Quarterbacks: There are a lot of them! To christen the new season we’ve ranked the Top 25 QBs in college football according to highly scientific processes and/or pure gut-level instinct. The results are definitive and indisputable.
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25. Jackson Arnold • Oklahoma

The gem of Oklahoma’s 2023 recruiting class, Arnold spent his first year on campus biding his time as an understudy to the incumbent, Dillon Gabriel. In Year 2, it’s Arnold’s show. Based strictly on the preview, it’s going to be a wild one: In his first career start last December, Arnold threw 45 times for 361 yards, 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in an Alamo Bowl loss to Arizona. That kind of boom-to-bust ratio isn’t going to cut it for a team with Playoff ambitions and an uphill schedule in its SEC debut, but for a fledgling talent just getting his feet wet, the boom counts for a lot more.

24. Avery Johnson • Kansas State

The Wildcats are banking on a big sophomore leap from Johnson, who in addition to boasting a stellar head of hair was arguably the most highly anticipated quarterback recruit at K-State in the online rankings era. He looked the part in a limited role last year as a true freshman, finishing with 12 total touchdowns (5 passing, 7 rushing), no interceptions, and the immortal title of Pop-Tarts Bowl MVP. Even before the bowl, confidence in Johnson’s future was high enough to nudge the incumbent, Will Howard, into the portal — and ultimately on to Ohio State — for his final college season. If they both pan out, a head-to-head Playoff collision would be a fitting climax to the competition.

23. Cam Rising • Utah

Yes, he’s still around. Yes, he’s healthy, at least according to reports out of Utah. Rising got a clean bill in the spring, the first step to quieting any lingering doubts after he missed all of 2023 rehabbing a torn ACL — only the latest entry in his injury-checkered career. When he’s upright, Rising is a proven winner, presiding over back-to-back Pac-12 championships in 2021-22 with an 18-6 record as a starter. An efficient passer and willing runner (sometimes too willing), he was 1 of 4 quarterbacks to finish in the top 10 in Total QBR in both of those seasons, joining CJ Stroud, Bryce Young and Bennett.

Just in case, the Utes took out an intriguing insurance policy in the spring portal window with the addition of Sam Huard, a former 5-star who played on the FCS level in 2023 after 2 years as a backup at Washington. Make no mistake, though: The bandwagon is firmly hitched to Rising. With him, Utah is arguably the favorite to win a wide open Big 12 and the automatic Playoff bid that comes with it. Without him, they’re just one more team in an extremely crowded pack.

22. Noah Fifita • Arizona

Against all odds, Arizona ended 2023 as one of the hottest teams in the country, and Fifta — a 5-foot-nothing redshirt freshman who began the season as a backup — as one of the most valuable players. Pressed into the starting lineup in Week 5, Fifita was a revelation, accounting for 71.3% of the Wildcats’ total offense over the course of a 7-game winning streak to close the year. He finished 6th nationally in Total QBR and 11th in efficiency, even while continuing to fly mostly below the radar among a surplus of high-profile Pac-12 quarterbacks.

By the end of a convincing Alamo Bowl win over Oklahoma, the secret was out. Keeping his star QB in the fold was a top priority for incoming head coach Brent Brennan, and Fifita’s decision to spurn the portal (in tandem with elite wideout Tetairoa McMillan) confirmed Zona as a factor in the Big 12 scrum. You won’t catch me making predictions based on “momentum,” but if counts for anything the Wildcats’ account is flush.

21. Garrett Greene • West Virginia

Nobody’s about to mistake him for the second coming of Pat White or anything, but Greene was quietly the Big 12’s most effective dual-threat in 2023 in his first year as a starter. Part of that equation was his actual production on the ground, where he led Big 12 QBs with 772 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns. The other half was his ability to elude opposing rushers: Per PFF, only 4 of Greene’s 84 dropbacks under pressure resulted in a sack, good for an FBS-best pressure-to-sack ratio of 4.8 percent.

