Who is the greatest college football quarterback of all time? This question generates more conversation than an episode of The Last of Us and more controversy than, well, let’s perhaps not go there.
We haven’t got the answer to that question, but using our College QB+, we can at least objectively investigate the highest-graded quarterbacks since our database began.
PFSN’s College QB+ assigns a letter grade to a quarterback’s performance. We arrive at the grade by considering a quarterback’s passing and rushing performance. Certain more stable factors, like clean pocket performance and designed rushing success, are weighted more than less stable ones, like pressure performance and scrambling.
We also add a “clutch” component that gives extra weight to how quarterbacks perform in high-leverage situations. To qualify for the season leaderboard, a QB must average at least 15 plays per game (dropbacks or designed runs) while playing in at least half his team’s games that season.
To qualify for the single-game leaderboard, a quarterback must have participated in at least 15 plays that game.
50) Sam Ehlinger, Texas
College QB+ Grade: 84.4 (B)
As the Texas Longhorns await the start of the Arch Manning era, Sam Ehlinger sneaks into the top-50 highest graded quarterbacks since 2019. The baby-faced assassin famously proclaimed that the program was “back” after guiding the team to a Sugar Bowl win following the 2018 season (a campaign outside our data range), but surpassed his standard in 2019.
From a team perspective, it was a difficult season with an 8-5 record. Yet, Ehlinger set a career high with 3,663 passing yards and led the Big 12 with 32 touchdown passes while etching his name into the Texas record book. The Longhorns quarterback registered a 1.07 clutch sum, with positive EPA across multiple metrics, resulting in the fourth-best College QB+ season grade amongst all eligible Big 12 quarterbacks.
49) Jordan McCloud, James Madison
College QB+ Grade: 84.4 (B)
Jordan McCloud’s career failed to take off initially across three seasons with the USF Bulls and Arizona Wildcats. Yet, his transfer to the James Madison Dukes reignited his career in 2023. McCloud powered the 23rd-ranked scoring offense in the country as the Dukes scorched the Sun Belt with ferocious offense and dominant defense, cruising to an 11-1 record.
The 6’0″, 200-pound quarterback tallied 3,657 passing yards, surpassing his total from 2019 to 2021 in just one season. McCloud led the Sun Belt in completion percentage (68.2%) and passing touchdowns (35) while adding eight scores on the ground.
His College QB+ grade ranked 14th amongst all quarterbacks in 2023 and is the 61st overall season since 2019.
While his one-year reign with the Dukes produced the highest season grade of his career, McCloud posted another top-100 campaign the following year for the Texas State Bobcats. His development from a 2019 debut with USF (69.0, D+ grade) is mesmeric, earning his place among college football’s elite.
48) Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
College QB+ Grade: 84.5 (B)
After opening his career with the Jackson State Tigers, Shedeur Sanders entered the FBS ranks with the Colorado Buffaloes in 2023, making an immediate impression on and off the field.
However, it was his follow-up 2024 campaign that brought him to the fore. Sanders led the country in completion percentage (74.0%) and the Big 12 in most of the basic quarterback stats.
The Colorado quarterback’s accomplishments are even more remarkable when you consider the pressure (both from his family name and a porous offensive line) he was consistently under. His 2024 and 2023 campaigns rank in the top-10 seasons with the most dropback pressures since 2019.
Only Bryce Young (0.01) and Drake Maye (-0.09) recorded a higher pressured EPA per dropback than Sanders (-0.12) among players with over 200 pressures in a single season. When that defensive attention forced him out of the pocket and into action, the Colorado quarterback recorded a positive scramble EPA (0.57) in 2024, contributing to his 84.5 grade in his final year.
47) Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
College QB+ Grade: 84.5 (B)
As we’ll discover later on in this article, the LSU Tigers have dominated the college football quarterback landscape since 2019. Their latest product, Garrett Nussmeier, spurned an opportunity to turn professional at the end of last season and returns to Baton Rouge in 2025 as one of the top 25 returning college football quarterbacks for the upcoming campaign.
Nussmeier led the SEC with 535 pass attempts a year ago, tallying 4,052 passing yards and 29 touchdowns as a high-volume juggernaut. However, his grade success goes beyond the traditional box score statistics.
No other returning college football quarterback came close to Nussmeier’s performance on money downs last fall. The LSU quarterback converted on third and fourth down on 49.7% of his attempts. Furthermore, no other quarterback in the SEC with over 200 passing attempts in 2024 picked up a first down or touchdown at a higher clip (37.2%) than the Tigers’ star passer.
While being viewed as a traditional pocket passer by most analysts, Nussmeier had a surprisingly large amount of success on both designed runs and scramble plays last fall. If he can cut down on turnover-worthy plays (the LSU quarterback led the SEC in interceptions last year), Nussmeier could end 2025 as the highest graded passer by our metric.
46) Trevor Lawrence, Clemson
College QB+ Grade: 84.7 (B)
Considered a generational talent from the minute he led the Clemson Tigers to a national championship as a freshman in 2018, Trevor Lawrence made a three-year career out of being the very best the ACC had to offer.
He led the conference in passing touchdowns (30) in 2018, paced the ACC in completion percentage in 2019 (65.8%) and 2020 (69.2%), while topping the conference with 3,665 passing yards and 9.0 yards per attempt in 2019. He never had a touchdown percentage below 7.2% and twice had an interception percentage below 2% (2018 and 2020).
Trevor Lawrence was slinging it against South Carolina:
🎯 26/36 Comp/Att
🎯 295 Pass yards
🎯 3 TD⁰⁰And he still hasn’t lost as Clemson’s starting QB! pic.twitter.com/u2qjivUyec
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 1, 2019
His highest-graded campaign came in 2019, when Lawrence led to a consecutive College Football Playoff National Championship Game appearance. He took down Ohio State in the semifinals but fell short against a 2019 LSU Tigers offense that earned a 93.51 (A) grade from our College OFF+ metric.
Lawrence’s clutch sum (1.92) for the 2019 season ranked fifth all-time among quarterbacks who played a full season. According to our metric, he was also a top-10 passer when games were close, with a 1.05 close game EPA per dropback. An underrated athlete during his college career, Lawrence posted positive rush EPA (0.68 per attempt) and scramble EPA (0.83 per attempt).
45) Jalen Milroe, Alabama
College QB+ Grade: 84.8 (B)
Is Jalen Milroe one of the most underrated quarterbacks in Alabama Crimson Tide history? After a succession of successful and productive passers in Tuscaloosa, he was set a ludicrously high floor to play from. His tenure as the starter under Nick Saban got off to a difficult start in 2019, but he rebounded to guide the program to an SEC title and playoff semifinal berth.
Perhaps the opening to his stint as the Alabama starter made people’s view slightly less rosy. Maybe the lack of a 3,000+ yard passing campaign taints perception.
Yet, Milroe earned enough votes to finish sixth in Heisman Trophy voting in 2023. It’s also his highest-graded season of his career, and lands him among the best to play the position in the last six seasons.
Within his 2023 campaign, Milroe’s outing against LSU (90.6) ranked as the second-best game in Week 10, the 19th-ranked game in the season, and is a top-100 game in our College QB+ database. If any reminder was needed, the Alabama quarterback rushed for 155 yards and four touchdowns on four carries, comprising a mixture of designed runs and scramble plays.
44) Jordan Travis, Florida State
College QB+ Grade: 84.8 (B)
Jordan Travis was at the epicenter of one of college football’s greatest controversies in 2023. Having guided the Florida State Seminoles to an undefeated run through the opening 10 games of the season, he returned the program to national relevancy, with an ACC title and College Football Playoff for the taking. The talented dual-threat put together a sublime season of work.
