away from its 2025 season opener against Chattanooga, and there’s still one question at the top of the offseason list: Who will play quarterback?
Spring practices are in the books after the game at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium on April 26, so the Memphis coaching staff has had time to evaluate the three quarterbacks currently on the roster. The spring game provided some context, too.
Redshirt freshman Arrington Maiden was the standout performer, throwing for an unofficial 253 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. He was the only quarterback on his team, while A.J. Hill and Brendon Lewis split reps for the other team.
It was the first opportunity for fans to see Hill in a Tigers uniform. A four-star recruit who drew national headlines when he committed to Memphis, Hill is still only 17 years old but has an extremely strong arm. Seth Henigan started as a true freshman in 2021, so there’s precedent for coach Ryan Silverfield to go that route. Hill was 10 of 18 for 54 yards during the spring game.
Still, the favorite for the job appears to clearly be Lewis, a former Colorado and Nevada starter who has one year of eligibility left and has eons more experience than Maiden and Hill combined.
“They’re all athletic, they’re all smart and have really live arms,” Silverfield said. “And it’s just kind of seeing how they fit within the system. Are they able to make plays? I don’t need a bunch of robots back there, but I want guys that can be really efficient. We’ve been one of those offenses that year in, year out, we’ve been pretty darn consistent.”
Lewis played just two drives in the spring game, going 5-for-6 for 29 yards. But the Tigers’ staff brought him as one of two players to the postgame news conference, illustrating his standing as a team leader.
“I knew I was going to have limited reps,” Lewis said. “I wish I could’ve gone more, but I was just out there having fun, just enjoying seeing the other guys make plays.”
Lewis and Maiden are both dual-threat quarterbacks, and that likely means the offense will be different than it was when Henigan was under center. Fans got to see a peek of that on Saturday, with plenty of misdirection on display throughout the game.
Memphis lost quarterback Harris Boyd to the transfer portal during the spring, so the Tigers are likely to add to the room before fall practices. But their quarterback is almost certainly already on the roster.
Silverfield said he hopes to make a decision on a starter by mid-August, which is about halfway through fall camp.
“This is one of those things, usually by mid-August is the best idea to make one,” he said. “First couple days of training camp, no idea, everybody’s going to continue to shuffle and mix. We’re going to give everybody a fair shot and kind of excited to see where that lays.”
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
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