20. Kaidon Salter • Liberty

Salter’s first stop, at Tennessee, lasted about 15 minutes before he was dismissed over a pair of arrests. (Both misdemeanors, for the record.) He washed ashore at Liberty, where he redshirted in 2021 behind future draft pick Malik Willis and spent 2022 as part of a forgettable platoon. His fortunes turned in ’23 with the arrival of coach Jamey Chadwell. Entrenched from day one, Salter flourished in Chadwell’s version of the spread option, finishing as the Group of 5 leader in pass efficiency, Total QBR, and EPA by wide margins. He joined Jayden Daniels as the only quarterbacks nationally with 2,500+ yards passing and 1,000+ rushing, and accounted for more touchdowns (44) than any other QB except Daniels and Bo Nix. Liberty cruised to a 13-0 regular season and the Conference-USA title in its first year in the league.

Unfortunately for the Flames’ street cred, it was lost on no one that that record came against as flimsy a schedule as the rules allow an FBS outfit to play, a point driven home in a 45-6 beatdown at the hands of Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. The 2024 slate is not much better, strength-wise, giving Salter plenty of opportunities to break the bank statistically but none to put to bed questions about his ability to level up against worthy competition until the postseason. If the Flames run the table again, there’s a fair chance that redemptive shot could come in a CFP game. If it does, for everyone’s sake let’s hope they’re better equipped to keep it interesting.

19. Nico Iamaleava • Tennessee

If he had it to do over again, Josh Heupel might have been less inclined to hold his hyped freshman back in 2023 as the Joe Milton Experience gradually lost its fizz. When Iamaleava’s number finally came up in the Citrus Bowl, he looked like a natural, accounting for 4 total touchdowns (1 passing, 3 rushing) in a 35-0 rout over Iowa. Too soon to proclaim a star is born? Maybe, but just in time to send his offseason stock into orbit. We’re showing some restraint here, but all signs point to a sophomore campaign with the potential to make this ranking look like an insult.

18. Miller Moss • USC

Although he spent 2 years as Caleb Williams’ primary backup, Moss was never the obvious choice for heir apparent — that title was usually reserved for Malachi Nelson, a blockbuster recruit who redshirted in his first year on campus. By the time the Holiday Bowl rolled around, though, Williams had opted out, Nelson had made a stunning exit via the portal, and Moss was the last man standing. He proceeded to ace his audition, bombing Louisville for 372 yards and a school-record 6 touchdowns in a 42-28 win, a high note for a team that lost 5 of its last 6 to close the regular season.

Lincoln Riley made a point of staging an open competition in the spring between Moss and UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava, declining to name a starter even while conceding following the spring game that Moss is “certainly ahead right now, there’s no doubt about that.” So much for suspense. In fact, given Riley’s impeccable track record with quarterbacks — 3 Heisman winners turned No. 1 overall draft picks since 2017, plus a Heisman runner-up turned Super Bowl starter in Jalen Hurts — Moss might be the best bet on this list to outplay his projection. And given the abysmal track record of Riley’s defenses, moving on from last year’s collapse will probably require him to do just that.

17. Garrett Nussmeier • LSU

There is no replacing Jayden Daniels’ production — forget it. Daniels’ 2023 Heisman campaign is among the elite statistical performances on record. Subtract a couple of first-round wideouts and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, as well, and the bar for his successor is resetting several rungs down from where Daniels left off.

That said, don’t mistake humane expectations for Nussmeier’s first season as a starter with a lenient grading curve. For one thing, he’s no noob: Like Miller Moss at USC, he’s a redshirt junior with 3 years in the program, 2 of them as understudy to a Heisman winner. He’s made semi-regular appearances in all 3 seasons, logging 219 career attempts with 11 touchdowns and 7 INTs. His first career start, a 395-yard, 3-touchdown outing against Wisconsin in the Gator Bowl, reassured the decision not to pursue a challenger in the portal. (Vanderbilt transfer AJ Swann is clearly slated for a backup role.) And generally speaking, the era of mediocre QB play as the default setting at LSU is long gone.

For that matter, so is the era of reliably stiff LSU defenses. The defense shared the bottom of the SEC rankings with Vanderbilt in 2023 in just about every category that mattered, and didn’t make any notable personnel upgrades over the offseason. (Well, unless you consider the departure of coordinator Matt House addition by subtraction.) It can’t possibly be that bad again. But if the Tigers are going to remain relevant into December, the offense can’t afford to lose too much altitude.

