Senior Citizens: The most tenured players in college football
The college football season is right around the corner and these players are more familiar than most with the sport since they’ve been around a very, very long time. Here is a look at some of the real veterans still in college.
MORE GORNEY: Comparing five-star QBs in the 2025 Rivals250 to NFL standouts
GERRY BOHANON – BYU
After four seasons at Baylor, Bohanon transferred to South Florida in 2022 before moving on to BYU heading into this his seventh year in college football. A member of the 2018 recruiting class out of Earle, Ark., Bohanon was in the same recruiting class as Justin Fields who is now entering his fourth year in the NFL after being a first-round draft pick and is already on his second pro team.
Bohanon, a high three-star prospect who now has a five-year-old son, originally picked Baylor over Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Louisville and others.
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ALAN BOWMAN – Oklahoma State
A three-star quarterback out of Grapevine, Texas, Bowman originally signed with Texas Tech as Penn State was showing interest since he was a Nittany Lions legacy. Bowman played three seasons in Lubbock, two at Michigan and is now entering his second year at Oklahoma State after throwing for 3,460 yards last year.
Bowman was in the same recruiting class of 2018 in which Trevor Lawrence was the No. 1 overall player. Lawrence is entering his fourth season as the Jacksonville Jaguars starter.
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BRANT KUITHE – Utah
A three-star athlete from Katy (Texas) Cinco Ranch, Kuithe was in the 2018 recruiting class in a position ranking along with four-star Talanoa Hufanga, who has 181 tackles and seven interceptions in three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers.
Kuithe led the Utes in receptions in both 2019 and 2020 but didn’t play at all in 2023 and only played in four games in 2022. He went to Utah with his brother, Blake, who’s worked at Goldman Sachs for more than two years.
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CAM MCCORMICK – Miami
McCormick takes the cake. The former three-star tight end from Bend (Ore.) Summit spent seven seasons at Oregon and played in his first full season since 2017 in 2022 before transferring to Miami where he’ll finish out his second year.
That’s right – McCormick is entering his ninth season of college football. He was in the same recruiting class as No. 1 tight end Isaac Nauta, a seventh-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Rashan Gary and Dexter Lawrence were the top-two prospects in the 2016 Rivals250. They’re both entering their sixth seasons in the NFL.
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CAM RISING – Utah
In one of the more surprising recruitments in recent memory, essentially out of the blue Rising flipped his commitment from Oklahoma to Texas but spent a short time there before transferring to Utah. He redshirted in Austin in 2018. Then redshirted in 2019 before playing for years as the Utes’ starter but missed all of last season with an injury. He’s back for one final go-around as Utah’s starting quarterback after being ranked No. 149 overall in the 2018 Rivals250.
Rising was No. 23 in the California state rankings that was led by five-star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who is entering his fourth NFL season.
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TYLER SHOUGH – Louisville
An early North Carolina commit, Shough flipped to Oregon – and then-coach Willie Taggart – in the summer prior to his senior season. He redshirted in 2018 and then served as Justin Herbert’s backup in 2019 before a shaky COVID year in 2020.
Then the four-star QB transferred to Texas Tech where he played for three seasons and has once again transferred, this time to Louisville, where he’s expected to be the starter for his final year.
The top-ranked player in Arizona’s 2018 class, Shough was sixth at pro-style quarterback that cycle, one spot behind Jack Tuttle, who’s also still playing college football.
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CASEY THOMPSON – Oklahoma
A four-star outside the Rivals250 in the 2018 class, Thompson picked Texas over North Carolina, Arizona State, Miami, Tennessee and Oklahoma. He played for four seasons with the Longhorns before transferring to Nebraska for the 2022 season and then Florida Atlantic in 2023 and now Oklahoma for this season.
Thompson is not expected to be the starter since five-star QB Jackson Arnold will take over the offense. He was the No. 14 dual-threat QB in a group that was led by Justin Fields, who’s entering his fourth season in the NFL.
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JACK TUTTLE – Michigan
After signing in Utah’s 2018 recruiting class, Tuttle played one season with the Utes before transferring to Indiana where he played for four seasons. The former four-star from San Marcos (Calif.) Mission Hills then transferred to Michigan for last season and this, his final one.
J.J. McCarthy was not getting unseated last season but it’s an open competition this year with Alex Orji probably leading the way, but Tuttle is in the hunt. The four-star was the fifth-best pro-style QB in a 2018 class led by Trevor Lawrence, JT Daniels, Matt Corral and Tanner McKee.
