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The ACC fancies itself as the “Conference of Quarterbacks,” and its 2025 crop promises to live up to that moniker.
And it’s only gotten better since Georgia‘s Carson Beck has decided to spend his final college season as Cam Ward’s replacement at Miami.
It’s a group that includes 2 legitimate Heisman contenders, 8 returning starters – although one started for a different team – and several high-dollar transfers who have achieved success elsewhere.
Though it’s still way too early and rosters are still way too fluid, especially with Syracuse now looking to replace Kyle McCord and Bill Belichick undoubtedly having something up his sleeve at North Carolina – even though his hoodies don’t have any sleeves – it’s never too soon to compile a top-10 list. So here are my rankings of the top 10 quarterbacks in the ACC heading into 2025, understanding that the list might need some updating by the end of the spring portal window.
If not the next few days.
10. Thomas Castellanos, Florida State
A dual-threat performer who thrived under former Boston College coach Jeff Hafley in 2023, Castellanos proved to be a round peg trying to fit into a square hole in the pro-style offense of new coach Bill O’Brien last season. He passed the ball well enough, throwing for 18 touchdowns in 8 games before being replaced by Grayson James and leaving the team. But he ran for only 194 yards, averaging just 2.1 per carry, after ranking third in the ACC with 1,113 yards (5.2 per carry) with 13 touchdowns the previous year. He’ll be in a much better position to succeed at Florida State in a role patterned after that of former Seminoles star Jordan Travis in an offense run by new coordinator Gus Malzahn, the coach who recruited him out of high school to UCF.
9. Miller Moss, Louisville
Jeff Brohm hit the jackpot with the first 2 quarterbacks he’s plucked from the portal since returning to coach his alma mater in 2023. His latest addition figures to be just as good a fit in the Cardinals’ offense as Jack Plummer and Tyler Shough were previously. Moss is a former 4-star prospect ranked by ESPN as the No. 3 quarterback on the free agent market. He’s coming off a 2024 season in which he threw for 2,555 yards and 18 touchdowns with 9 interceptions at Southern Cal before being benched in favor of Jayden Maiava for the final 3 games. Although things didn’t go well with the Trojans under Lincoln Riley, Moss has the talent to thrive given a fresh start and the guidance of Brohm, himself a former star quarterback.
8. CJ Bailey, NC State
The plan was for the Wolfpack’s quarterback of the future to spend 2024 as a redshirt learning as an understudy to graduate transfer Grayson McCall. That timetable went out the window once McCall suffered a career-ending concussion, forcing Bailey to accelerate his development. He still has a lot of growth ahead of him, both in harnessing his raw ability and adding some weight to his slender 6-foot-6, 195-pound frame. But the youngster showed enough glimpses of his poise and vast potential in both the passing and run games while throwing for 2,413 yards and accounting for 22 combined touchdowns to establish himself as a star in the making.
7. Darian Mensah, Duke
It didn’t take long for Manny Diaz to find a suitable replacement for Maalik Murphy after last season’s record-setting starter transferred out of the program. Within 2 days, the Blue Devils’ coach got a commitment from Mensah, the top-rated quarterback in the portal according to ESPN. The former Tulane quarterback didn’t come cheap. It’s been reported that Duke had to shell out $8 million over the next 2 seasons to lock up his services. But if Mensah gives the Blue Devils the kind of production he had last season – 2,723 yards, 22 touchdowns and an American Athletic Conference-best .659 percentage in leading his team to the conference title game – he’ll be worth the investment.
6. Kyron Drones, Virginia Tech
Drones entered 2024 amid comparisons to Michael Vick with odds from most major sportsbooks that made him a legitimate Heisman contender following a breakout 2023 season in which he threw for 2,084 yards, ran for 818 and accounted for a combined 22 touchdowns. Of those rushing yards, 569 came after contact, ranking him third nationally among quarterbacks, according to Pro Football Focus. Although neither he nor his team lived up to expectations in 2024, it wasn’t entirely Drones’ fault because of injuries that limited his production and availability. Fully healthy in 2025, there’s no reason to believe he can’t return to his previous form and use his dual-threat capabilities to help get the Hokies back on a winning trajectory.
