Chris Creighton Names Cole Snyder EMU's Starting QB

After being a two-year starter at Buffalo, Snyder will have to prepare for the unpredictable against UMass.

Aug 26, 2024

Surprise, surprise — the graduate transfer quarterback from Buffalo was officially named the Week 1 starter.

Cole Snyder, now it’s your turn to run this offense.

Eastern Michigan head coach Chris Creighton, entering his 11th year, named Snyder the team’s QB1 as it begins the 2024 season with a trip to Massachusetts.

When asked about the quarterbacks at Monday’s press conference, Creighton raved about how focused and excited Snyder is to learn more about the sport, and has the starting experience that any coach would ideally like to have for any season-opening starter.

“First, he’s just an excellent fit for our program in turns of our culture, who he is, his character,” Creighton said. “He’s very mature, he’s very serious about football, he’s a guy that takes copious notes and is in the building outside of, you know, time where we’re going through meetings and practice. Obviously been in the MAC for two seasons, so he’s a seasoned veteran. Real smart football player.”

As a 2-year starter at Buffalo under then-head coach Maurice Linguist, Snyder was a 56.9% passer for 5,138 yards with 31 touchdowns thrown to 17 interceptions. He’s not the biggest running threat in the world (1.32 UB rush avg.), but still scooted for 5 rushing touchdowns — including one in his team’s 50-31 beating against EMU in 2022. Snyder, originally from Lakewood, N.Y., started his college career with three seasons spent at Rutgers before he found playing time in the MAC.

“He’s somebody who can keep a defense honest running the ball,” Creighton said. “If you’re not going to pay attention to him, he’ll be able to hurt you. His arm, in terms of his physical ability, his strength, he’s accurate. Again, just really studies football, and just really knows where to go with the ball. We’re excited about him.”

Snyder, of course, was bound to be the starting QB from the moment he committed. Jeremiah Salem, a former walk-on who has battled with Snyder and has earned his stripes while all of the other QBs from last year’s team exited via transfer.

As Snyder preps to make his first start with his third and final college team, EMU has the Week 1 Mysteries it has to plan for. Like pretty much all college teams, EMU has to, as Creighton noted, prepare for the unexpected.

“You just never can forget that 8-9 months of preparation. New coaches, all of that, the self-scouting and what they did well, what they want to improve on. You always have to be prepared for the unexpected in Game 1, more so than in any other year with the transfer portal,” Creighton said. “Now you not only have to worry about different schemes that could happen, but it’s almost impossible to know what a team’s personnel is going to be like.”

In his two season-opening games as the Bulls’ quarterback, Snyder went 18/35 for 160 yards with no scores in a 31-10 loss at Maryland (2022), and 26/41 for 194 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 38-17 loss at Wisconsin (2023).