16. Brady Cook • Missouri

It’s easy to forget on this side of Mizzou’s 11-2 breakthrough in 2023 that, coming off a rocky debut in 2022, Cook’s future atop the depth chart was very much in doubt. Not anymore. While his bottom-line production doesn’t quite leap off the page, his consistency was a cornerstone of the Tigers’ turnaround. Over 13 games, he accounted for multiple touchdowns 11 times; a 140+ passer rating 10 times; and a 70+ QBR rating 10 times, including a Cotton Bowl win over Ohio State. His only “bad” game on paper, in a 30-21 loss at Georgia, still yielded the highest point total the Bulldogs allowed in regular-season SEC play. Few are going to mistake Cook for a next-level specimen, but through his connection with brilliant WR Luther Burden III — who most certainly is — he’s well on his way to a lofty place in local lore for a long time to come.

15. Grayson McCall • NC State

At Coastal Carolina, McCall gave new meaning to “face of the program,” almost singlehandedly putting Chanticleers football on the map. From 2020-22, he posted a 29-5 record as a starter and won Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year 3 years in a row at the helm of one of the nation’s most creative, efficient, and explosive attacks. He briefly tested the portal in 2023 following the departure of head coach Jamey Chadwell, then reconsidered; his production subsequently dipped last fall before his season was cut short by a concussion. But the dip didn’t diminish McCall’s stock when he put himself back on the market in December, and for NC State his commitment felt like a coup.

The Wolfpack are eager for some stability behind center, having juggled multiple QBs in 4 of the past 5 seasons. Last year’s primary starter, Brennan Armstrong, was more effective with his legs than his arm and never quite lived up to the billing after transferring from Virginia. McCall is a productive runner, but his hallmark is efficiency — his best season at Coastal, 2021, yielded what was then the best single-season passer rating in FBS history (since surpassed by Jayden Daniels). The jury remains out, though, on whether his Sun Belt laurels are enough to make him a draftable prospect. His bid to rekindle the flame against ACC defenses is his last chance to swing the verdict in his favor.

14. Riley Leonard • Notre Dame

One of the notable early trends of the free-transfer era is Notre Dame’s strategy of turning what we’ll call “Notre Dame Lite” schools — your Boston Colleges, Northwesterns, Dukes, et al — into a kind of developmental feeder tier for quick-fix options who won’t have to sweat the transcripts. Last year, the Irish filled a void behind center by calling up the ACC’s all-time passing leader, Sam Hartman, from Wake Forest. This year, the call went out to Leonard, a big, athletic vet from Duke with a 13-7 record as the Blue Devils’ starter, an NFL future, and a face out of Leave It to Beaver. Per his official bio, Leonard “majored in public policy while pursuing a certificate in markets and management,” rounding out his résumé as the ideal candidate for the Duke-to-Notre Dame pipeline.

His outlook on the field is more elusive. Scouts like Leonard more than his good-not-great production at Duke would suggest, pointing to a middling surrounding cast. He’s also dealt with a series of injuries since last fall, beginning with a high ankle sprain he suffered at the end of an upset bid/live audition against Notre Dame in mid-October. Leonard attempted to play through that one, but clearly wasn’t the same and called it a year due to a subsequent toe injury. Since enrolling in South Bend he’s undergone two surgeries on the ankle, the second of which cut short his spring due to a heightened risk of a stress fracture. The setback won’t threaten his availability for the fall, but if it limits the mobility that set him apart from a generic pocket type it will be a significant development.

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At full speed, Leonard is a legitimate dual-threat with nearly 1,400 rushing yards (excluding sacks) and 19 touchdowns to his credit at Duke. Can he throw the Irish to a CFP bid if he’s confined to the pocket? They’d rather not have to find out.

13. Preston Stone • SMU

As a recruit, Stone was the biggest fish in SMU’s 2021 class — and the highest-rated prospect to sign with SMU out of high school in the online rankings era. (It helped that his high school was practically across the street from campus.) He justified the billing in 2023, finishing as the AAC leader in efficiency, Total QBR and overall PFF grade in his first year as a starter. The Mustangs won 11 games and their first outright conference championship since the Pony Express.