5. Eli Holstein, Pitt
The Alabama transfer was well on his way toward winning ACC Freshman of the Year honors after becoming the first quarterback since Dan Marino in 1980 to win his first 7 starts and lead the Panthers to a No. 18 ranking in the first College Football Playoff poll. But injuries derailed his successful debut, in which he threw for 2,228 yards and 17 touchdowns – the most by a Pitt freshman since Alex Van Pelt in 1989. And Pitt wasn’t the same without him. Despite losing their final 6 games to finish a disappointing 7-6, the Panthers can be upbeat about their prospects in 2025 now that Holstein has announced his intention to return rather than seeking better NIL offers elsewhere.
4. Haynes King, Georgia Tech
King is a dynamic playmaker who led the ACC in touchdown passes 2 seasons ago and set a single-season school record by completing 72.9% of his passes in 2024 in leading the Yellow Jackets to their second straight winning season. Those raw numbers, however, don’t paint the full picture of just how impressive a leader he has been for Brent Key’s team since arriving as a transfer from Texas A&M. Despite being hampered by a shoulder injury that limited his ability to throw downfield, King still found ways to help his team win with his legs, rushing for 597 yards and 11 touchdowns. His grit and determination were on full display in the regular-season finale when he accounted for 413 yards of total offense and 5 touchdowns in almost single-handedly taking Georgia to 8 overtimes.
3. Kevin Jennings, SMU
Don’t judge Jennings by his Playoff performance against Penn State. He didn’t handle either the pressure or the cold well and it showed. But that doesn’t change the fact that the elusive 6-foot, 189-pound sophomore is an athletic, elusive dual-threat playmaker who put his team on his shoulders and carried it into the Playoff in its first season as a power conference program. Jennings closed out the regular season with 9 straight wins after he took over as the Mustangs’ full-time starter against TCU on Sept. 21. And he led a late 17-point comeback that tied Clemson in the final minute of the ACC title game and helped SMU earn the final at-large bid into the 12-team Playoff field.
2. Carson Beck, Miami
Beck isn’t as flashy as his predecessor Ward. He’s more of a rhythm passer than a downfield bomber. But he’s a proven winner. His record as a starter at UGA, where he was a member of back-to-back national championship teams, is 24-3 with a pair of trips to the SEC Championship Game. Beck has completed 68% of his passes for 7,912 yards and 58 touchdowns over the past 2 seasons. There’s no reason he shouldn’t make a smooth transition into Shannon Dawson’s high-powered offensive scheme. If fully recovered from the elbow surgery that kept him out of this year’s Playoff, he’ll have a realistic chance at following in Ward’s footsteps to New York as a Heisman finalist while giving the Hurricanes a shot at finally getting over the top and winning an ACC title.
1. Cade Klubnik, Clemson
Klubnik will start the 2025 season on the short list of legitimate Heisman frontrunners after a breakthrough season that ranks among the top 5 in school history in passing yardage (3,639), completion percentage (.634) and touchdowns (36) while earning ACC Championship Game MVP honors for the second time in 3 years. His stats were comparable to those put up by first-round NFL Draft picks Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson. Even though Clemson lost its opening-round Playoff game to Texas, Klubnik distinguished himself by throwing for 3 touchdowns against a Longhorns secondary that had allowed only 4 touchdown passes in its 13 games combined.
It took 2 full seasons and an upgrade in the Tigers’ receiving corps for the former No. 1 ranked quarterback prospect in the country to finally begin reaching his potential. But now that it has happened, with the return of top targets Bryant Wesco Jr., TJ Moore and Antonio Williams, Klubnik is poised to put up even bigger numbers in 2025.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
