FIU is trying to build on the best season the program has had in almost a decade, and it's putting the ball in the hands of a 6-7, 250-pound transfer to do it. Pete Thamel reported Tuesday that JJ Kohl has been named the Panthers' starting quarterback, a move that ends an offseason quarterback competition before fall camp even wraps.
Kohl's path here has been anything but a straight line. He started his career at Iowa State as a former Top 10 pocket-passer recruit, ranked No. 112 overall in the 2023 class, but appeared in just 4 games over 2 seasons in Ames before hitting the portal. He landed at Appalachian State, and last season he actually played, throwing for 1,465 yards and 12 touchdowns while completing 61.6% of his passes across 8 appearances. That's now his second transfer and his fourth season of college football, and FIU is banking on a 6-7 pocket presence to be the answer at the position.
Kohl is a former Top 10 pocket passer QB recruit who ranked No. 112 in the Class of 2023 and started his career at Iowa State. He’s in his fourth season. FIU went 7-6 in coach Willie Simmons’ debut there in 2025 and had the school’s first winning record since 2018.
The timing matters because FIU actually has something to protect now. Willie Simmons' first season in Miami produced a 7-6 record and the program's first winning campaign since 2018, complete with the school's first bowl trip since 2019 and a win over rival Florida Atlantic for the first time since 2016. That run ended with a 57-20 loss to UTSA in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl, but running back Kejon Owens still walked away as the first FIU player ever named Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year.
Now Simmons is handing the offense to a quarterback who's never played a full season anywhere, at a program trying to prove 2025 wasn't a fluke. Kohl gets thrown right into the fire: FIU opens the season at South Florida on Sept. 5, a night game at Raymond James Stadium and the first meeting between the two programs since 2008. However Kohl handles that stage, it'll set the tone for whether FIU's breakthrough year was the start of something or a one-off.