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College Football QB Rankings 2024: Carson Beck Tops Preseason List Of Best NCAA Quarterbacks
By colinlynch,
4 hours ago
We’re just weeks away from the start of the 2024 college football season. Never before in college football history have we seen such drastic changes leading up to the season. Aside from the new normal of roster shakeups due to the transfer portal, we’re also fresh off of some major conference realignments that saw the Pac-12 all but disappear and two bitter Big-12 rivals join the SEC in Texas and Oklahoma.
The most significant change is the 12-team College Football Playoff, which will completely transform how the college football national champion is crowned. The CFP will undoubtedly take the sporting world by storm. But which quarterback has the best chance at leading his team to win the first 12-team playoff? Which quarterback can we expect to play the best in 2024?
We’re ranking the Top 10 quarterbacks heading into the 2024 college football season.
Honorable Mentions
Brady Cook | Missouri
On tape, Brady Cook looks like one of the country’s most sound quarterbacks. In his career, he has thrown for 6,473 yards with 38 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, achieving a completion rate of 66.6%. Additionally, he has rushed for 986 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Cook’s coming off of a junior-year campaign in which he was incredible. He also has top weapon Luther Burden III back, and together, they create one of the country’s top QB/WR duos. Missouri won 11 games last year and I think expectations may be a bit too high in Columbia. I hope I’m wrong, as I love this offense. I came very close to putting Cook at 10.
Kaidon Salter | Liberty
In Salter’s first year as the full-time starter, he rewrote the Liberty record books and led the program to new heights. Salter shattered multiple school records and topped most of the Conference USA honors lists, earning titles such as League MVP, Conference USA Championship MVP, and First Team All-Conference USA honors. If Salter takes another leap as a passer, he will be one of the top quarterbacks in the country and will have the chance to lead Liberty as the G5 representative in the CFP.
Riley Leonard | Notre Dame
If Riley Leonard can stay healthy and continue to protect the football in 2024, Notre Dame will finally live up to some hype. Two seasons ago, when Leonard was healthy all year, he completed over 63% of his passes and led Duke to a 9-4 record. Last season, before getting injured in the Notre Dame game, Leonard had completed over 67% of his passes. He’s a wildly accurate QB who consistently makes good decisions and rarely puts the football in danger.
Grayson McCall | NC State
Grayson McCall ended an incredible career at Coastal Carolina in 2023 but will continue his collegiate career in his home state of North Carolina as he transfers to NC State in 2024. The three-time conference player of the year at Coastal threw for 10,005 yards with 88 touchdowns and 14 interceptions during his four-year tenure with the Chanticleers. With his extensive experience, he knows exactly what it takes to succeed as a collegiate signal-caller. He looks to lead the Wolfpack to an ACC title in 2024.
10 – Cam Rising | Utah | 2023 stats: DNP
The narrative surrounding Utah and Cam Rising is simple. With Rising under center, Utah is a force. When he is out, they struggle. Rising took over the offense in 2021 after starting the season as the backup and led the Utes to a 9-1 record and a Pac-12 championship before falling to Ohio State in a Rose Bowl shootout. In that game, he accounted for three touchdowns and completed 77% of his passes.
In 2022, Rising continued his impressive performance, guiding Utah to a 10-3 record and another Pac-12 title, although they were defeated by Penn State in the Rose Bowl. Over those two seasons, Rising posted an 18-6 record as a starter, throwing for 46 touchdowns and 13 interceptions while achieving a Total QBR of 83.6.
If Rising can stay healthy, he has the big-game ability to lead Utah to another excellent campaign as one of the best college quarterbacks in the country.
For Daniels, it comes down to his ability to stay healthy. In his last 14 games, Daniels has thrown for 3,336 yards, 29 touchdowns, and only eight interceptions while rushing for 691 yards. Despite missing a month in 2022 and playing in just three games last season due to back issues, Daniels was instrumental in the Jayhawks’ strong starts in 2022 and 2023. However, he has yet to play since September 23 of last season.
If Daniels can stay healthy, he has the potential to lead Kansas to one of their best finishes in Big-12 football as he cements his place among the best quarterbacks in the country in 2024.
Milroe was undoubtedly the most improved quarterback in the nation throughout the 2024 season. He finished with a 172.7 passer efficiency rating, the highest among returning Power 4 quarterbacks, 531 rushing yards, and 12 touchdowns. He opted to bypass the 2024 NFL Draft and will now work under new head coach Kalen DeBoer and offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan. We may see Milroe take another massive leap in this system under Sheridan.
If Milroe can improve his accuracy in the intermediate range, where he completed 52.3% of his passes last season, another SEC championship run could be within reach. Milroe may be in the Heisman conversation come December.