Yet, a college career-ending injury against North Alabama cast aspersions on the Seminoles’ ability to compete in the postseason tournament, and their playoff snub changed the college football landscape forever. With 2,756 passing yards and 27 total touchdowns, Travis put together a campaign that earned him a fifth-place in Heisman Trophy voting.
But was it even his best season in college football? According to our metric, no. Travis had an 84.8 (B) grade for 2022, with an 81.4 (B-) in 2023. Even by basic stats, the Florida State quarterback had a more impressive campaign in 2022, tallying 3,214 passing yards and 32 total touchdowns while leading the ACC with a career-high 9.1 yards per attempt.
Travis performed better under pressure in 2022, logging a career-best 0.03 pressured EPA per dropback (compared to -0.11 in 2023). He was also more effective in close game situations in 2022, with a 0.45 close game EPA per dropback, and did a better job converting on money downs, with a 46.1% success rate compared to 42.4% in his final college season.
43) John Mateer, Washington State
College QB+ Grade: 84.9 (B)
John Mateer wowed the college football world with his displays for the Washington State Cougars in 2024, earning an 84.9 (B) grade in his first full season of action. Transferring to the Oklahoma Sooners for the 2025 campaign, he starts the 2025 campaign as the highest-graded quarterback after a huge swathe of talent left the sport for the 2025 NFL Draft.
A dual-threat gunslinger who plays the game with a red-hot fire inside of him, his 139.77 dropback EPA and 165.53 throw EPA would both have ranked second in the SEC a year ago, while his 9.7 yards per attempt and 8.4% touchdown per attempt would have also ranked highly in the conference.
Mateer’s standout performance of the 2024 season came against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, where he received an 88.0 grade that was the 29th-highest of any quarterback last fall. He logged five games with an 80+ grade while only putting together one game with a grade below a C.
Although he thrived in a clean pocket, Mateer was good under pressure and is a constant threat on both designed runs and scramble plays. Detractors might point to a vanilla schedule for the Washington State Cougars in 2024, but our metric is adjusted to account for the opposition defense ranking. He’ll face a tougher test in the SEC, but he’s set up to pass it with flying colors.
42) Holton Ahlers, East Carolina
College QB+ Grade: 85.0 (B)
If you’re not familiar with the work of Holton Ahlers, boy, did you miss out. During a college football career stretching from 2019 to 2022, the East Carolina Pirates quarterback was one of the most entertaining passers at the Group of Five level.
The left-handed juggernaut could heave it with the best of them while transforming his 6’3″, 230-pound frame into a bulldozer on the ground. Somehow, he never led the American Athletic Conference in any metric, but still managed to throw for 13,927 career yards with 97 passing touchdowns, 25 rushing scores, and an additional 1,446 rushing yards in five years.
Ahlers’ final season with the Pirates is the one that lands him on this list of the highest-graded quarterbacks since 2019. The East Carolina quarterback threw for a career-high 3,708 yards with 28 touchdowns and a career-low 1.1% interception rate (five interceptions). He threw six touchdowns against UCF and found the end zone six times in his college football finale vs. Coastal Carolina.
He delivered one of the most composed seasons in the past six years, posting positive EPA numbers across every data point that we use to construct our College QB+ metric. By the numbers, by the eye test, by whatever you use to measure college football success, Ahlers was a Pirates legend who took his game to the professional level in both the NFL and UFL.
41) Cameron Rising, Utah
College QB+ Grade: 85.1 (B)
Cameron Rising retired from college football in May 2025 as a legend of the game, of the Utah Utes, and the community surrounding the team in Salt Lake City. He transformed the fortunes of a program, delivered two Pac-12 championship titles, and put the Utah brand on the ever-expanding college football map.
If you ever needed or wanted a more graphic demonstration of how much one player means to a program, consider the difference between the Utes’ performance in 2022, his last fall season under center, and in 2024. Rising was expected to return from injury last fall, but he played in just three games as he lost the battle with his body.
With Rising, Utah had a top-10 graded offense in 2022, earning an 86.03 (B) grade in our College OFF+ metric. Rising drew a College QB+ grade of 85.1 (B), the 49th overall grade since 2019. In 2024, with their legendary quarterback missing, the Utes ranked 112th in College OFF+ with a 69.05 (D+) grade during their first outing in the Big 12.
A man for the big occasion, Rising was the 10th-ranked quarterback for clutch sum (1.12) in the 2022 season among eligible passers who played a full slate of games. While he could pick apart a defense with his arm, the Utah quarterback boosted his overall grade with a 0.85 scramble EPA per attempt that was a top-20 mark in that campaign.
40) Aidan O’Connell, Purdue
College QB+ Grade: 85.1 (B)
Since Aidan O’Connell left West Lafayette as a fourth-round NFL Draft selection following the 2022 college football season, the Purdue Boilermakers haven’t had a winning season. In the two seasons since the highly regarded quarterback said goodbye to Ross-Ade Stadium, the program has won just five total games and only beaten three Big Ten teams.
That’s how you know that a quarterback is good. Football is the ultimate team sport, but it’s no coincidence that the program’s downfall began with the inability to replace a passer who tallied over 3,000 yards and more than 20 passing touchdowns in consecutive seasons. Of those campaigns, O’Connell’s 85.1 (B) grade in 2021 earns him a place among the highest-graded QBs.
O’Connell is responsible for six of the top-10 graded games by a Purdue quarterback. Furthermore, he didn’t put up gaudy numbers against out-of-conference opponents, with all but one coming against Big Ten teams and all of them from outings against Power Five opposition. His 89.0 grade against Michigan State was a top-20 (19th) performance in the 2021 season.
The Purdue quarterback was a close game connoisseur in 2021. O’Connell led the Boilermakers to a 3-1 record in one-score games, earning a 0.42 close game EPA per dropback and 0.92 clutch score. His 2021 grade ranked ninth that year, and 48th among all College QB+ marks since 2019.
39) Tanner Mordecai, SMU
College QB+ Grade: 85.2 (B)
After three years of riding the pine with the Oklahoma Sooners, Tanner Mordecai hit the transfer portal, landing with the SMU Mustangs ahead of the 2021 college football campaign. Several months, 12 games, and an AAC-leading level of production later, the former four-star recruit out of Waco, Texas, had established himself as one of the highest-graded quarterbacks in the sport.
Although SMU only went 8-4 with a 4-4 record in the AAC, Mordecai utilized the top-tier wide receiver duo of Danny Gray and Rashee Rice to maximum devastation. In his first full season of action, he led the conference in completions (308), pass attempts (454), passing yards (3,628), passing touchdowns (39), and average passing yards per game (302.3).
In a year where Mordecai set the program record for most passing touchdowns in a single season, he took the program to a seven-game winning streak before faltering down the stretch. He earned an 80+ grade in six of his 11 games against FBS competition, with two games that ranked in the top 100 of the 2021 campaign.
Mordecai’s 85.2 (B) season grade was the eighth-best in 2021, and the 47th since our database began in 2019. While his season-on-season grades regressed from 2021 through 2022 to his season with Wisconsin in 2023, his 95.2 (A) grade in the epic clash with Houston in his second season with the Mustangs stands as the seventh-best single-game grade in our metric.