The competition is steeper in 2024 with their geographically confused promotion to the ACC. Still, a well-seasoned Stone at the controls makes SMU a compelling dark horse. Since he’s arrived, the talent level around him has improved significantly, especially at the skill positions: Almost everyone else who’ll touch the ball on offense is a former 4- or 5-star transfer from a Power 5 school. The ACC pecking order behind Clemson and Florida State is wide open, and SMU could plausibly be favored in every game outside of a Sept. 28 visit from the Noles. Stone might not have much of a national profile on opening day, but by October he could be a household name.

12. Jalon Daniels • Kansas

At full speed, Daniels is a confirmed game-changer who gives Kansas — Kansas! — a legitimate chance to win every time it takes the field in Big 12 play. The problem has been keeping him that way. In 2022, Daniels led the Jayhawks to a 5-0 start before suffering a shoulder injury that cost him all of 3 games and limited him in several more; Kansas limped into the offseason with 6 losses in its last 7. In ’23, Daniels was back to looking like himself in the course of a 3-0 start, until his season was cut short by a back injury that cost him the rest of the year. The Jayhawks went 6-4 in his absence, including a landmark upset over Oklahoma and their first bowl win in 15 years. But 3 of those 4 losses were by a touchdown or less — what might have possible with their MVP in the fold?

Whatever happens this fall, they don’t want to be left asking that question again. Daniels skipped spring drills as a precaution, but insisted he’s on track for the season. Just one healthy turn might be all it takes to complete the worst-to-first arc in a league that’s ripe for the taking.

11. Will Howard • Ohio State

The Buckeyes ditched last year’s starter, Kyle McCord, last seen catching a stray from an NFL coach on Hard Knocks. They bet the farm instead on Howard, who arrives with 28 career starts over 4 years at Kansas State. Despite his 6-4, 237-pound frame, Howard is a departure from the polished pocket types Ohio State has favored under Ryan Day. Beyond the eye test, his track record as a passer at K-State was hardly the stuff of hosannas: In 2023, his only season as the full-time starter, he ranked 54th nationally in efficiency, 52nd in passing EPA and 68th in PFF passing grade — well behind McCord on all counts.

The big caveat, of course, was Howard’s surrounding cast. With the exception of All-Big 12 TE Ben Sinnott, K-State probably didn’t feature a single skill player who’d crack the two-deep in Columbus. Even accounting for the departure of Marvin Harrison Jr., the Buckeyes still boast an unrivaled backlog of up-and-coming talent at wide receiver behind senior headliner Emeka Egbuka. Crucially, they also have a new offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly, whose reputation as a play-caller is much friendlier to Howard’s throwback skill set than Day’s. As a runner, Howard belongs to the K-State tradition of a burly chain-movers in short-yardage and goal-line situations, a presence Ohio State has conspicuously lacked since JT Barrett.

With an all-in roster and patience beginning to fray, the mandate for Day’s sixth season as head coach is as straightforward as it can be: One, beat Michigan. Two, still be playing past New Year’s Day. Howard is the single biggest variable in the equation. If he checks both boxes in his only season campus, he’s a Buckeye for life. If not, he joins McCord as just another guy who kept the seat warm en route to a winter of discontent.

10. Conner Weigman • Texas A&M

Technically, Weigman is still on the green side with just 253 attempts across 9 career games. Taken with his 5-star pedigree, though, he’s well past due for a breakthrough. He was one of the headliners of Texas A&M’s blockbuster 2022 recruiting class, and his true-freshman campaign that fall ended on a high note, in an out-of-the-blue upset over LSU. In ’23, he was off to a fast start before suffering a season-ending foot injury in Week 4 — the third consecutive season the Aggies’ opening-day starter failed to make it out of the month of September. That was just Jimbo Fisher’s luck. Given a full season under a new staff, there’s every reason in Year 3 to believe Weigman’s time has come … just in time for the Mike Elko administration to reap the rewards.

9. Cameron Ward • Miami

Ward began his college career as an overlooked, small-town product with zero FBS offers out of high school. How’s he going to end it? Based on his trajectory so far, it could be as a star — or, just as easily, as a gifted size/speed prospect who never quite played up to his ceiling. At his previous stops, Incarnate Word (’20-21) and Washington State (’22-23), Ward filled up the volume columns, accounting for nearly 15,000 total yards and 135 touchdowns across 44 career starts. On the other hand, as far as Miami’s bid to turn the corner into an ACC/CFP contender is concerned, he remains a wild card whose potential is arguably bigger than his production. In 2023, he ranked 41st nationally in efficiency and 50th in Total QBR on a team that went 2-7 in Pac-12 play, leaving plenty of room for interpretation.

