and three other starters. But similar to the offense, their backups played meaningful snaps, and two freshmen starters will have a year of seasoning.

Then there is the schedule itself.

The nonconference includes home games against Central Arkansas and Charlotte sandwiched around a trip to Vanderbilt, giving the Wildcats a chance to get off to a good start. The Big 12 slate sends most of the elite teams, including Oklahoma, West Virginia and Baylor, to Manhattan.

In other words, things are lining up perfectly for a big season.

Still, Snyder is reluctant to gaze too far into the future. The 77-year-old coach hasn't even confirmed he will be back next season, though that's the assumption.

He certainly isn't going to think about what next year holds with Texas A&M sitting on the horizon.

''I'mthat ensure a boatload of new day-one starters and overhaul the entire landscape of the league.

At the very least, the NFL is certain to draft four quarterbacks in the first round. In the past decade, that happened only in 2011 and 2012. In one of those, the Panthers took Cam Newton and were on their way to annual competence as a franchise, but the teams that selected Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert, and Brandon Weeden over those two drafts went in the opposite direction. Not all of the quarterbacks drafted early work out, and the ones that don’t can hurt a franchise.

What makes the quarterback-heavy drafts so fun is that they reveal large chunks of information about the sport. When the teams start picking quarterbacks, it’s classic football: teams