38) Kedon Slovis, USC
College QB+ Grade: 85.3 (B)
Through spells with the USC Trojans, Pittsburgh Panthers, and BYU Cougars, Kedon Slovis is the poster boy for career regression. From his debut season with the Trojans through to his swan song in Provo in 2023, the veteran quarterback saw a 14.2-point drop-off, sliding from an 85.3 (B) grade as a freshman to a 71.0 (C) grade in the final year of his career.
Still, Slovis’s 2019 campaign for USC was like something out of a fairytale. A former three-star who was spurned by the programs in his home state, he only had eight offers, with several Group of Five and an FCS invitation among them. He joined a Trojans roster with five-star JT Daniels as the established starter, yet was called on early to lead the team following Daniels’ injury.
What followed was a record-setting freshman campaign that thrust Slovis into the national spotlight. He earned 2019 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors after completing 71.9% of his pass attempts for 3,502 yards and 30 touchdowns. He compiled five games with over 300 passing yards, including a season-high 515-yard, four-touchdown outing against the UCLA Bruins.
Slovis’ 2019 campaign included his five highest-graded individual games, headlined by a 90.2 (A-) outing against the Iowa Hawkeyes. The former USC quarterback had seven games in his career that received an 80+ grade, and six of those came as a freshman. The regression over his career will cloud opinion, but there’s no doubt that his 2019 campaign was one for the ages.
37) Brady Cook, Missouri
College QB+ Grade: 85.5 (B)
It’s no coincidence that the Missouri Tigers produced their most successful season since 2014 and their highest AP Poll ranking since 2013 in the season Brady Cook produced the best College QB+ season grade of his career. The program’s development as a force in the SEC is inextricably linked to the improved play of a quarterback who remained true to the team.
Cook set career highs for passing yards (3,317), passing touchdowns (21), yards per attempt (9.0), and rushing touchdowns (eight) as he led Missouri to an 11-2 record with six SEC wins and a final ranking by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee higher than any other quarterback had helped the program to attain since the four-team format began.
In addition to his overall 85.5 (B) overall grade, Cook owns seven of the top 10 single-game grades for the Tigers since 2019. His 91.4 (A-) against the New Mexico State Aggies was a top-15 game nationally in 2022.
Meanwhile, he boasts five games that featured in the top 100 games of the season, including his 2023 outing against the Tennessee Volunteers, which was his best against SEC teams. He also posted an 84.3 grade against the Vanderbilt Commodores that season, the third-best game of his career.
36) J.J. McCarthy, Michigan
College QB+ Grade: 85.6 (B)
Our College QB+ database has grades for every eligible quarterback from 2019. In that time, the Michigan Wolverines had five different passers register a grade. None of the other four (Cade McNamara, Joe Milton III, Davis Warren, and Shea Patterson) can hold a candle to the performance put on by J.J. McCarthy as he guided the program to a national championship.
McCarthy’s 85.6 (B) grade ranked 10th among all quarterbacks in 2023 and is the 43rd-best grade since 2019. He was solid under pressure (0.09 pressured EPA per dropback), dangerous on the ground (0.5 rush EPA and 0.48 scramble EPA per attempt), and he showed up big at all the most pivotal times (0.09 close game EPA and 0.35 end of half EPA, per dropback).
Another pointer to how dominant McCarthy is in the annals of Michigan football is that five of his games from the 2023 season rank as the highest-graded outings of any Wolverines quarterback since 2019.
1) J.J. McCarthy vs. ECU: 93.1 (A)
2) J.J. McCarthy vs. Michigan State: 89.3 (B+)
3) J.J. McCarthy vs. UNLV: 89.3 (B+)
4) J.J. McCarthy vs. Rutgers: 85.8 (B)
5) J.J. McCarthy vs. Penn State: 85.0 (B)
35) Kurtis Rourke, Indiana
College QB+ Grade: 85.6 (B)
Wherever he’s played his football, Kurtis Rourke has left a lasting impression.
Having led the MAC in passing yards (3,257), passing touchdowns (25), completion percentage (69.1%), and yards per attempt (9.2) in 2022, he was named the MAC Offensive Player of the Year and overall Player of the Year in the conference.
Fast forward two years, and Rourke became the leader of the Indiana Hoosiers’ revolution in the Big Ten. The veteran quarterback arrived in Bloomington with head coach Curt Cignetti, and the two helped deliver the only double-digit win season in program history while securing a spot in the extended College Football Playoff format.
WILL INDIANA MAKE THE CFP AGAIN? PREDICT THE SEASON WITH THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF PREDICTOR
Rourke set career highs for passing touchdowns (29), pass completion (69.4%), and yards per attempt (9.5) in 2024, with the latter pacing the Big Ten. Almost half of his games received an 80+ grade, including a season-high 89.0 (B+) grade against the UCLA Bruins, which was the second-best game of Week 3 and one of two games that featured in the top 50 of the year.
34) Joey Aguilar, Appalachian State
College QB+ Grade: 85.8 (B)
Tennessee Volunteers fans left disheartened by the offseason moves at the quarterback position should find some comfort here, as Joey Aguilar is one of the highest-graded quarterbacks in college football since 2019.
Furthermore, the Appalachian State transfer is one of the top 25 returning quarterbacks from the 2024 campaign.
It’s time to get excited, Vols fans. The new Tennessee quarterback has taken a long road to the Power Four level, but he’s earned the opportunity with some eye-opening performances for the Mountaineers in the Sun Belt. We didn’t see vintage Aguilar last fall, but he’s just a season removed from an impressive campaign in 2023.
Half of his games in a season in which he threw for 3,757 yards and 33 touchdowns and completed 63.7% of his passes carried a grade above 80. That included his only experience against Power Four opposition. Aguilar went toe-to-toe with Drake Maye and Omarion Hampton, taking the game to overtime, and registering an 83.0 (B) grade against the North Carolina Tar Heels.
33) Kaidon Salter, Liberty
College QB+ Grade: 86.0 (B)
The Liberty Flames were the college football story of the 2023 campaign. In their first season of CUSA competition after years of being an FBS Independent, the program went undefeated and took home a conference title while earning the Group of Five’s spot in the New Year’s Six, making the trip to the Fiesta Bowl to take on the Oregon Ducks.
While Quinton Cooley led CUSA in rushing yards (1,401) and touchdowns (16), and new head coach Jamey Chadwell’s offensive playbook revitalized the program, it’s hard to imagine the Flames having any of that success without Kaidon Salter under center.
The highly regarded former Tennessee quarterback found himself at Liberty and put together one of the most dominant campaigns we’ve seen at the Group of Five level. He led CUSA with 32 passing touchdowns and averaged 9.9 yards per pass attempt while also rushing for over 1,000 yards at a CUSA-high 6.7 yards per carry.
Salter’s 93.6 (A) grade from the 2023 CUSA Championship Game was the top graded game of title weekend, the sixth-best game of the season, and the 23rd-ranked single-game in our entire database. It helped power an 86.0 (B) overall grade for the 2023 season that put the Liberty quarterback among the highest-graded quarterbacks since 2019.
32) Grayson McCall, Coastal Carolina
College QB+ Grade: 86.3 (B)
The Mulleted Magician. The Real McCall. A man whose talent was so immense that one nickname could never truly define him. Grayson McCall returned home to Conway this offseason to take up a role on the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers coaching staff, completing a full-circle journey that has been equal parts magic and mayhem on the “Teal Turf.”
McCall rose to prominence leading Jamey Chadwell’s innovative Coastal offense in a season when the nation was starved for football action. The Chanticleers’ on-field product and fun-loving, carefree off-field image were the perfect tonic for a trying time, and their quarterback provided some of the most entertaining play we’ve seen in recent times.