Ward’s skill set is intriguing enough that he briefly flirted with the NFL last winter, when he initially declared for the draft before changing his mind at the deadline. Miami has had no shortage of would-be pro prospects over the years, including outgoing starter Tyler Van Dyke (now at Wisconsin), but it’s been a good long while since one of them actually panned out. Incredibly, the Hurricanes haven’t produced a QB drafted higher than the 6th round since Craig Erickson in 1992 (!). If he’s a hit, Ward has a chance to break that streak by a mile. But Canes fans have heard that line often enough by now — over a two-decade span featuring the likes of Kyle Wright, Jacory Harris, Stephen Morris, Brad Kaaya, D’Eriq King, and Van Dyke himself — to understand all too well just how much weight that if is supporting.

8. DJ Uiagalelei • Florida State

As heir apparent to Trevor Lawrence, Uiagalelei was a bust. His much-anticipated tenure as Clemson’s QB1 marked the end of the Tigers’ run as year-in, year-out national contenders, snapping a 6-year run of CFP appearances under 3 different quarterbacks. After 2 frustrating seasons, Uiagalelei finally yielded to his understudy, Cade Klubnik, in the first half of the 2022 ACC Championship Game. A day later, he was in the portal.

Uiagalelei opted for career rehab at Oregon State — about as far from Clemson as he could get without leaving the continental U.S. or a Power 5 conference — and immediately looked at home on the West Coast. Free from championship-or-bust scrutiny, his 2023 output improved across the board, most dramatically in Total QBR, where he leapt from 54th nationally in 2022 to 12th in his first season in Corvallis. (Meanwhile, back at Clemson, Klubnik finished a distant 69th.) His first and, as it turned out, his last: With the dissolution of the Pac-12 and Oregon State’s power-conference status suddenly in limbo, Uiagalelei entered the transfer market last December for the second year in a row, albeit this time with his stock back on the rise.

Short of re-enrolling at Clemson, resurfacing at the Tigers’ biggest conference rival is probably as close as Uiagalelei could get to a do-over. Just like last time, he’s replacing a local legend, Jordan Travis, who restored Florida State to national relevance after years in the wilderness. Almost everyone else who touched the ball last year is now on an NFL roster, putting the weight of a Playoff run squarely on the quarterback’s shoulders. The margin for error is thin. In Year 5, Uiagalelei is as healthy and gifted as ever, and significantly more experienced. If he’s ever going to be the guy he was supposed to be, now’s his chance.

7. Drew Allar • Penn State

Allar rose to QB1 as a sophomore with high expectations, and largely met them while presiding over a 10-3 record. If all you saw of Penn State in 2023 was the losses, though, you’d hardly know it. The Ls came in the Nittany Lions’ 3 biggest games, by far — season-defining dates against Ohio State, Michigan and Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl — with the passing game, specifically, looking bereft in all three. The gap between Allar’s production in victory vs. defeat was a chasm.

The case for optimism in ’24 begins with Allar himself, a 6-5, 238-pound specimen with a big arm, functional mobility and an instinct for self-preservation: 2 interceptions on 391 attempts was good for the lowest INT rate in the nation (0.5%) among full-time passers. There’s a new coordinator, Andy Kotelnicki, straight from the miracle turnaround at Kansas. And there was a much-needed shake-up at wide receiver, where both of last year’s top wideouts (KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Dante Cephas) portaled out to make way for Ohio State transfer Julian Fleming, a former blue-chip who was eclipsed by a half-dozen future first-rounders in his four years as a Buckeye. The Lions are counting on Fleming to seize the role of the true no. 1 target the offense lacked last year. Allar has proven he can be trusted not to tank a big game with a killer gaffe; now he needs a playmaker he can actually win with.

