I am a guest on a lot of radio shows as publisher of WildcatReport, especially this time of year. After I’m introduced as a Northwestern “expert,” the opening question is always some variation of, “Who is the quarterback going to be?”

Well, almost always. I did a segment for Sirius in which the hosts, Jon Jansen and Ben Hartsock (yes, a Wolverine and a Buckeye) opened with another question: “Have you tried Popeye’s chicken sandwich yet?” But besides that lone instance, every other discussion opened with the quarterbacks.

Everyone in Big Ten country, it seems, is obsessed about knowing whether the Wildcats’ quarterback is going to be TJ Green or Hunter Johnson. Everyone except, of course, the guys on the team.

I have talked to more than a dozen Wildcat players over the last month to get their perspective. They all talked about their confidence in both guys and how, to them, it doesn’t really matter who gets the starting job.

Even the players who will be on the other side of the quarterback’s passes don’t really care. In fact, they hardly notice who is even behind center when they are on the practice field.

“Honestly, you don’t even know who’s out there,” said wide receiver Bennett Skowronek, a senior captain who will play the first game of his career without Clayton Thorson as his quarterback on Saturday. “My job is to get open, my job is to catch the ball. If those guys can get me the ball, get the other receivers the ball, make the right checks, do all that stuff.

“I’m behind both quarterbacks, the team’s behind both quarterbacks. You don’t even realize, really, who’s out there because we’re in a no-huddle system, anyway, so we’re getting calls from the sideline. We don’t know. The ball’s coming, you’ve got to catch it.”

Charlie Mangieri, who is on the other end of the experience spectrum and will make his first career start at superback on Saturday, echoed Skowronek.

“During camp, you’re focusing on yourself, really. Just getting your stuff down, so you don’t really notice much. Maybe you’ll get a ball thrown to you and you’ll notice who the QB is, but that’s about it,” Mangieri said.

Is there a difference in their passes, at least? “Not really. It’s about the same thing,” he said.

Now you could argue that they are coached to say that, but, after watching practice, I believe them. Guys are shuttling in and out so fast, it’s difficult to track who is where. And players are focused on themselves and their own performance, which will be analyzed ad nauseum by coaches in the next film session. The quarterback dilemma is someone else’s problem. They trust that Green or Johnson will be ready and that the coaches will pick the right guy.

Even if the players aren’t preoccupied with the quarterbacks, we are. It’s interesting that the prevailing opinion seemed to shift over time, from the theory that the “competition” wasn’t really that, but instead was just gamesmanship on the part of head coach Pat Fitzgerald. As time went on, however, and the players continued to share reps, it was generally accepted that Green and Johnson were really battling for the job.

So, let’s try to handicap the race. It’s easy to contrast the two of them because they are so different. They’re not Kain Colter and Trevor Siemian different, but each’s strength is the other’s weakness, and vice versa.

Green is the knowledgeable, reliable one. He knows the playbook as well as a Chipotle menu. He is the one that can be depended on to get the team in the right play, call the right protection and put the ball where it’s supposed to go. As he told me on Northwestern’s media day, "I know I’m not the biggest guy, I’m not the strongest guy, I’m not the fastest guy. But if I know everything better, than that gives me an advantage."

And those are exactly his drawbacks. He doesn’t excite anyone. He’s not the sexy pick, which is why, if you polled Purple Nation, it would be nearly unanimous in favor of giving Johnson the job. Those that watched Green play when he was alternating with Thorson during the first three games of 2018 saw a game manager, a guy that can be trusted to avoid mistakes, but not make plays.

But keep in mind that much of that was by design. Northwestern’s coaches wanted Green to hold on until Thorson, the playmaker, got back into the game. They weren’t going to let him take many chances and screw things up when their fifth-year senior and all-time passing leader would be coming in for the next series. His job was to not lose the game.

Now, those training wheels are presumably off, and it showed throughout camp. He impressed a lot of people with his performance, both last spring and this month.

Johnson, on the other hand, has every tangible you would want in a quarterback. He’s got good size, he’s fast and, of course, he has a howitzer for a right arm that spits out beautiful, NFL-Films quality passes. He was a five-star prospect that committed to Clemson for a reason.

His problem, of course, is that he’s still learning the playbook and doesn’t have nearly command of the offense that Green does. He’s been streaky in camp, according to sources. I only saw glimpses of spring and fall camp, but what I saw was pretty much in line with what I’ve heard from others. Johnson looked tentative, Green confident. Green made more “impressive” throws, but take that with a grain of salt because I had no idea where the ball was supposed to go on each play, and those were just a couple practices among dozens.

So that’s the decision head coach Pat Fitzgerald is facing. He can go with Green, the safer choice with considerably less risk, or with Johnson, the guy with a much bigger upside who will only get better with time – especially since he spent last year running the scout team, and not NU’s offense, while sitting out as a transfer. Plus, as WildcatReport reported, Northwestern’s offense is the sixth Johnson has learned in the last seven years.

Putting yourself in Fitzgerald’s shoes, you can make a case for either guy.

Fitz is conservative by nature and hates mistakes as much as he does the Iowa Hawkeyes. Last year, he won with defense, a running game (for the second half of the year) and avoiding penalties and turnovers like the Bubonic plague. The last thing he wants is a quarterback to do is throw a pick or two, or make a few wrong calls, to put the game in jeopardy. He knows Green will make the right reads and decisions. Why take a chance with Johnson? He can continue to develop in practice until he is ready to take the helm at some later date. Plus, Green may be the guy that gives him the best chance to win right now, and coaches are all about winning now.

On the other hand, while Johnson is far behind Green in terms of knowledge, he will eventually get command of the playbook. He is the future, regardless of whether Green plays this year. There is no teacher like reps, so getting him more snaps early in the year – before the Big Ten season starts – will speed up his development clock. He’s the eventual destination, so why not get started on the journey earlier? Plus, with an offense lacking firepower, Johnson has the big arm that can make big plays. He can take a few shots downfield to loosen up a defense, whether he hits on them or not.

In the final analysis, then, the answer to the question is I don’t know who will trot out with the first team on Saturday at Stanford Stadium. While I thought all along that Johnson would be the eventual choice and am still leaning that way, lately, after talking to more people and watching more of practice, I came to accept the fact that it could very well be Green.

I’m only certain of a couple things in this battle. For one, no matter who starts, both QBs will likely play. And secondly, the other 10 guys on the offense will be fine with either guy.