While the Chanticleers reveled in their charismatic image, McCall was a seriously talented playmaker. He twice led the Sun Belt in completion percentage (2021 and 2022) and pass touchdowns (2020 and 2021). His 2021 campaign saw McCall lead the country in yards per attempt, and he earned the second of an unprecedented three Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year awards.
McCall became one of the highest-graded quarterbacks in college football in 2021, earning an 86.3 (B) grade on the strength of his passing performances. His 0.8 clean EPA per dropback matched that of Jayden Daniels’ Heisman-winning 2023 campaign. He also withstood pressure well (0.6 pressured EPA per dropback) while recording a clutch sum of 1.22.
31) Frank Harris, UTSA
College QB+ Grade: 86.5 (B)
Show me a healthy Frank Harris and I’ll show you one of the great game-changers of Group of Five football this century. With him under center, the UTSA Roadrunners transitioned from being an upstart, middle-of-the-road outfit to a program with multiple conference titles (CUSA), capturing the national imagination at the same time.
It’s hard not to root for a playmaker like Harris, who had UTSA football in his heart and took that mentality out onto the field through thick and thin, through good times and injuries all the same. Whenever the Roadrunners had their talisman taking the snap, you felt like they were in with a chance of winning the game. More often than not, he delivered when needed.
While every game felt like his best, Harris was at his most sublime in leading UTSA to the 2022 CUSA title, their last in the conference before transitioning to the AAC. He led CUSA in completion percentage (69.6%) and adjusted yards per attempt (9.13), while compiling his first season with over 4,000 passing yards (4,063) and a career-high 32 passing touchdowns.
He also rushed for over 500 yards (602) for the third consecutive season. His three highest-graded games of his career came in 2022 (Middle Tennessee, North Texas, and Army), with all three outings ranking within the top 100 performances of the year. Harris set a top 10 weekly mark nine times during his career, with top grades spanning three different seasons.
30) Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA
College QB+ Grade: 87.0 (B+)
Dorian Thompson-Robinson closed out his five-year UCLA Bruins career by setting personal highs for pass completion (69.6%), passing yards (3,169), passing touchdowns (27), rushing yards (635), and rushing touchdowns (12). Unsurprisingly, it was also the highest-graded season of his time with the then-Pac-12 outfit, completing his time in college football in style.
With his dynamic athleticism often put to good use, DTR was one of the more reliable playmakers in college football on third and fourth down during the last six seasons.
The UCLA quarterback converted 51.1% of his “money down” attempts, with that and his 0.97 scramble EPA per attempt figuring as key components of his 87.0 (B+) College QB+ grade in 2022. He received an 80+ grade for half of his 2022 performances, with two games (Arizona State and Washington) ranking inside the top 50 showings of the season. Meanwhile, he notched a top 25 weekly grade on seven different occasions.
Thanks to his contributions in the 2022 season, Thompson-Robinson ended his UCLA career as the program’s all-time leader in total offense (12,536 yards), completions (860), total touchdowns (116), touchdown passes (88), and passing yards (10,710).
29) Hendon Hooker, Tennessee
College QB+ Grade: 87.1 (B+)
Hendon Hooker spent three seasons with the Virginia Tech Hokies to open his career. While he flashed some clear ability during his time in the ACC, it wasn’t until the dual-threat quarterback teamed up with Josh Heupel at the Tennessee Volunteers that he really began to put the college football world on notice.
After throwing for 2,945 yards and 31 touchdowns in 2021, Hooker dominated during the 2022 campaign before being hobbled by an ACL injury late in the year.
Despite his season ending prematurely, the Tennessee quarterback was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Year and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Hooker also paced the SEC in completion percentage (69.6%) and led the nation with 9.5 passing yards per attempt. He also set an impressive clutch sum of 1.61, while his 0.74 scramble EPA per attempt tells the story of the damage he could do with his legs when forced out of structure and into motion.
28) Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama
College QB+ Grade: 88.0 (B+)
As our College QB+ metric is powered by data that only goes back to 2019, there’s something of a false representation of what Tua Tagovailoa achieved for the Alabama Crimson Tide. In his only eligible season, he completed 71.4% of his passes for 2,840 yards and 33 touchdowns, adding another two scores on the ground and finishing 10th in Heisman Trophy voting.
However, a dislocated hip injury cut short that season, leaving us to wonder what might have been.
The Alabama quarterback had already tallied three games with a grade of over 90 (Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Duke) while all but one of his games carried a grade over 80. Tua’s performance against Mississippi State was the fourth-best game of the 2019 season, but four of them featured inside the top 50 highest-graded games of the year.
His 58.7% conversion on third and fourth-down attempts in his final season remains one of the top marks among all quarterbacks since 2019, while he also posted top-tier rush EPA per attempt (1.66) and clean EPA per dropback (0.84) numbers.
27) Matt Corral, Ole Miss
College QB+ Grade: 88.1 (B+)
After seeing limited opportunities as a freshman in 2018, and sharing starting reps in a split quarterback room with John Rhys Plumlee in Matt Luke’s final season with the Ole Miss Rebels, Matt Corral won the starting competition for Lane Kiffin’s first season at the helm in Oxford, and promptly made a name for himself as a gunslinger with a fearless approach to the game.
Although he finished his career in 2021 with a career-high 3,349 passing yards and a plethora of honors, it was his debut season as the starter for the Rebels that drew his highest grade from our College QB+ metric. Corral completed a career-high 70.9% of his passes in 2020 while throwing 29 touchdown passes and rushing for another four scores.
In a season of impressive quarterback performances, Corral’s 88.1 (B+) grade ranked fourth. The epitome of a boom-or-bust passer, he tallied three grades over 90 (vs. Vanderbilt, Alabama, and South Carolina), but his overall grade was dragged down by a 60.0 (F) outing against Arkansas that is one of the worst grades in our database.
60% of his 2020 games ranked in the top 10 for their respective week. Meanwhile, five of his performances earned a top 100 grade in the season. Corral owns three of the top 100 games overall, including the 92.3 (A-) graded showing against Vanderbilt that is the 33rd-best game since 2019.
26) Zach Wilson, BYU
College QB+ Grade: 88.4 (B+)
His subsequent difficulties in the NFL have ensured that Zach Wilson’s 2020 season with the BYU Cougars has been one of the most dissected in recent years. It is held aloft when people debate the strength of schedule, and it is used to belittle the Group of Five NFL Draft prospects. Yet, here we are, writing about it as one of the highest-graded quarterback performances since 2020.
As we’ve mentioned before (and likely will again before this article is over), our College QB+ metric is adjusted for strength of schedule, and Wilson’s grade still holds firm as one of the top 50 outings in the past six seasons. Those who watched the BYU quarterback masterfully lead the Cougars with his arm and his legs know exactly what they witnessed in 2020.
Wilson was as dangerous as they come when given time to throw, registering a 0.68 clean EPA per dropback that puts him ahead of quarterbacks such as Caleb Williams and even Joe Burrow’s 2019 campaign. He was also strong when the defense overwhelmed his offensive line, posting a 0.1 pressured EPA per dropback.
While his 73.5% pass completion, 3,692 passing yards, 33 passing touchdowns, and 11.0 yards per pass attempt all caught the eye, Wilson also did some serious damage on the ground. The 10 rushing scores are the headline maker there, but his 0.72 scramble EPA per attempt tells us more about his value on the ground than the career-high 254 rushing yards he tallied.
