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Rivals QB Week: Which coaches do most with under-recruited?

FARRELL 50 TOP CFB PLAYERS: Nos. 21-25 | 26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50

Developing quarterbacks isn’t easy, but it can be even harder and deemed more impressive when you do so with signal callers that aren’t deemed “blue-chippers” coming out of high school.

Coaches such as Mark Richt, Urban Meyer, Jim Harbaugh, Dabo Swinney, Dan Mullen and Jimbo Fisher have had success at the college level with quarterbacks, but for the most part they’ve done so with highly ranked quarterbacks with a few exceptions.

So this is not a list of the best quarterback gurus in college football, but the guys who do the most with the lower-rated QBs.

And with that in mind, here are the Farrell Five:

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MORE: Rivals.com QB Week

1. TOM HERMAN, HOUSTON

Herman started to gain a reputation as a quarterback guru at Rice where two-star Chase Clement became the Conference USA Player of the Year and furthered it at Iowa State with the tutelage he provided former three-star Austen Arnaud, who finished as the Cyclones' No. 2 all-time passer.

However, it was at Ohio State where he truly earned his QB Whisperer title.

Yes, he worked with four-star talents Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett but coaching up former three-star Cardale Jones, a third-stringer, into the quarterback we saw lead the Buckeyes to the national title down the stretch in 2015 was simply amazing.

Now the head coach at Houston, Herman transformed former three-star Greg Ward into one of the most dangerous dual-threats in the country. With such an amazing track record with the two- and three-stars, you can see why the exception was made even though he worked with Miller and Barrett. Herman is one of the hottest coaches out there and his days of working with lower-ranked quarterbacks will be coming to an end if he gets hired to a major Power Five school or sticks at Houston to coach former five-star Kyle Allen after this season.

MORE HOUSTON: CougarsDen.com

2. KLIFF KINGSBURY, TEXAS TECH

Kingsbury may be young, but he has done some great work with quarterbacks already. At Houston he worked with former two-star Case Keenum when he threw for 5,631 yards his final year and then he jumped to Texas A&M and coached former three-star Johnny Manziel en route to his Heisman win.

At Texas Tech, he worked with former three-star Baker Mayfield as a walk-on during his first year as head coach and has currently led former three-star Patrick Mahomes to his current level of stardom.

3. JUSTIN FUENTE, VIRGINIA TECH

Fuente did an amazing job with Paxton Lynch at Memphis, a former three-star who wasn’t heavily recruited, by putting him in round one of the NFL Draft and helping him to a very good college career. He also was heavily involved with Andy Dalton at TCU en route to his second-round selection and now successful NFL career following success in college.

He might not be the first guy you think of when you are talking about quarterback whisperers, but Fuente's recent success with two lightly recruited three-stars bodes well for the Hokies.

4. MARK HELFRICH, OREGON

Many people credit Chip Kelly with all the offensive success at Oregon but Kelly himself has talked about how instrumental Helfrich was during his tenure there. Now that he is the head coach, he is continuing his work with lightly regarded quarterbacks.

Yes, he worked with a four-star in Darron Thomas, but he also worked with Jeremiah Masoli, who was unranked out of JUCO, a guy named Marcus Mariota, who was a lightly recruited three-star from Hawaii, who went on to win a Heisman, and Vernon Adams last year who was hot at times when healthy. This year he will try to have success again with an FCS quarterback as Dakota Prukop from Montana State gets the nod.

5. PHILLIP MONTGOMERY, TULSA

Who? This former high school coach has done an amazing job with lower-ranked quarterbacks. Last season Dane Evans, a three-star in 2012, passed for the second-most yards in school history and Montgomery led Tulsa to a bowl game, the fifth head coach at Tulsa to do so in their first year as head coach.

Art Briles, Montgomery’s mentor, would clearly have made this list had he not been fired recently, but Montgomery worked with Briles for 16 years and tutored some very successful quarterbacks. At Baylor he did work with four-star Robert Griffin III, who went on to win the Heisman, but he was also instrumental in the development of Bryce Petty, Nick Florence and Seth Russell, all three-star signal callers. At Houston with Briles, he worked with Conference USA MVP Kevin Kolb and the aforementioned Case Keenum, a three-star and two-star respectively. Montgomery, like Herman, could be a guy in line for a major Power Five job very soon.

MORE TULSA: InsideTulsaSports.com

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