There has been a lot of noise coming out of Colorado lately, but you can not deny how well their quarterback has played since arriving on campus. The talent is undeniable, but he faced challenges, taking 52 sacks and playing behind the worst rushing attack in the FBS. If these areas improve, Sanders will remain a strong contender for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Another compelling aspect of Sanders’ game is his clutch performance. In the fourth quarter last season, he completed 72.8% of his passes, boasting a 207.1 efficiency rating with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. He has demonstrated his ability to thrive under pressure and in high-visibility situations.
If they can protect Sanders and develop some semblance of a running game, Sanders could hold the Heisman trophy at the end of the season.
Many have Ewers ranked higher on their lists, and I don’t believe I would argue with that. But he lost many weapons from 2023, and the SEC is a different animal. Texas will have to protect Ewers from some of the best pass-rushing fronts in the country, which exist up and down the SEC.
Ewers showed significant improvement across the board in his second season as the Longhorns’ starter. He excelled in the second half of games, completing 71.6% of his passes with a 177.9 passer rating, 11 touchdowns, and no interceptions.
The next step for Ewers is to achieve greater consistency in his deep passing game, where he has completed just 32.3% of his attempts (32 of 99) with seven touchdowns and three interceptions over the past two seasons. His arm strength is unquestionable, and his decision to stay in school enhances his chances of becoming a top-10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Cam Ward is my favorite transfer quarterback in 2024, and I believe he has what it takes to get Miami back to relevance in college football’s national landscape. Ward has shown flashes of brilliance during his stops at Incarnate Word and Washington State. However, the name of the game for Ward is consistency, and he has some protection from his offensive line.
If Ward is given time, he has the arm talent to pick apart defenses in the ACC in 2024. Miami fans may finally have a quarterback that can have them competing for an ACC title in 2024.
There weren’t many people who believed we’d see Fifita in an Arizona uniform in 2024. After his entire coaching staff left to take over the Washington program, it felt like Fifita’s departure was a foreign conclusion. But he decided to stay in Tucson for 2024.
The Wildcats took off as soon as Fifita was handed the starting role. Fifita nearly led upsets against both Washington and USC, throwing for 232 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-24 loss to Washington and 303 yards and five touchdowns in a 43-41 loss to USC. From mid-October onwards, he didn’t lose another game.
A relative unknown before the season, Fifita finished with 2,869 yards and 25 touchdowns despite starting only nine games. He also ranked eighth in Total QBR, ahead of notable quarterbacks such as USC’s Caleb Williams, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, and Florida State’s Jordan Travis.
Of all the 2024 quarterback transfers, no one steps into a better situation than Dillon Gabriel. And no school gets a quarterback with as much Power 5 experience as Gabriel, who transferred from Oklahoma.
Gabriel enters the season ranked No. 8 on the all-time FBS passing list with 14,865 yards, needing 4,353 more to break Case Keenum’s record of 19,217. Over the past two seasons, he averaged 3,276 passing yards, 55 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions per season. Now transferred to Oregon, Gabriel is set to thrive in the Ducks’ high-powered offense, which averaged 44.2 points per game last season. Additionally, he averaged 350 rushing yards and nine touchdowns per season during his time with the Sooners.
Jaxson Dart can take the most significant leap of any quarterback in 2024. Expectations are high for Ole Miss heading into 2024, largely thanks to quarterback Jaxson Dart.
Last season, Dart led the Rebels to their first 11-win season in school history, highlighted by a stellar performance in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. In the 38-25 victory over Penn State, he threw for 379 yards and three touchdowns, adding a rushing score as well. Overall, Dart finished the season with 3,364 passing yards, 23 touchdowns, and five interceptions, marking his best year yet.
With another year under head coach Lane Kiffin, Dart’s performance is expected to improve even further. Over the past two seasons, Dart has led the Rebels to an 18-7 record as the starting quarterback. In 2023, he boosted his passing numbers and became a more formidable rushing threat, scoring eight touchdowns on the ground and recording 19 runs of 10 yards or more.
It’s hard to put Carson Beck anywhere else on this list, but #1. Last season, Beck led all returning FBS quarterbacks with 3,941 passing yards. He excelled on throws under 20 yards, achieving a 72.3% completion rate, and recorded five games with over 300 yards. After three seasons of waiting, Beck took control of Georgia’s offense in 2023, leading the Bulldogs to an unbeaten regular season and nearly securing a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Despite the loss of All-America tight end Brock Bowers and receiver Ladd McConkey for extended stretches last season, Beck thrived. He won’t have them at his disposal this season, but Georgia has bolstered its roster with new talent. Tight end Benjamin Yurosek (Stanford) and receivers Colbie Young (Miami), Michael Jackson III (USC), and London Humphreys (Vanderbilt) have joined via the transfer portal.
With 14 starts, Beck should be even more comfortable and ready to lead Georgia back to the CFP.
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