David Cutcliffe knows all about replacing Superman.
A quarterback coach in college football for nearly 30 years, Cutcliffe has mentored several transcendent signal-callers, face-of-the-program types. He has also seen varied results after those quarterbacks left campus. In 1998, while serving as Tennessee's offensive coordinator, Cutcliffe helped quarterback Tee Martin and the Vols win the first BCS national championship -- one year after Maxwell Award winner and Heisman Trophy runner-up Peyton Manning left Rocky Top. But in 2004, while serving as Ole Miss' head coach, Cutcliffe went through three quarterbacks in an effort to replace Eli Manning, Peyton's younger brother and also a Maxwell Award winner.
Ole Miss finished 4-7 and Cutcliffe, the reigning SEC Coach of the Year, was fired.
"I would tell any coach: Be very aware of the effects that can have," Cutcliffe said of losing an iconic quarterback. "The biggest thing is don't assume you can continue doing the same things you did with them. That's what I didn't offer enough post-Eli."
It's good advice for a number of high-profile college programs. For the first time since 2012, Ohio State didn't see J.T. Barrett at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center as fall camp opened. The past two Heisman Trophy winners, Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson, are no longer the faces of Oklahoma and Louisville, respectively. The leading men of the Los Angeles quarterback scene, Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, have traded USC and UCLA jerseys for those of the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals. After completing 866 passes in the past three seasons at Oklahoma State, Mason Rudolph has left town. Wyoming is no longer the home of the first-round pick with the mega arm, as Josh Allen plays in Buffalo now.
Replacing great players is part of college football's annual routine. Arguably no sport is more conditioned to move on. But occasionally a quarterback comes along who not only impacts a program in multiple ways but also does it over a sustained period. It makes the season after he leaves uniquely challenging, and the 2018 season features an unusually high number of these departures.
"It's that awkward feeling of everyone looking around for him, for that person," said Martin, now USC's offensive coordinator. "You just got accustomed to that person being there and those kind of plays being made and just the leadership and presence. The first thing you notice is that the team is kind of different. The next guy leads a little different, he walks a little different, the ball looks a little different, and everyone starts to adjust right away."
The adjustment period starts with coaches. Their expectations must reset when The Guy After The Guy begins taking snaps with the first-team offense in practice.
Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury, who navigated 2017 after record-setting quarterback Pat Mahomes left Lubbock, said the challenge is both psychological and schematic.
"There's just more unknown," Kingsbury said. "Those special-type players, they just have an air about them, and they're able to do things on a daily basis that most of the country can't. You notice that. So when they're not out there, you notice that as well, that those magical plays that we're so accustomed to seeing and the ridiculous throws, they're not happening. You really want to just keep any negative connotation from it. If you've got to adapt your offense to this other guy's skill set, then that's what you need to do to make sure the coaching staff, the teammates, that they believe in this guy.
"Even though he may not be the Superman you just lost, they still know this guy can get it done."
Wyoming coach Craig Bohl is getting used to not seeing the "head-turning throws" Allen made regularly. As a head coach who doesn't work with a specific position group, Bohl spends most of practice observing. Although he is used to good players moving on, the year after can provide a reality check.
"Sometimes you think you're prepared," said Bohl, who also coached Carson Wentz at North Dakota State. "When that guy's not there, you realize how talented he was."
The biggest key with the scheme, coaches say, isn't to rip up the playbook when one quarterback leaves, but rather, to revise a few pages. Miami coach Mark Richt, who coached Florida State's quarterbacks from 1990 to 2000 and spent the next seven seasons as offensive coordinator, used the same offense for Chris Weinke as he did for Charlie Ward. Both quarterbacks won the Heisman Trophy (seven years apart) and led FSU to national championships (six years apart). They ran the same plays, Richt said, but different things were emphasized "to accentuate the gifts in the quarterback."
Bobby Petrino's offense has clicked with a range of quarterbacks, and he's optimistic that Jawon Pass will be the next. ESPN Recruiting rated Pass as the nation's No. 9 dual-threat quarterback in the 2016 class. Programs that emphasize quarterback mobility, such as Auburn and Ohio State, pursued him. Pass now steps in for Jackson, who holds Louisville's career and single-season rushing records for all positions and became the first FBS player with consecutive seasons of 3,000 pass yards and 1,000 rush yards.
"Jawon is mobile, but Lamar is a different kind of mobile," Cardinals wide receiver Jaylen Smith said, "so it changes the way we approach certain teams, certain games."
As Petrino put it, "We just get back to a little bit of regular football now."
Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley adapts his offense each year, even if a proven quarterback is still around. The offense Mayfield ran in 2015, his first season as OU's starter, looked slightly different in 2016 and last year, when the Sooners had two strong options at running back, future Mackey Award winner Mark Andrews at tight end and arguably the nation's best line. More scheme tweaks are coming this fall with a new quarterback, most likely Kyler Murray, but OU returns its top two running backs (Rodney Anderson and Trey Sermon), top two wide receivers (Marquise Brown and CeeDee Lamb) and three starting linemen.
"In college football, you've got to get used to it," Riley said. "Part of the fun, to me, is finding a way to replace those guys. It's where we're a lot different than the NFL. I guess in some ways, it'll feel different, but in a lot of ways, it's exciting to see the next crop of guys grow up and get their shot to lead and perform."
The more dramatic adjustments involve quarterback leadership, which manifests in different ways. At UCLA, Rosen became a lightning rod for his opinions and social media displays, but when it came to playing and preparing, many of his former teammates vouch for him.
"All the guys trusted in him and his abilities on and off the field," Bruins wide receiver Theo Howard said. "A lot of people followed him. It's going to be hard replacing him."
Barrett finished his Ohio State career with 12,697 yards of offense and 147 touchdowns in 50 games, a Silver Football award as Big Ten MVP and numerous other accolades. But his ability to handle his own challenges and inspire others to overcome theirs might have been his greatest trait.
Ohio State seeks the same in its next set of QBs, projected starter Dwayne Haskins and backup Tate Martell.
"[Tim] Tebow, J.T., they had arrogant confidence," Urban Meyer told ESPN.com this spring. "Even if he makes a bad play, he just brushes it off, doesn't think twice about it, go again. I love the arrogant confidence. ... [Haskins] watched J.T. handle a lot of adversity and how important that position is to not let something bother you.
"That's one of J.T.'s greatest strengths."
Barrett's locker room speeches became legendary in Columbus. Unscripted, Barrett transformed in those moments, always striking the right emotional chords.
This year, speech duties will go to Parris Campbell, a fifth-year senior wide receiver. Like Barrett, Campbell won't plan out what he says.
"I'm ready," he said. "I just want to be my own guy. I've always had natural leadership tendencies."
At Louisville, Jackson not only dazzled in games but also set the energy level the team needed at each practice.
Smith, a three-year starter, hopes to take on the role. But he'll do so from the sideline after undergoing an emergency appendectomy on Aug. 3, hours before Louisville opened preseason camp.
"I always felt a little bit like everybody would wait for Lamar to do it, wait for Lamar to get it done," Petrino said. "With him being gone now, I almost feel like some of our players are stepping up and saying it's their turn."
Mayfield might have been Oklahoma's most charismatic star, but he wasn't the Sooners' only leader. Riley expects new players to share the responsibility this fall. Still, a burden always falls on the next quarterback in line, regardless of his experience level or personality type. The expectation at high-achieving programs is for no drop-off in production or leadership.
"They face immense pressure, and you feel for them," said Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, who went through similar transitions after Kirk Cousins and Connor Cook left campus. "It really falls on the [quarterback] because he determines so much. He's the main communicator in the huddle. He's the main communicator at the line of scrimmage. He handles the ball really on every play. That guy's got to be able to take control."
And ultimately, win the locker room. When Martin backed up Manning, he had his "crew of believers" who backed him during the transition. Martin thought he gained a few more by leading a late scoring drive in Tennessee's Orange Bowl loss to Nebraska the year before.
But not until the 1998 opener, a 34-33 win at No. 17 Syracuse in which Martin struggled with his accuracy but threw two touchdown passes and led the game-winning drive, did he feel that he had escaped Manning's shadow.
"I don't think you fully win the locker room until you show them you can make a play to win the game," Martin said. "That's when the team goes, 'OK, that's our guy.' Until then, you attack the opportunity, and every day you know you have to win someone over."
As USC's quarterbacks compete this month, they'll often hear Martin say: Do what you do. It's a reminder that regardless of whom they're trying to replace, they must perform and lead in their own way, not Darnold's. Martin also wants each quarterback to know that there's a reason USC brought him in.
"Sometimes they get so caught up in replacing the other guy," he said.
By now, teams can no longer afford to be looking backward at quarterback. Haskins isn't Barrett, Murray isn't Mayfield and Pass isn't Jackson. The faster teams accept that and adjust, the better chance they'll have to continue their success.
In college football, there's no other choice.
"In the NFL, you have an entrenched quarterback, and you know you're going to have him for quite some time," Bohl said. "We're always on a hamster wheel."