It’s time to evaluate the nation’s very best quarterbacks ahead of Week 2.
Each week, I attempt to rank the country’s 7 best quarterbacks (and will give context on a couple more quarterbacks who are on my radar as well). Since the season is just barely underway, I’ll be primarily relying on prior performances to put these rankings together.
Note: I’ll be leaning heavily on available advanced metrics, which recently got better thanks to CollegeFootballData.com’s addition of new passing metrics. Some data points like air yards and pass direction don’t yet have full coverage for the 2025 season, but the data is complete (or close to it) from Week 8 onwards. That gives us a workable sample size for these rankings, but it’s admittedly not bulletproof.
A few helpful definitions to know:
- CPOE (Completion Percentage Over Expected) — actual completion % minus expected completion %, where “expected” is what an average FBS QB would complete given each throw’s depth, direction, down, distance, and field position.
- Dead-end play rate — share of all QB plays (pass attempts + sacks + rushes) that gain 4 yards or fewer without converting a first down or scoring. Measures how wasteful a QB is on a down-to-down basis.
- (Rush) success rate — share of QB rush attempts that gain 50% of the yards-to-go on 1st down, 70% on 2nd, or 100% on 3rd/4th (TDs always count). Sacks and kneel-downs are excluded.
- ADOT (Average Depth of Target) — average air yards per attempt: how far downfield past the line of scrimmage the average throw is aimed, counting incompletions and INTs at their intended target depth. Measures aggressiveness and intent, but not whether the pass was completed.
- Deep-throw rate — share of attempts targeted 15+ yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
College football quarterback rankings (Week 2)
Let’s break it down:
1. Julian Sayin, Ohio State (Last week: 1)
As the saying goes, you can only play who is in front of you. Julian Sayin had a very impressive Week 1 — albeit against an overmatched Ball State team. Sayin threw for 320 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 25 attempts. When he’s unbothered in the pocket, there’s simply no one better in college football. Last season, PFF gave him a 93.9 passing grade when kept clean — the best mark of any QB in the country.
2. Darian Mensah, Miami (Last week: not ranked)
Not ranking Darian Mensah was my biggest regret of Week 1. He was absurd in his Miami debut against Stanford: 27-of-30 for 405 yards and 5 touchdowns. The advanced stats were somehow even better — a laughable 29% CPOE, 30% deep-throw rate and a dead-end throw rate of just 16.1%. He won’t be able to sustain those numbers over the course of the season, but that kind of efficiency and aggressiveness against a P4 team is enough to vault Mensah to No. 2 in my rankings. Per the college football prediction markets, he’s a clear front-runner for the Heisman Trophy.
3. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss (Last week: 3)
Trinidad Chambliss retains the No. 3 ranking this week after a brilliant performance in a win over Louisville, particularly in the second half. Chambliss threw for 336 yards and 3 touchdowns and led a game-winning field goal drive. He might be the best deep-ball passer in the country and showed off that skillset with a pair of 62-yard touchdown passes to Deuce Alexander. His deep-pass CPOE was 24.2% in Week 1 (he sustained a 12.5% mark on charted throws in 2025). Chambliss also provides a ton of value with his legs and posted a 67% rushing success rate en route to 60 yards and another TD on the ground in Week 1.
4. Jayden Maiava, USC (Last week: 2)
Jayden Maiava slips 2 spots this week through no fault of his own — I just wanted to acknowledge that Mensah and Chambliss put up huge numbers against P4 competition. Maiava has been sublime so far this season in 2 games against decent G6 opponents. Maiava has a 25.2% CPOE this season, though his ADOT has slipped under 7 yards and he has not been pushing the ball downfield much with a 13% deep-throw rate. I wonder if the downfield passing will come against tougher competition. It’s something Maiava was good at in 2025. His deep-throw CPOE in charted games last season was 10.7%. For this year, though, his lack of downfield passing is a big outlier among the nation’s other most-productive quarterbacks.
5. Dante Moore, Oregon (Last week: 5)
Oregon played a closer-than-expected game against Boise State, but that had little to do with Dante Moore. He averaged more than 10 yards per attempt and threw for 3 touchdowns and 0 picks. His CPOE numbers and aggressiveness metrics are all well above average. His ADOT (7.1) is low, but I think that’s mainly because the Ducks dialed up 7 passes behind the line of scrimmage. As long as he keeps pushing the ball downfield on non-screen passes, that ADOT will come up.
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6. Gunner Stockton, Georgia (Last week: 6)
Gunner Stockton retains his place on this list after putting together a dominant performance against a bad FCS team in Tennessee State. He threw for 202 yards and 3 touchdowns on 16 attempts. My priors on Stockton haven’t changed at all based on this performance, so he sticks at No. 6.
7. CJ Carr, Notre Dame (Last week: 4)
I’m keeping CJ Carr on the list this week, mostly on the strength of what he did in 2025. Perhaps Wisconsin will be much better than anyone expected this season, but Carr was underwhelming in a Week 1 win over the Badgers. He had a neutral CPOE and an ADOT under 7 against Wisconsin. That’s not what you want to see from one of the preseason Heisman Trophy favorites as a 3-touchdown favorite. There’s a potential fatal flaw here — Notre Dame’s wide receiver room might just not be good enough for Carr to reach his potential this season. That’s something worth monitoring in relation to Notre Dame’s CFP aspirations as well.
On the radar
In no particular order:
Kamario Taylor, Mississippi State: Taylor has quickly become a favorite in the scouting community given his 6-foot-4 frame and elite athleticism. He’s going to put up absurd numbers in Jeff Lebby’s offense and could find his way on to this list as soon as next week if he plays well against Minnesota in Week 2.
Mason Heintschel, Pittsburgh: Heintschel absolutely lit up Miami (Ohio) in Week 1 and the advanced numbers back it up across the board. My composite metric actually has him as the No. 3 quarterback so far in 2026. I just want to see a larger sample size since he was so mediocre in 2025.
Byrum Brown, Auburn: I ranked Brown at No. 7 last week and that was clearly a mistake. One lesson from Week 1 is that a couple of the quarterbacks who got promotions from the G6 level (Brown and Drew Mestemaker) were extremely underwhelming. Others like Anthony Colandrea were solid, though it’s worth noting he has prior P4 experience from his time at Virginia.
Arch Manning, Texas: Manning was great last week in a win over Texas State. He could soar up this list if he has a strong showing against No. 1 Ohio State.
Keelon Russell, Alabama and Faizon Brandon, Tennessee: I’m grouping these quarterbacks together because they both made their first-career starts in Week 1 and looked great while leading high-powered offenses. I’m optimistic about both of them in the near- and long-term, but want to see more before placing them in the top 7.
Josh Hoover, Indiana: Hoover was dominant in Week 1 against North Texas. He also showed off real toughness by staying in the game after taking a shot to the nose. I want to see the sample size get larger, but Hoover is certainly on the radar. The problem is I’m not sure IU is going to face a bowl-bound team until October.
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
