Bill ConnellyMar 5, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseBill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.Follow on XMultiple Authors
play0:31Alonza Barnett III rips free for a JMU TDAlonza Barnett III keeps it on 26-yard touchdown rush for James Madison.
play0:46Kamario Taylor revives Bulldogs with fantastic rushing TDKamario Taylor takes it himself and slaloms through the Ole Miss defense for a crowd-pleasing 35-yard touchdown.
Alonza Barnett III rips free for a JMU TDAlonza Barnett III keeps it on 26-yard touchdown rush for James Madison.
Kamario Taylor revives Bulldogs with fantastic rushing TDKamario Taylor takes it himself and slaloms through the Ole Miss defense for a crowd-pleasing 35-yard touchdown.
Kamario Taylor takes it himself and slaloms through the Ole Miss defense for a crowd-pleasing 35-yard touchdown.
22. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, California Golden Bears
28. Keelon Russell or Austin Mack, Alabama Crimson Tide
January’s transfer window has long since closed, and college football rosters are as stable as they’ll ever be as spring football gets started across the country. It feels like a good time to start looking toward the fall.
2025 stat line: 83.4 QBR, 2,741 passing yards, 24 TDs, six INTs, 66.6% completion rate, 14.1 yards per completion; 134 non-sack rushing yards, three TDs
Carr isn’t exactly your modern dual-threat guy; he doesn’t scramble much, and he’s not a threat to punish defenses for turning their backs on the QB in man coverage. But he also doesn’t take sacks, both because of quick decision-making and the fact that he might have the best offensive line in the country protecting him. He’s accurate, he has a big arm, and by the end of 2025 he was one of the most reliable passers in the sport.
While three of last year’s four main wideouts are gone, the return of Jordan Faison, plus 2024 playoff hero Jaden Greathouse (back from an injury redshirt) will help, as will the addition of two recent blue-chippers from Ohio State (Mylan Graham, Quincy Porter). Carr should have most of what he needs, and even if the run game regresses a bit, there’s no reason to think he won’t continue to come through on third down.
2025 stat line: 88.4 QBR, 3,610 passing yards, 32 TDs, eight INTs, 77.0% completion rate, 12.0 yards per completion
2025 stat line: 86.5 QBR, 3,937 passing yards, 22 TDs, three INTs, 66.1% completion rate, 13.4 yards per completion; 600 non-sack rushing yards, eight TDs
After what we saw in the CFP, as he ran circles around Georgia and came within inches of a spot in the national title game, it felt like the Trinidad Chambliss Story should have one more act to it. And thanks to a judge in Mississippi, it gets one despite the NCAA’s protestations.
2025 stat line: 78.0 QBR, 3,163 passing yards, 26 TDs, seven INTs, 61.4% completion rate, 12.8 yards per completion; 537 non-sack rushing yards, 10 TDs
College football has a painfully short season. You’re only guaranteed 12 Saturdays to make an impression. And yet, somehow this tiny sample still offers time for plot twists and redemption tales. Manning now knows this as well as anyone.
2025 stat line: 89.9 QBR, 3,711 passing yards, 24 TDs, 10 INTs, 65.8% completion rate, 14.0 yards per completion; 258 non-sack rushing yards, six TDs
It took a brilliant set of postseason performances for Fernando Mendoza to pass Maiava and finish the season No. 1 in QBR. Maiava was comfortably the most statistically superior passer in the country in September, and he finished the year having produced an 87.0 QBR or higher in 11 of 13 games. (USC lost three of those 11, thanks in part to a defense that allowed 36.7 points per game in the losses.)
2025 stat line: 78.5 QBR, 3,565 passing yards, 30 TDs, 10 INTs, 71.8% completion rate, 12.0 yards per completion; 284 non-sack rushing yards, two TDs
When you’re receiving top-five draft hype, it’s hard to say no to the NFL whether you’re actually ready or not. That Moore knew he wasn’t ready and returned for one more year was pretty impressive.
2025 stat line (North Texas): 74.8 QBR, 4,379 passing yards, 34 TDs, nine INTs, 68.9% completion rate, 13.7 yards per completion; 224 non-sack rushing yards, five TDs
Mestemaker and Hawkins are two of eight UNT transfers on offense alone, and it would be a surprise if at least six of them don’t start. I’m guessing they will immediately create one of the Big 12’s better offenses, and there’s a chance they’ll do even more than that. We live in an age of giant, roster-building thought experiments. Here’s the latest one.
2025 stat line: 84.9 QBR, 2,894 passing yards, 24 TDs, five INTs, 69.7% completion rate, 10.8 yards per completion; 532 non-sack rushing yards, 10 TDs
In 1986-87, UNLV’s Mark Wade averaged 10.7 assists and only 4.7 points per game. He attempted a shot only once every eight minutes or so; he was the most point guard-ish of all point guards, distributing the ball ruthlessly with the least risk imaginable.
