Full quarterback rooms are a thing of the past.

Well, at least they are at big-time programs. In the past 2 weeks alone, we saw quarterbacks from Clemson, Georgia and Ohio State all leave. Granted, they were of different levels of talent and in different situations.

That transfer group consisted of a former 5-star quarterback recruit who simply wasn’t going to play in his second season (Clemson’s Hunter Johnson), a talented career-long backup looking for a chance as a graduate transfer (Ohio State’s Joe Burrow), and a walk-on third-string quarterback who saw the writing on the wall (Stetson Bennett, reportedly).

That doesn’t include an Alabama quarterback who will likely transfer (or Jacob Eason, who left Georgia at season’s end). My money is still on Jalen Hurts, especially considering the way events unfolded this spring.

There’s a chance that those four teams will be the preseason favorites to win the national title, and they might have one or even two potential All-American options at starter.

But no longer are these elite programs stockpiled with 4- or 5-star talents at the position. In fact, if Hurts transfers before the 2018 season, each of those four aforementioned programs will have just one quarterback apiece with any game experience.

That’s become the new trend at college football’s elite schools, though just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it’s not terrifying.

Credit: Kevin Jairaj, USA TODAY Sports

I know what you’re probably thinking. Didn’t Georgia, which lost its starting quarterback and turned to a true freshman without any game experience, come a defensive stand from winning a national title? Yes, that’s correct.

Jake Fromm, however, isn’t cut from the same mold as every 19-year-old kid. Talk to people like his high school coach — or really anyone who spent any time around him — and they’ll tell you that he’s mature and poised far beyond his years. Assuming that every true freshman will step in and do what Fromm did is unrealistic.

And if you want a good time, go search “Jacob Eason injury” on Twitter and see the panic.

If you want some different perspective on the reaction to an injury to a starting quarterback, go look at tweets from any Florida State fan in 2017. They saw what happened when a true freshman took over. With all due respect to James Blackman, he showed what can happen to a contender that lacks an experienced backup (obviously that defense wasn’t as good as expected, but I have a hard time believing that team free-falls with a healthy Deondre Francois based on how evenly it played Alabama for most of that game).

That’s the danger with what the four aforementioned contenders have this year. It’s not a question of talent at the position. Between Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Fields, Jake Fromm, Trevor Lawrence and Dwayne Haskins, that could be 5 future first-round picks.

This is about turning the keys to a Ferrari over to a 16-year-old who just got his license.

Some will handle it with care and do all the necessary upkeep to make sure it stays in one piece. Others will try to do too much and crash it into the neighbor’s mailbox.

Either way, it has to be a terrifying thought for these coaches and fans to know that their safety valve has zero college experience. If Hurts transfers — that’s still not a guarantee — here would be the scholarship QB backup options for each of these teams:

  • Alabama — Mac Jones (redshirt freshman, 0 college snaps)
  • Clemson — Trevor Lawrence (true freshman, 0 college snaps), Chase Brice (redshirt freshman, 0 college snaps)
  • Georgia — Justin Fields (true freshman, 0 college snaps)
  • Ohio State — Tate Martell (redshirt freshman, 0 college snaps), Matthew Baldwin (true freshman, 0 college snaps)

Could one or more of those players become stars? Absolutely. Maybe they will in 2018 (there might be Clemson fans who argue I shouldn’t assume Kelly Bryant will win the job over Lawrence).

But man, talk about a sign of the times.

At big-time programs, quarterback rooms are younger and less experienced than ever. There are seasons in which teams lose two starting quarterbacks. Go ask a team like Maryland, which spent the past 3 seasons going through injured quarterbacks like Nick Saban goes through toothpicks.

As optimistic as I am about the overall outlooks for Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Ohio State, I’m equally curious to see if a lack of experience and depth at quarterback derails a championship season. No matter how confident these coaches are in their potential starting quarterbacks, they’re lying if they say that they aren’t worried about what’s behind them.

Who knows? Maybe Hurts stays in Tuscaloosa and a couple of these programs manage to add grad transfers. That would quiet some concerns.

For now, though, it looks like four title contenders are going to roll the dice at the game’s most important position. Maybe this is the last time this issue is discussed and they all earn Playoff berths.

But just to be safe, they should pray that they don’t become the 2018 version of Florida State.