25) Clayton Tune, Houston
College QB+ Grade: 88.4 (B+)
One of the top quarterbacks at the Group of Five level, Clayton Tune got better with every passing season, culminating in a final campaign for the Houston Cougars where he led the AAC in completions (334), attempts (496), completion percentage (67.3%), passing yards (4,074), and passing touchdowns (40).
That 2022 campaign earned Tune an 88.4 (B+) grade, the fifth-best of any quarterback in college football that year. The epitome of progression, his grade rose in line with common stats, from a 72.4 (C-) in 2019, through a 76.8 (C) in 2020, via an 81.0 (B-) grade in 2021, to the pinnacle of 2022.
No Houston quarterback has come close since. While the change in conference from the AAC to the Big 12 has made an impact on the program, it’s hard to imagine that Tune wouldn’t have guided the Cougars to more than their eight total wins in the two years since he left the program for the NFL.
With Tune under center, you never believed that Houston was out of a game. The man for the big moment, who was capable of strapping a team to his shoulders and carrying them over the line, registered a clutch sum of 1.18 in 2022, while also having a positive close game EPA (0.49 per dropback).
24) Kyle Trask, Florida
College QB+ Grade: 88.6 (B+)
With their recent struggles, it can be easy to forget how good the 2020 Florida Gators were. However, from a statistical standpoint, Kyle Trask produced one of the greatest seasons of quarterback play we’ve seen this century. He led the nation in pass attempts (437) and touchdowns (43), led the SEC with 356.9 passing yards per game, and tallied 4,283 passing yards.
Trask’s overall season grade of 88.6 (B+) ranked second only to LSU Tigers sensation Joe Burrow, while it sits as a top 25 single-season performance since our data began in 2019. Showcasing his ability to perform against the very best in the business, Trask set the Florida single-game marker (91.0) against the eventual national champions, Alabama, in the SEC Championship Game.
Although that game was the only outing where Trask broke the 90-grade barrier, he logged grades of over 80 in half of his games during the 2020 season. He twice set the top grade in an individual game week (vs. Alabama and Ole Miss), and four of his performances graded in the top 50 that year.
Credit due to the Florida offensive line. When they kept Trask away from pressure, the Gators’ quarterback posted a clean EPA of 0.53, better than some of the players who graded above him on this list. He also converted over half (50.4%) of his “money down” attempts while registering a clutch sum of 1.42.
23) Brennan Armstrong, Virginia
College QB+ Grade: 88.6 (B+)
While the rest of his career was a blend of underwhelming production, injury, and global pandemic-infused disruption, for one glorious campaign in 2021, Brennan Armstrong looked like one of the best quarterbacks college football had to offer. Not only did he look like it, our College QB+ metric confirms the former Virginia Cavaliers standout’s place among the elite.
In his first season seeing double-digit appearances, Armstrong paced the ACC with 4,449 passing yards while throwing 31 touchdown passes. He also added nine rushing scores and a receiving touchdown for a team with several exciting offensive playmakers, but still registered a 6-6 overall record with an equally average 4-4 ACC campaign.
During the 2021 campaign, Armstrong etched his name across the Cavaliers’ record book. He set the program single-game passing record against the North Carolina Tar Heels, a 554-yard outing that earned an 88.2 (B+) grade that was the second-highest single-game grade of his career.
He also left the program with the single-season passing record, leads the program in career passing yards (9,034) and career total offense (10,301), while his 326 completions in 2021 also set a new benchmark for future Cavaliers quarterbacks to follow.
22) Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh
College QB+ Grade: 88.6 (B+)
After middling production for most of his Pittsburgh Panthers career, Kenny Pickett exploded onto the national scene with a sensational season in 2021. Leading the ACC in completions (334), completion percentage (67.2%), and passing touchdowns (42), he led the team to an ACC title and the most wins for the program since 1981 before heading to the NFL.
With six individual grades of 80+ and a low floor of a 74.4 (C) grade against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Pickett ended the 2021 campaign with an 88.6 (B+) overall grade that was the fifth best that year. While his highest grade came against FCS outfit New Hampshire, his outing against the Clemson Tigers, where he threw for 302 yards and two scores, wasn’t far behind.
When given a clean pocket, Pickett picked apart defenses to the tune of 4,319 yards, with a clean EPA per dropback of 0.5. He did, however, face some issues with defenses in his face, with a pressured EPA per dropback of -0.31 harming his overall grade.
Although he rushed for just 809 yards and two touchdowns in his career (including five scores in 2021), Pickett’s prowess on the move helped bolster his grade with an impressive 0.76 rush EPA and 0.45 scramble EPA per attempt on over 70 carries. Somewhere in that number is the infamous “fake slide” play that caused changes to the college football rule book.
21) Will Howard, Ohio State
College QB+ Grade: 86.9 (B+)
While there may be more Ohio State Buckeyes quarterbacks to come later in this list of the highest-graded quarterbacks since 2019, Will Howard accomplished something that none of them can say they accomplished while in Columbus: He led the team to a national championship.
Although there was more to the Buckeyes’ success than just the quarterback, Howard outperformed expectations in 2024. In just his second season of double-digit game action, the former Kansas State Wildcat quarterback led the Big Ten in completion percentage (73.0%), passing yards (4,010), and passing touchdowns (35) while adding seven scores on the ground.
OHIO STATE REPEAT SEASON RELOADING? Why Ohio State’s Elite WR Duo Could Dominate College Football in 2025
Howard recorded positive numbers for clean EPA (0.51), pressured EPA (0.08), end-of-half EPA (0.54), and close game EPA (0.34), significant to his 86.9 (B+) overall grade. Meanwhile, although not a dual threat by any stretch of the imagination, he made valuable contributions with a 0.19 rush EPA and 0.15 scramble EPA per attempt.
Although his best overall season came with the Buckeyes, Howard has the highest single-game grade by a Kansas State quarterback against other Big 12 teams after recording a 90.0 (A-) grade against the Houston Cougars during the 2023 season.
20) Anthony Gordon, Washington State
College QB+ Grade: 89.3 (B+)
After throwing for 5,579 yards and 48 touchdowns as the quarterback of Mike Leach’s Air-Raid offense for the Washington State Cougars, Anthony Gordon became something of a cult figure. In the early stages of social media, giving college football and NFL Draft analysts a platform to discuss the sport in-depth, Gordon was a uniting figure, albeit with tongue-in-cheek undertones.
Yet, as you can see by his positioning inside the top 20 highest-graded quarterbacks since 2019, Gordon was more than a cult figure. He was a legitimate quarterback who just so happened to operate in a system that inflated basic statistics by the sheer volume of the passing attack.
4⃣2⃣0⃣ yards
8⃣3⃣ comp. pct.
5⃣ touchdownsQuite the starting debut for @WSUcougarFB QB Anthony Gordon. 📈 #Pac12FB pic.twitter.com/5G9PXXdAWp
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) September 1, 2019
A rollercoaster every time the ball was in his hand, Gordon threw for 5,579 passing yards in the same year Joe Burrow was tearing up SEC defenses. The Washington State quarterback led the nation in both passing attempts (689) and completions (493), with an admirable 71.6% completion despite such a high volume and with a decent 8.1 yards per attempt.
Gordon’s clean EPA per dropback of 0.42 was the same as Dillon Gabriel’s 2024 campaign for Oregon and better than Trevor Lawrence’s 0.36 in 2019. While we’re cherry-picking at stats a little, it’s evidence that the Washington State quarterback belongs in a similar conversation. His highest single-game grade against New Mexico State is a top 100 overall game.