2025 stat line (Cincinnati): 81.5 QBR, 2,800 passing yards, 27 TDs, five INTs, 61.6% completion rate, 13.5 yards per completion; 616 non-sack rushing yards, nine TDs
2025 stat line (USF): 77.8 QBR, 3,158 passing yards, 28 TDs, seven INTs, 66.3% completion rate, 14.0 yards per completion; 1,121 non-sack rushing yards, 14 TDs
2025 stat line (Duke): 76.6 QBR, 3,973 passing yards, 34 TDs, six INTs, 66.8% completion rate, 11.9 yards per completion; 156 non-sack rushing yards, one TD
He certainly didn’t do his old team any favors in entering the portal in mid-January, but Mensah now lands with the defending national runner-up, where he’ll have a chance to team with Malachi Toney, Mark Fletcher Jr. & Co.
Few QBs do a better job of buying time to make throws without risking tons of sacks or hits (or interceptions). That offers some interesting potential tweaks for Shannon Dawson after calling plays for Carson Beck, who got the ball out of his hands faster than almost any QB in the country.
2025 stat line: 84.4 QBR, 2,490 passing yards, 24 TDs, five INTs, 63.5% completion rate, 11.8 yard per completion; 899 non-sack passing yards, 10 TDs
2025 stat line (TCU): 73.6 QBR, 3,472 passing yards, 29 TDs, 13 INTs, 65.9% completion rate, 12.8 yards per completion; 136 non-sack rushing yards, two TDs
2025 stat line (Arizona State): 65.8 QBR, 1,628 passing yards, 10 TDs, three INTs, 60.7% completion rate, 11.2 yards per completion; 420 non-sack rushing yards, five TDs
To understand why Lane Kiffin was desperate to bring Leavitt to Baton Rouge, let’s share a different stat line.
2024 stat line (Arizona State): 80.0 QBR, 2,885 passing yards, 24 TDs, six INTs, 61.7% completion rate, 13.4 yards per completion; 574 non-sack rushing yards, five TDs
Injuries derailed Leavitt’s 2025 campaign, and he appeared to burn plenty of bridges on his way out of Tempe, but maybe that makes him a good fit with a bridge-burning head coach. Regardless, he’s dynamite when healthy, and almost no one more consistently coaxes epic upside out of their QBs than Kiffin. It’s easy to see this move working out beautifully for LSU.
2025 stat line: 78.2 QBR, 3,033 passing yards, 15 TDs, seven INTs, 64.9% completion rate, 12.1 yards per completion; 624 non-sack rushing yards, 11 TDs
2025 stat line: 79.4 QBR, 3,105 passing yards, 25 TDs, nine INTs, 68.8% completion rate, 11.4 yards per completion; 377 non-sack rushing yards, six TDs
First, the bad: Bailey suffered absolute duds against Notre Dame and Miami — the two best defenses he faced in 2025 — throwing five picks and generating just 14 total points.
Now, the good: He torched Virginia’s defense (19th in defensive SP+) and Wake Forest’s (34th) and produced seven games with a QBR of 86.0 or higher. (QBR is opponent-adjusted.) His upside is otherworldly, and if Dave Doeren made the right moves in the transfer portal this offseason — honestly, I’m not sure he did — then Bailey could be a top-10 QB in 2026.
2025 stat line: 72.6 QBR, 2,428 passing yards, 11 TDs, nine INTs, 60.3% completion rate, 12.0 yards per completion; 506 non-sack rushing yards, six TDs
2025 stat line: 75.6 QBR, 3,169 passing yards, 25 TDs, 12 INTs, 62.1% completion rate, 13.5 yards per completion; 593 non-sack rushing yards, six TDs
2025 stat line: 65.1 QBR, 2,885 passing yards, 14 TDs, 11 INTs, 62.2% completion rate, 11.7 yards per completion; 575 non-sack rushing yards, eight TDs
2025 stat line: 75.7 QBR, 3,065 passing yards, 25 TDs, eight INTs, 69.5% completion rate, 12.5 yards per completion; 818 non-sack rushing yards, six TDs
2025 stat line: 69.3 QBR, 2,385 passing yards, 18 TDs, six INTs, 59.8% completion rate, 11.7 yards per completion; 555 non-sack rushing yards, eight TDs
All of this is a long way of saying I cannot wait to see what a Collin Klein influence might do for Johnson. The new K-State head coach knows what to do with a mobile QB (he was a human third-and-3 conversion back in his own K-State playing days), and with buy-in Johnson could be in for a huge senior season.
2025 stat line: 58.5 QBR, 3,454 passing yards, 18 TDs, nine INTs, 64.2% completion rate, 10.9 yards per completion
He was a true freshman, he got no support from his run game, he averaged over 40 dropbacks per game, and he had only one receiver he trusted (slot man Jacob De Jesus, targeted 158 times). JKS played at All-Madden level difficulty in 2025, and he certainly didn’t thrive consistently, but the bright moments were awfully bright and they became more frequent late in the season.
From Week 11 onward, JKS ranked 14th nationally in QBR, between Julian Sayin (13th) and Dante Moore (15th). New Cal coach Tosh Lupoi kept JKS in Berkeley and added quite a few exciting new skill corps weapons. If his line holds up, Sagapolutele could throw for 4,000-plus yards.
2025 stat line: 71.4 QBR, 3,641 passing yards, 26 TDs, 13 INTs, 66.1% completion rate, 12.1 yards per completion; 239 non-sack rushing yards, four TDs
2025 stat line (Old Dominion): 69.2 QBR, 2,624 passing yards, 21 TDs, 10 INTs, 59.7% completion rate, 15.2 yards per completion; 1,100 non-sack rushing yards, 13 TDs