2022 Frontier Conference Football Preview: QB

Quarterbacks have always flourished in the Frontier Conference. After all, the league has been noted for high-powered offenses for decades.

This fall, quarterbacks will again be front-and-center, as some of the very best signal callers in the NAIA reside in the Frontier.

That certainly includes returning NAIA All-American and 2021 Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Year Jon Jund. Now a senior at Western, Jund is a four-year starter, and could very well be one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Last fall Jund threw for 3,055 yards and a whopping 33 touchdowns in what has already been a storied career for the Bulldogs.

Not to be outdone, Rocky Mountain College has an All-American QB of its own coming back in junior Nathan Dick. The former Montana Grizzly, battled injuries and a quarterback competition in his first two years back in Billings, but, finally at the helm last season, Dick threw for 2,432 yards and 21 touchdowns, while also leading the Battlin' Bears in rushing with 711 yards and six scores. Dick earned All-Conference honors in helping RMC to a share of the 2021 Frontier title.

As good as Jund and Dick are though, there are veteran quarterbacks returning all over the Frontier.

Montana Tech head coach Kyle Samson returns third-year starter Jet Campbell. Now a senior, Campbell threw for 2,407 yards and 14 touchdowns, while also running for three more scores in a strong junior season. Southern Oregon also has its starter back in senior Matt Struck. A starter a year ago, Struck threw for 1,443 yards and 12 touchdowns in just seven games.

Carroll College also brings back a starter. Exciting sophomore Jack Prka stepped in for Devan Bridgewater after the first three games last season and wound up throwing for 1,360 yards and 13 touchdowns in his freshman season as the Fighting Saints finished the season on a three-game winning streak.

Defending Frontier champion College of Idaho also returns both of its starters from a season ago. Now senior Jack Rice started early last year, but the Yotes leaned heavily on sophomore Ryan Hibbs who wound up throwing for 1,339 yards and seven touchdowns in eight starts.

Eastern Oregon will likely then be the only team replacing a starting quarterback this fall, as the Montana State University-Northern Lights also return their starter.

New head coach Jerome Souers will look to veteran Kaymen Cureton to lead the Northern offense this fall. Cureton started eight games and appeared in all 10 game last season for the Lights, throwing for 940 yards and four scores, while also rushing for 278 yards and three touchdowns. One of the biggest of those scores came in overtime as Cureton engineered the game-winning drive against EOU that snapped a nearly five-year Frontier Conference losing streak for the Lights.

Cureton is now a senior at Northern, and with so much change surrounding the Lights this fall, he'll be looked upon as a steady leader, as well as a quarterback who is part of a talented and loaded year for Frontier QB's.

Editor's Note: This is the second in the Havre Daily News series on the top returning players by position in the Frontier Conference. In Tuesday's HDN, we'll take a look at the top offensive lineman in the league.