19) Kyle McCord, Syracuse
College QB+ Grade: 89.3 (B+)
Kyle McCord put his Ohio State Buckeyes nightmare behind him and reinvented himself with the Syracuse Orange in 2024. He earned a top-10 place in the Heisman Trophy voting that few who watched his 2023 season in Columbus would have expected.
The fourth-year quarterback led the nation in passing attempts (391), pass completions (391), passing yards (4,779), and passing yards per game (367.6) while setting a new career-high with 34 passing touchdowns. He also scored the first rushing touchdowns of his career, finding the end zone three times on the ground during the 2024 season.
While the basic statistics behind McCord’s 2024 campaign are impressive, the genesis of his career-high 89.3 graded season began during his final year with Ohio State. The talented passer flashed with a 91.8 grade against Michigan State and a 90.0 grade against Purdue during the 2023 season, the two highest-graded games of his career.
His highs were offset by some lows with the Buckeyes, whereas he was more of an even-keeled quarterback with the Orange. He tallied eight games out of 13 with an 80+ grade, five of those that ranked in the top 100 for the 2024 season. If it wasn’t for a 61.3 (D-) graded outing against the Pittsburgh Panthers, he would have been higher up this list.
18) Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma
College QB+ Grade: 89.7 (B+)
Dillon Gabriel ended a six-year college football career with the record for the most career passing touchdowns (155) and twice led a conference (two different conferences) in passing yards and touchdowns. He played for three teams, across three conferences, and is part of an elite group to have multiple seasons within the top 50 of our College QB+ grades.
Gabriel most recently led the Oregon Ducks to a Big Ten title on their first attempt, and led the conference in passing attempts and completions while setting career benchmarks for completion percentage (72.9%) and passing yards (3,857). However, that performance only drew an 85.8 (B) grade compared to his final season with the Oklahoma Sooners.
There are some notable differences between the two campaigns that explain the difference.
In 2023, with Oklahoma, Gabriel was better under pressure, registering a 0.15 pressured EPA per dropback compared to negative marks in his other eligible seasons. He also converted more third and fourth-down attempts (50.0%) while recording a career-high 1.28 clutch sum. His scramble EPA was noticeably better in 2023 (0.54) than in 2024 (0.25) on the same number of attempts.
17) Cam Ward, Miami (FL)
College QB+ Grade: 90.1 (A-)
One of the great stories in modern-day college football, Cam Ward went from being an under-recruited high school prospect to the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Using the transfer portal to climb his way to the top of the sport (and a trip to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony), he saved his best for last during an epic 2024 campaign that earned a 90.1 (A-) grade.
An enigmatic dual threat whose traditional rushing numbers don’t do justice to his impact on the ground, Ward’s season 1.08 rushing EPA per attempt and 1.12 scramble EPA numbers are among the top marks by any quarterback since 2019, a significant contributing factor to his overall grade in 2024.
Meanwhile, he threw for a career-high 4,313 yards at an ACC-high 9.5 yards per attempt. In his only campaign with the Miami Hurricanes, he led the ACC with 39 passing touchdowns while adding another four scores on the ground. He added to his Heisman highlights reel with a touchdown reception against the Florida State Seminoles.
Ward’s only single-game in the overall top 100 came in 2024, a 90.5 graded performance against the USF Bulls that was the second-best game in Week 4 and the 12th-ranked performance of the season. Eight of his 13 games last fall carried a grade above 80 as he helped carry the program to within a whisker of the ACC title game and the verge of the College Football Playoff.
16) Bryce Young, Alabama
College QB+ Grade: 90.4 (A-)
An All-American. The 2021 SEC Offensive Player of the Year. The 2021 Heisman Trophy winner. Bryce Young’s first full season as the starting quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide was one for the ages.
The footballing equivalent of a point guard in the NBA, he commanded an offense that averaged 39.9 points per game while throwing for 4,872 yards and 47 touchdowns (both leading the SEC in 2021) while also rushing for three scores. While he might not have been the most dynamic athlete on this list, Young’s 0.88 scramble EPA per attempt is a testament to his ability to keep the drive alive when the play broke down.
The Alabama quarterback was twice the highest-graded quarterback in a game week during his incredible 2021 campaign, with his performance against the Tennessee Volunteers earning the best grade of his career (92.6, A-).
That game ranked fifth best of the 2021 season and was one of two Young put together that ranked in the top 50 single-game performances since 2019.
15) Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss
College QB+ Grade: 90.5 (A-)
Perhaps it’s an indictment of the quarterback play from last fall, but no player in this list of the highest-graded quarterbacks since 2019 who set their career-best during the 2024 season cracked the top 10.
Ole Miss Rebels standout Jaxson Dart is the highest-ranked quarterback from last fall. He received a 90.5 (A-) grade after completing 69.3% of his pass attempts for an SEC-high 4,279 yards and 29 touchdowns. He led the nation in yards per attempt (10.8) and adjusted yards per attempt (11.53) in 2024 while setting a career-high with 29 passing touchdowns.
Dart ranked in the top 50 quarterbacks in all but three weeks of the 2024 season, receiving 80+ grades in five of his games. His performances against Duke (85.8) and Arkansas (85.3) landed him in the top 100 single-game grades for the 2024 season, while a floor of a 73.3 (C) grade against Georgia Southern showcased his consistency throughout the campaign.
As you’d expect from a quarterback operating Lane Kiffin’s high-octane offense, Dart was one of the best quarterbacks since 2019 when operating from a clean pocket (0.67) and boasts a decent clutch sum (1.34) while demonstrating his ability to pick up yardage with his legs while working out of structure, boasting a 0.47 scramble EPA per attempt on 45 non-designed runs.
14) Justin Fields, Ohio State
College QB+ Grade: 90.6 (A-)
If you’re allowing what Justin Fields has done in his fledgling NFL career to cloud your judgment of his time as a college football quarterback, you’re looking at him in completely the wrong way.
Fields was one of the most impressive quarterbacks in the country during his time with the Ohio State Buckeyes. Capable of hitting any throw at any field level, his ability to take over the game with his dynamic athleticism was a joy to behold.
It also resulted in the Ohio State quarterback leading the Big Ten in passing yards, passing touchdowns, adjusted yards per attempt, and passer rating in successive seasons. While he finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting the year prior to his first-round NFL Draft selection, it’s his 2019 season where he was a finalist for the award that yielded his highest grade.
Fields’ 90.6 (A-) grade came from a 51-touchdown, 3,273 passing-yard campaign as the Buckeyes won the Big Ten title and reached the College Football Playoff. Only three other quarterbacks since 2019 have played 10+ games and converted third and fourth-downs at a higher clip than the Ohio State quarterback (56.0%), who also logged an impressive 1.7 clutch sum in 2019.
13) Carson Beck, Georgia
College QB+ Grade: 90.8 (A-)
Such has been the transformation of the Georgia Bulldogs under Kirby Smart that anything less than a national championship win is deemed “unsuccessful” in the eyes of their fanbase and, to a degree, college football media. Carson Beck failed to deliver a national title to the Bulldogs in his two seasons as a starter, but that shouldn’t diminish his achievements in Athens.
While his 2024 was curtailed due to injury, Beck led the SEC with 3,941 yards in his first season as the starter for the Bulldogs in 2023. It’s that campaign that saw him throw for 24 touchdowns and complete 72.4% of his SEC-high 417 attempts that earns him a place among our highest-graded quarterbacks since 2019.
