There’s plenty of star power in the 2025 quarterback class. Carson Beck, Cade Klubnik and Drew Allar return. Kevin Jennings, Maddux Madsen and Sam Leavitt led playoff teams and are back for more. Oh, and there’s some guy named Manning who’ll finally get his shot to start at Texas.
But after the past few years in which blue bloods routinely chased veterans in the transfer portal, we’re about to enter a season in which Michigan, Georgia, Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama and Ole Miss expect to start guys with little or no experience as QB1.
After COVID-19 rules allowed players to stick around for five, six or even seven years in college, 2025 represents the unofficial end point of the bonus year — unless you’re Diego Pavia, who might play until he’s eligible to collect social security.
Meanwhile, some of last season’s most disappointing QB stories — Miller Moss, Conner Weigman, Jackson Arnold — will get a chance to rewrite their script with new teams this season.
It all shapes up to be one of the more intriguing seasons at the game’s most important position.
But luckily, we’ve done the heavy lifting of sifting through the depth charts of all 136 FBS teams, digging deep into the stats, and consulted our Magic Eight Ball to rank every QB situation in the country by tiers.
Jump to a section:
Best of the best | Waiting time is over
One more try
Wiley veterans | Used to be starters
Tier 1: Top of the class (11 players)
Clemson (Cade Klubnik, Christopher Vizzina)
LSU (Garrett Nussmeier, Michael Van Buren Jr.)
Oklahoma (John Mateer, Michael Hawkins Jr., Whitt Newbauer)
Penn State (Drew Allar, Ethan Grunkemeyer)
South Carolina (LaNorris Sellers, Air Noland)
Last season’s best quarterback, Cam Ward, was electric — a magician on the field who routinely made awe-inspiring plays. This year’s best don’t exactly fit that mold. Instead, some of the biggest names — Allar, Klubnik, Nussmeier — didn’t so much catch lightning in a bottle as slowly build their repertoire until earning their place at the top of the sport. They’re consistent producers; veterans who, if you follow the career trend lines, should reach peak performance in 2025.
Sellers and Mateer, on the other hand, had a few more of those “Heisman moments” last year. Sellers started slow but blossomed late, playing at as high a level as anyone in the country by year’s end. Mateer flourished…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at www.espn.com – Notre Dame Fighting Irish…