Apologies, my comparison might be a little dated
It’s just that my Beavs are taking some abuse in the Arizona b-ball thread (rightfully so), so had to stand up for them here.
To your point though, coming off a 2-5 season and with their preferred starter expected to be out for at least a portion of this year with injury (never got back), Oregon State brought in a mediocre transfer from Colorado (Sam Noyer). He started game 1 and was relieved by Chance Nolan, number 1 JC QB coming out in 2020 who closed out last year as the starter.
Oregon State’s 2022 QB room is probably looking like what BB hopes to have soon. They’ve got a returning starter in Nolan who is All Pac 12 honorable mention. Not sure if their injured QB (Gebbia) will ever play, but the backups include #31 pro-style QB and overall #761 in 2020, in-state recruit and #51 QB and #733 overall recruit in 2021, and #52 QB and #819 overall recruit in 2022. And though a long way to go, they are reportedly in good shape for #13/#220 QB in 2023 class.
To bring it back to the Illini, statistically DeVito’s good year is on par with Peters’ good year with Illini. If he can achieve that, Illini will be competitive and fighting to go to a bowl game in 2022.