Beck guided Georgia to an undefeated regular season with an Orange Bowl win over the Florida State Seminoles sandwiching their only defeat of the year (to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game). He produced two games graded over 90 (Tennessee, Kentucky), with four games that ranked in the top 100 of the season.
The Georgia quarterback converted 54.7% of his “money down” attempts, ranking sixth in single-season conversion among quarterbacks who played 10+ games in a single campaign since 2019. He also performed admirably under pressure in 2023, posting a positive pressured EPA (0.06) and a 1.47 clutch sum.
12) Michael Penix Jr., Washington
College QB+ Grade: 91.3 (A-)
Michael Penix Jr. is an intriguing case study into the importance of understanding how basic statistics can skew perception of performance. The former Indiana and Washington quarterback set career highs for passing yards (4,903) and yards per game (326.9) in 2023 as he took the Huskies to a Pac-12 title, Sugar Bowl win, and national championship game appearance.
He also won the Maxwell Award and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting before being selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Yet, it was the season before those exploits that earned Penix his place among the highest-graded quarterbacks since 2019. His 91.3 (A-) grade came after he led the Pac-12 in pass completions (362), pass attempts (553), passing yards (4,641), and passing yards per game (357.0). While his touchdown percentage was down compared to 2023, he set a career-low for interception percentage (1.4%).
Penix’s single-season 52.6% conversion on third and fourth-down attempts ranked 10th among quarterbacks who played 10 or more games in their campaign. He received an 80+ grade from 66% of his outings, while putting together three games that ranked in the top 100 in the 2022 season. His performance against Oregon that year carries a top 100 single-game grade in our entire database.
11) Drake Maye, North Carolina
College QB+ Grade: 92.0 (A-)
Drake Maye had significant shoes to fill when he replaced Sam Howell under center for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Yet, he not only stepped into them admirably, he made them his own, and set about establishing himself as one of the top quarterbacks we’ve seen in college football during the 21st century.
In his first season as the starter, Maye made a mockery of his opposition. While the nature of the Tar Heels’ offense meant he led the ACC in passing attempts (517), he also led the conference in completion percentage (66.3%), passing yards (4,321), passing touchdowns (38), and passing yards per game (308.6), while adding 698 yards and seven scores on the ground.
His 92.0 (A-) grade was the best for a North Carolina quarterback in our database, ensuring Maye’s ranking in the top 20 highest-graded quarterbacks since 2019. Impressive enough on its own, his 2022 grade was substantially higher than Howell’s last season with the Tar Heels (81.5) and considerably better than his predecessor’s highest graded campaign (84.4).
No North Carolina quarterback since 2019 has been better from a clean pocket (0.57 clean EPA per dropback), and Maye converted his “money down” attempts in 2022 at a higher clip (47.7%) than any season Howell was under center. His 2022 campaign was rewarded with ACC Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year honors.
10) Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma
College QB+ Grade: 92.1 (A-)
He was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2016, helped take Alabama to a national championship in 2017, but Jalen Hurts really cemented himself among the best college football quarterbacks of recent times with his performances for the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2019 season.
The now-Super Bowl champion quarterback led the Big 12 in completion percentage (69.7%) and passing touchdowns (32) while leading the nation with 11.3 yards per pass attempt on his way to a career-high 3,851 passing yards. Hurts dominated on the ground too, rushing for 1,298 yards and 20 touchdowns. He even snagged a receiving score against Oklahoma State.
Our database doesn’t stretch back to Hurts’ time with the Crimson Tide, but it’s hard to imagine that he’d earn a higher grade than the 92.1 (A-) that places him inside the top 10 of the highest-graded quarterbacks since 2019.
Eight of his games during his lone season in Norman carried an 80+ grade, while his outing against the Houston Cougars carried a 90.1 (A-) grade that ranked as a top-20 performance and one of the three that featured in the top 100 games of the season. Although his ground game contributions helped fuel his grade, Hurts also set a top-30 mark for pressured EPA (0.12) in a single season.
9) Sam Hartman, Wake Forest
College QB+ Grade: 92.6 (A-)
While he most recently led the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to a 10-3 record in the 2023 season and earned early national attention due to his appearance on the QB1: Beyond the Lights series while at Oceanside Collegiate Academy as a high school senior, real college football fans will remember Sam Hartman from his time as the Wake Forest Demon Deacons starting QB.
After a disrupted start to his college career in Winston-Salem — battling injury in 2018, a stint as the backup to Jamie Newman in 2019, and the global pandemic in 2020 — Hartman flourished in 2021. His combination of football intelligence, sneaky athleticism, and arm talent made him the perfect protagonist to run Wake Forest’s slow mesh offense.
Although he led the ACC in interceptions (14), an ever-present potential pitfall of also leading the conference in passing attempts (508), he set career highs with 4,228 passing yards and 39 touchdowns, leading to a perfect start to the season through eight games, the best in program history.
Setting single-season Demon Deacon records for touchdowns and yards, Hartman guided the team to the ACC Championship Game. In doing so, he earned a 92.6 (A-) grade, buoyed by his prowess on the ground (0.43 rush EPA and 0.77 scramble EPA per attempt). His performance in a shootout against Army (89.3, B+) will go down in Wake Forest history.
8) Stetson Bennett, Georgia
College QB+ Grade: 93.0 (A)
Stetson Bennett led the Georgia Bulldogs to consecutive national championship wins. He led the SEC with 4,128 passing yards in 2022 and yards per attempt (10.0) in 2021, contributing to a 9.1 average across his four years of playing time in Athens. Yet, somehow, Bennett doesn’t receive the respect his performances deserve.
Open the debate about the best modern-day quarterbacks, and it’s unlikely that the former walk-on will enter the conversation. Yet, he has two national titles to his name, earning (yes, earning) College Football Playoff National Championship Game Offensive MVP honors from both outings.
The dominant deconstruction of TCU in the title game following the 2022 season drew an 88.8 (B+) grade, the second-highest of his career and a top-20 single-game grade within our College QB+ metric. The Georgia quarterback has five single-season games within the top 100 of their respective campaigns.
While both seasons are worthy of praise, it was his final hurrah with the Bulldogs in 2022 that earned him the 93.0 (A) grade that places him among the highest-graded quarterbacks since our metric began. His overall marker was boosted by a 94.0 (A) showing in the season-opener against the Oregon Ducks that set the tone for the Bulldogs’ entire campaign.
7) Bailey Zappe, Western Kentucky
College QB+ Grade: 93.0 (A)
Bailey Zappe spent one season at the FBS level and immediately reestablished what it means to be elite. The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers quarterback had ripped up defenses in the FCS, but shocked the college football world with his awe-inspiring displays of passing prowess in 2021.
Zappe broke the record for the most passing yards in a single season, throwing for 5,967 yards while averaging a record 426.2 passing yards per game. His 62 passing touchdowns led the nation, and while his production was the result of a high-volume workload, he still completed an impressive 69.1% of his 687 attempts.
Zappe’s record-setting feats often get dinged because the Hilltoppers play in CUSA, and certain subsets of college football analysis like to point to a “weak” schedule to explain his success. Yet, the Hilltoppers faced two Power Five programs on their 2021 schedule (Indiana and Michigan State) while twice facing the conference champion UTSA Roadrunners.
Our College QB+ metric is adjusted for the strength of schedule, while single games take into account the opponent’s College DEF+ grade. With all that considered, Zappe still has the seventh-highest season grade in our database while producing five games that ranked in the top 10 of their game week and two games that ranked within the top 100 for the 2021 season.