6. Jaxson Dart • Ole Miss

After a deflating finish in 2022, Lane Kiffin put Dart on notice by bringing in a pair of high-profile transfers to compete for his job in ’23. Dart rose to the occasion: He fended off the competition in the offseason, started every game, improved his production across the board, and cut his interceptions in half. Ole Miss set a school record for wins (11) and logged its best finish in the AP poll (9th) since 1969.

Dart’s return and a loaded transfer class have the Rebels thinking Playoff in 2024, but taking the next step will not be as simple as putting one foot in front of the other. Their only losses last year were both double-digit defeats against the 2 best teams on the schedule, Alabama and Georgia — the latter coming in a sobering November blowout — making the gap between Ole Miss and the SEC’s real national contenders all too clear. Not coincidentally, they were also 2 of Dart’s least efficient games as a passer and lowest-graded outings per PFF. The Rebels avoid Bama this year in a division-less SEC, but still face Georgia and LSU while adding Oklahoma, all in a 5-week span in October and November. As it stands, Dart can already take his status as one of the top QBs in school history to the bank. Whether he goes out on top depends largely on those 3 Saturdays.

5. Shedeur Sanders • Colorado

The tabloid aura surrounding the Sanders family tends to blur the line between Shedeur as a promising young quarterback and Shedeur as a promising young branding opportunity, and the numbers don’t help. In his first season at the FBS level, he finished 57th nationally in Total QBR (meh) but 25th in efficiency (decent). He endured an FBS-worst 52 sacks (yikes), but threw just 3 interceptions in 430 attempts (impressive). Colorado’s season visibly disintegrated down the stretch, resulting in a last-place finish in the Pac-12 standings as well as in total offense in conference play. For his part, though, Sanders’ overall PFF grade (88.4) still ranked 15th nationally among quarterbacks, and his PFF passing grade (89.4) ranked 9th.

In spite of everything, the consensus has remained mostly bullish. Scouts are mixed, forecasting Sanders as anywhere from the No. 1 overall pick in 2025 to a mid-round project, but tend to lean toward the former. (Again, finding an honest scouting report amid the infinite scroll of headlines generated by Deion Sanders openly promoting his son’s stock is a chore. But clearly many front-office types are true believers.) EA Sports made Shedeur the top-rated QB in the long-awaited College Football 25 video game, which had a whiff of catering to his viral clout … but then, was not totally indefensible, either, given his combination of arm talent, experience and mobility and the absence of a clear-cut headliner at the position entering the season.

His rapid ascent last September during the Buffs’ 3-0 start offered the entire country a glimpse of his ceiling, which seems to have made a stronger impression than their 1-8 finish. The crash was largely chalked up to everyone except Shedeur, especially a ramshackle and overmatched o-line.

All of which is to say: The talent is there, but the jury is out. Still desperate to upgrade the surrounding cast, Colorado replaced half of last year’s roster with 42 incoming transfers, including 4 wide receivers and 9 offensive linemen. If the substance is as real as the hype, it’s time for the results to back it up.

4. Jalen Milroe • Alabama

In retrospect, the panic over Milroe’s shaky start last September looks faintly ridiculous. At the time, though, it was very real — real enough that Nick Saban briefly decided to his explore his options while Milroe chilled on the bench, and that even after he was restored to QB1 it took roughly half the season for Bama fans to stop holding their breath every time the ball left his hand. But then, week by week, the wins kept adding up: 11 in a row, all the way through a galvanizing win over LSU, a miracle finish at Auburn, and an SEC Championship upset over Georgia that recast a season on the brink as a triumph over adversity. In the process, Milroe’s arc from scapegoat to MVP of arguably the season’s biggest win confirmed him as a rising star.

A mediocre turn in the Tide’s semifinal loss to Michigan took some of the wind out of his sails entering the offseason. Still, Milroe’s ceiling remains as high as any returning starter in the country, beginning with his singular combination of home-run speed and home-run arm strength at 6-2, 220 pounds. As a playmaker, he has nothing left to prove. Assuming his early struggles with pocket presence and ball security are behind him, the next step to becoming a complete package is making the routine throws look more … well, routine.

