To describe the annual Anchor Bone Classic rivalry game between GVSU and Ferris State as having a "national championship feel" is far from hyperbole. The two banner-carriers for the GLIAC combine for six national championships, all won since the turn of the 21st Century. 

Both will factor into the championship race in 2023, and this year's edition of the Anchor Bone Classic can go a long way in helping the winner make that push. 

Contending for titles inherently means quality quarterback play. That applies to GVSU throughout its two decades of excellence, including into the Lakers 2023 campaign. 

Cade Peterson

The starting GVSU quarterback since 2021, Cade Peterson has already solidified himself as one of the most productive signal-callers in Lakers history. He broke out with 26 touchdown passes and 2,130 yards on 169-of-271 in 2021, then followed up with 2,439 yards on 159-of-273 in 2022. 

Peterson also cut down on his interceptions from 2021 to 2022, finishing the former season with a touchdown-to-pick ratio of just over 2:1 but improving to 4:1 the next. 

Peterson is on pace for another season of more than 2,000 yards passing in 2023. He heads into the Anchor Bone Classic with 975 on 56 completions, including eight touchdowns. 

One of only four quarterbacks in GVSU history with more than 4,000 rushing yards and 1,000 rushing yards, Peterson's dual-threat playmaking is key to the Lakers offense. His 2023 output is right in line with 2021 and 2022 seasons of 559 yards and 546 yards with seven touchdowns both years. This year, Peterson has carried for 206 yards and three touchdowns in five games. 

Alex Thole 

Redshirt freshman Alex Thole didn't need long to carve his own piece of GVSU history. Coming on in the Lakers' 57-49, double-overtime defeat of Colorado State Pueblo on Sept. 9, Thole went 5-of-7 for 81 yards and threw a touchdown with Peterson sidelined. 

Thole also led the Lakers' final touchdown drive in regulation. 

The youngster has seen action in four games through the first half of the 2023 season, including throwing for 62 yards on just two completions in a rout of Kentucky State ahead of the Anchor Bone Classic. 

Avery Moore 

Junior Avery Moore adds an explosive wrinkle to the GVSU offense as an effective ball-carrier. In three appearances through the Lakers' first five games, Moore has carried for 65 yards on just 12 carries. 

How much more Moore factors into the ground game during the latter half of the campaign could be a storyline to follow. A season ago, he ran for 305 yards on 61 carries and scored five touchdowns. Three of those came in the back-half of the schedule, including two in the Lakers' NCAA Playoffs matchup with Ferris State. 

More has also shown off his passing touchdown in his opportunities behind center. Most recently, in the Oct. 7 rout of Kentucky State, throwing a 36-yard touchdown pass. Moore is a perfect 3-for-3 on the season after the scoring strike — the third of his GVSU career. 

Notable Past GVSU Quarterbacks

Curt Anes: Maybe the greatest quarterback in GVSU history, if not all of Div. II history, Curt Anes captained the Lakers' first national championship run in 2002. Anes was stellar leading GVSU to a perfect 14-0 mark, throwing for 45 touchdowns against just four interceptions and winning the Harlon Hill Award. 

Anes' selection as the top player in all of Div. II that year capped the quarterback's second 1st Team All-American selection. In 2001, his 48 touchdown passes against just three interceptions actually outpaced his remarkable 2002 numbers in the air, but weren't enough to prevent Valdosta State's Dusty Bonner from winning a second consecutive Harlon Hill Award. 

Though he only won the one, Anes remains the sole recipient of the award in GVSU history. 

Cullen Finnerty: Replacing a legendary player like Anes is a tough task, which the late Cullen Finnerty did as a redshirt freshman following his transfer from Toledo. But Finnerty didn't play in Anes' shadow for long: Instead, he established his own legacy that places Finnerty among the most important players in Div. II history. 

Finnerty quarterbacked the first of three national championship teams during his four seasons as the GVSU starter in 2003, then led repeat winners in 2005 and 2006. His dual-threat playmaking produced 92 touchdowns over his career. 

Jack Hull: The foundation for GVSU to grow into winning Div. II national championships was laid thanks to predecessors like Jack Hull. Hull led a Lakers offense in 1989 that put up almost 45 points per game en route to a perfect 11-0 season. 

During Hull's four years as starter, the GVSU offense was on the cutting edge of uptempo football. Case in point, one of Hull's primary targets, Frank Miotke, was able to move into the receiving corps of Run-and-Shoot disciple Jack Pardee's offense for the NFL's Houston Oilers. 

Jeff Fox: Two-time All-American Jeff Fox finished his outstanding tenure in 1998 with almost 8,200 yards and 63 touchdowns — 376 and two of which came in a particularly memorable edition of the Anchor Bone Classic. 

Fox went 21-of-35 for the game, and hit on a 56-yard touchdown as part of the Lakers' rollicking comeback in a 56-53, overtime win over the Bulldogs. 

Brad Iciek: Following Anes and Finnerty, Brad Iciek stepped in and continued the program's run of excellent quarterback play. From 2007 through 2009, Iciek became the program's third all-time leader in passing touchdown with 98 and boasted 8,726 yards of total offense. 

Iciek quarterback GVSU to three straight wins in the Anchor Bone Classic, as well, culminating in his 9-yard touchdown pass to Mike Koster late in the fourth quarter of a 17-10 victory in 2009. 

Bart Williams: In four seasons as the starting GVSU quarterback from 2015 through 2018, Bart Williams rewrote the program's record book for passing. Williams completed 807-of-1,396 attempts, including a peak of 273 in his 4,204-yard, 45-touchdown freshman campaign. 

Williams never put up the same numbers for the remaining three seasons, but improved in his decision-making with just one more total interception thrown over his next three seasons (21) as in his gunslinging debut year. 

Williams left GVSU with 12,408 passing yards and 126 touchdowns, both program records. Among his many career scoring tosses was the game-winner in the 2015 Anchor Bone Classic.