2023 NFL Draft: Has this heralded QB class, led by C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young, been overhyped?

The college football regular season is quickly drawing to a close, and perceptions of the top quarterback prospects are changing. Is the potential 2023 quarterback class as good as what many felt prior to the season? 

Early in the process, draft commentary is often over the top looking at the potential of a prospect and ignoring the deficiencies. Relative to last year when there was not a clear candidate to be a first-round pick prior to the college football season, the upcoming class has two players (Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Alabama’s Bryce Young) who evaluators have been an anticipating for a year; expectations were likely to become outrageous based on that alone. The current season has raised some concerns. As a result, impressions of those top quarterback prospects are coming back to reality. When all is said and done, those two players, as well as Kentucky’s Will Levis, will go in the first round, and probably top-10 overall, but each situation warrants closer examination below.

In addition to providing a look at the trees that were this weekend’s performances, CBSSports.com peers into the forest in an attempt to provide some context for where these players could be drafted next April. 

C.J. Stroud, Ohio State

Stats: (21-7 win at Northwestern): 10-of-26 passes completed, 76 yards; 6 carries, 79 yards

Ohio State was averaging 48.9 points per game coming into the Big Ten affair against Northwestern. Stroud and the Buckeyes struggled in the first half with the junior quarterback missing high on multiple occasions. There were opportunities over the course of the afternoon though. Stroud laid a downfield pass perfectly into the hands of wide receiver Emeka Egbuka but the play was not completed. While completing just 38.4% of his passes, the California native was effective with his legs rushing for 79 yards on just six attempts. The Buckeyes continued their streak of games scoring at least 20 points but it was their lowest output of the season tying the opener against Notre Dame.