6) Caleb Williams, USC
College QB+ Grade: 93.6 (A)
Arguably one of the most exciting and dangerous dual threats in college football history, Caleb Williams proved a divisive figure among fans, but there is no doubt that he deserves a seat at the top table after a career that included leading the nation in passing touchdowns and winning the Heisman Trophy in 2022.
Based solely on data, our College QB+ metric doesn’t care if Williams wears nail polish or cries after a defeat. It cares about on-field performance and defying expectations, and the former Oklahoma and USC passer was elite in both regards. His highest-graded campaign came in 2022, unsurprisingly, but he registered an 80+ grade in all three seasons of action.
RELATED: 2026 3-Round NFL Mock Draft — Arch Manning Stays in School, Cade Klubnik Goes No. 1
Nonetheless, four of his highest-graded single games came during his first season in Southern California. He also registered 80+ grades in over half (eight) of his games in 2022, with five games that ranked in the top 100 performances of the year.
Williams led the Trojans to 11 wins in the 2022 campaign, but our College QB+ metric demonstrates the folly of punishing the passer when a team doesn’t win. USC famously lost the Cotton Bowl to the Tulane Green Wave, oft-considered a stain on the quarterback’s resume. Yet, he received a 95.2 (A) grade for his attempts to get the win, the highest grade of his entire career.
5) Bo Nix, Oregon
College QB+ Grade: 94.3 (A)
Like a fine wine, Bo Nix just got better and better as his college football career progressed. Much maligned during his time with the Auburn Tigers, despite being named the SEC Freshman of the Year, he never received a grade over 80 while playing on The Plains, and his final season with the program was the 369th out of 923 eligible quarterback seasons.
He was transformed upon arriving in Eugene in 2022. In his first season with the Oregon Ducks, Nix led the Pac-12 with a 71.9% completion rate while setting career highs for passing yards (3,593), touchdowns (29), and passing yards per attempt (8.8). The Oregon quarterback received an 86.4 (B) grade for his inaugural season, but the best was still yet to come.
BO NIX 80 YARDS TO THE HOUSE 🏠
He now has a career-high 141 rush yards for @oregonfootball pic.twitter.com/29fwlcDC2b
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 2, 2022
In 2023, Nix led the entire country with 45 passing touchdowns after completing a nation-leading 77.4% of his pass attempts. He set career highs for passing yards (4,508) and yards per attempt (9.6) while being named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and finishing third in the Heisman Trophy voting.
His final season grade of 94.3 (A) provided the perfect end to a career arc. Once considered one of the more erratic quarterbacks in the country, his 2023 was the epitome of consistency. Nine of his games received a grade of 80 or higher, and 10 fell within the top 25 of their game week.
4) C.J. Stroud, Ohio State
College QB+ Grade: 94.4 (A)
In two seasons, C.J. Stroud established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in Ohio State Buckeyes football history.
Leading the Big Ten in passing yards and touchdowns in both campaigns as the starter (plus setting the standard with a 71.9% pass completion), he tallied 8,123 yards with 85 passing touchdowns and an impressive 9.8 yards per attempt.
While his final season with the program yielded an 87.6 (B+) grade and included the number one overall game in our College QB+ database (97.6 vs. Toledo), it was the 2021 campaign that saw the Buckeyes finish outside of the College Football Playoff but land a Rose Bowl win that sees Stroud sit fourth in our list of the highest-graded quarterbacks since 2019.
Stroud had four games (Purdue, Utah, Maryland, and Indiana) with a grade over 90 during the 2021 college football season, all of which rank in the top 100 games in our College QB+ database. Additionally, five of his performances ranked in the top-25 of all games in the season, three in the top-10, and he twice produced the top-ranked game of the week.
3) Mac Jones, Alabama
College QB+ Grade: 97.5 (A+)
The 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide team was jam-packed with talent at almost every offensive position. Mac Jones is sometimes overlooked when discussing college football’s top-tier passers as a result of his supporting cast. Still, there’s a reason why the Heisman Trophy finalist ended his career as one of the highest-graded quarterbacks in our College QB+ database.
Jones earned the top grade in one of the most disrupted college football seasons of all time, navigating an all-SEC schedule to lead the nation in completion percentage (77.4%), passing yards (4,500), and passer rating (203.1). He also led the conference in yards per attempt (11.2), contributing to a career 11.0 marker that set the college football record for a career.
Jones’ quarterback play ensured that the Crimson Tide blew out most opponents on the way to the national championship that year, but when Alabama was challenged, their quarterback was at his best. He logged a 2.93 clutch sum while his 1.73 close game EPA per dropback leads all quarterbacks who played more than 10 games in a season.
In addition to having the third-best season grade in our database, Jones registered one of the highest-graded single games during the 2020 season. The Alabama quarterback ripped apart the Ole Miss Rebels, logging a 93.2 grade, which ranked third in the season, 26th overall since 2019, and 10th overall against Power Five opposition.
2) Jayden Daniels, LSU
College QB+ Grade: 97.7 (A+)
It was clear that Jayden Daniels had talent during his early career with the Arizona State Sun Devils. A dangerous dual-threat with a live arm, he led the Pac-12 in completion percentage (65.4%) in 2021 while rushing for over 1,200 yards during his three years in Tempe. However, his transfer to LSU saw him realize his potential and transform into a beast.
2022 offered a taster, but in 2023, Daniels asserted himself as one of the highest-graded quarterbacks in our College QB+ database. His 97.7 (A+) grade came after the LSU quarterback led the nation in yards per pass attempt (11.7) and yards per carry (8.4), while leading the SEC with 40 passing touchdowns. He was an All-American and won the Heisman Trophy.
Daniels was one of the best quarterbacks in the nation when given time to unleash his eye-popping arm, with a 0.8 clean EPA per dropback ranking sixth since 2019 (third among quarterbacks with 10 or more games in the year). While tearing apart defenses behind a stellar offensive line, his 0.25 pressured EPA per dropback demonstrated his ability to operate with a defense in his face.
Daniels also registered a clutch sum of 2.24, the best of any LSU quarterback since 2019. That ability to handle pressure and guide the team to success resulted in a 10-3 record and the most SEC wins (six) since Burrow guided the program to an 8-0 record in the team’s national championship-winning season.
1) Joe Burrow, LSU
College QB+ Grade: 98.5 (A+)
To the surprise of absolutely no one, former LSU Tigers superstar and the first overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, Joe Burrow, is the highest-graded quarterback since 2019. The leader of one of the greatest offenses in college football history was an All-American, the SEC Offensive Player of the Year, and won the Heisman Trophy before taking the team to a title win.
Burrow put up video game numbers in his second season with the program, leading the country in completion percentage (76.3%), passing yards (5,671), and passing touchdowns (60). He also led the SEC in pass completions (402), pass attempts (527), and passing yards per game (378.1). He tore up the college record book and reset expectations for quarterback play.
You can’t get much closer to perfection than what we saw out of Burrow in 2019, as reflected by his 98.5 (A+) College QB+ grade. He was unstoppable when kept clean (0.64 clean EPA per dropback), imperious under pressure (0.22 pressured EPA per dropback), with a clutch sum of 1.69 after converting 48.5% of his third and fourth-down attempts.
Three of Burrow’s 2019 games (Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Georgia Southern) earned a 90+ grade, while just three (Auburn, Arkansas, and Mississippi State) received a grade under 80. He was the highest-graded quarterback in three different weeks, had seven games in the top 100 that year, and was responsible for three top-100 games since 2019.