3. Dillon Gabriel • Oregon

Yes, Gabriel is still in school, and yes, he’s played a lot of football for a guy who still has a year of eligibility to burn. In fact, no other returning quarterback has started more games, taken more snaps, or thrown for more yards or touchdowns at the FBS level. Over 5 seasons at UCF and Oklahoma (including the free COVID year in 2020 and a medical redshirt in ’21), Gabriel’s career totals rank 7th all-time in total yards and 4th in total touchdowns, leaving him within plausible striking distance of breaking both marks in Year 6. Longevity has its perks.

Of course, Oregon didn’t recruit him to break records. It recruited him to take the baton cleanly from Bo Nix, whose hyper-efficient output over the past 2 seasons set a high bar for whoever came next. In many ways Gabriel profiles as a slightly smaller version of Nix, who also brought a lot of prior experience to the job — Nix left with an FBS-record 61 career starts, another mark Gabriel (49 starts) has in his sights — and also had a reputation as more of a well-rounded technician than a primo athlete. Beyond the volume stats, Gabriel ranked third among Power 5 quarterbacks in Total QBR in 2023, behind only Nix and Jayden Daniels; he’s the only returning QB in the country who ranked in the top 20 each of the past 2 years.

On the other hand, Gabriel is unlikely to follow Nix as a high draft pick, if only due to his marginal height. But if that winds up being the biggest difference between them, the Ducks should feel like they got their money’s worth.

2. Carson Beck • Georgia

Were there ever any doubts about Beck as a worthy successor to Stetson Bennett IV? If there were, they dried up in a hurry. After 3 uneventful seasons as a backup, Beck slid seamlessly into the spotlight in 2023, enjoying all the benefits of being QB1 at Georgia — reliable protection, an arsenal of mostly interchangeable playmakers, a defense that afforded him plenty of margin for error — while putting up a virtually identical stat line to Bennett’s in ’22. UGA finished un the top 5 nationally in total and scoring offense, and the 6-4, 220-pound Beck emerged as the kind of NFL-ready pocket presence that the diminutive Bennett was constantly being compared against.

Bennett, of course, boasts a pair of ace cards that Beck does not: Back-to-back championship rings. Georgia’s 27-24 loss to Alabama in the SEC title game abruptly ended a 29-game winning streak, a 24-week run at the top of the AP poll, and the bid for a 3-peat. It also guaranteed Beck would be back for his final year of eligibility under the banner of “unfinished business.” Georgia remains the safest bet to win it all in the first year of the expanded Playoff, which by default makes Beck the safest bet to win the Heisman. Anything less than a December trip to New York for the award ceremony ahead of a January trip to Atlanta for the CFP title game will count as another sorely missed opportunity.

1. Quinn Ewers • Texas

A blue-chip Texas quarterback who actually lives up to the hype? College football really has changed. After a lost decade in Austin, Ewers arrived with messianic expectations and is on right on schedule to meet them.

That certainly wasn’t the case a year ago, coming off a sobering, injury-riddled debut in 2022 that left Ewers’ status in doubt on the same depth chart as the equally touted Arch Manning. Up to the challenge, he came back in ’23 looking leaner and more mature, shorn of his trademark mullet, and significantly more in sync with Steve Sarkisian’s offense.

Ewers wasted no time reminding the rest of the country why he was touted as highly as he was in a 349-yard, 3-touchdown ambush of Alabama in Week 2, the catalyst for a vastly improved sophomore campaign across the board. He finished with best single-season passer rating (158.6) and QBR (78.7) for a Texas quarterback since Colt McCoy’s Heisman runner-up campaign in 2008; the Longhorns played in their first Playoff game. Arch didn’t come up.

On the scouting side, Ewers is not generally considered a no-brainer prospect on the order of Trevor Lawrence or Caleb Williams at the same stage of their careers, or even the top quarterback in a consensus-defying 2025 class. There are lingering questions about his consistency and accuracy, which still has a tendency to come and go. But there is no doubt about his raw tools, or, given the leap from Year 1 to Year 2, his capacity for growth. Another step forward in Year 3 will put him within range of the Heisman, a deep Playoff run, and the top of the draft. If the maxed-out version is as good as advertised, it will be well worth the wait.

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Honorable mention:  Tyler Van Dyke, Wisconsin … Kyle McCord, Syracuse … Cade Klubnik, Clemson … Seth Henigan, Memphis … Brock Vandagriff, Kentucky.