As the 2025 season began, the volume of high-end quarterbacks resonated as one of the year’s defining themes.

Heading into Week 4, there’s still little clarity regarding who could emerge from that pack as the top quarterback for the 2026 NFL draft.

ESPN polled 25 NFL scouts and executives to see who they projected as the top quarterback for the upcoming draft. The responses were varied, as seven different quarterbacks came back as the answer for QB1 among the 25 different responses.

South Carolina‘s LaNorris Sellers came back as the top vote-getter with 8, edging LSU‘s Garrett Nussmeier (7). The next crop, in order are Miami‘s Carson Beck (3), Oklahoma‘s John Mateer (3), Penn State‘s Drew Allar (2), Arizona State‘s Sam Leavitt (1) and Texas‘ Arch Manning (1).

While a handful of hyped players have slumped, the crop is still considered a significant uptick from last season.

The poll should be considered more of a touchstone of the varied opinions than a scientific projection. Last season, we conducted the same poll heading into Week 6. At that time, Colorado‘s Shedeur Sanders led Beck (nine votes to five) among the 25 scouts/executives. Cam Ward got one vote. It’s also uncertain who will declare, as Sellers, Mateer, Leavitt and Manning all have eligibility remaining.

The way scouting works, scouts and general managers don’t evaluate everyone week by week. Many general managers don’t dig in intensively until after the season. There’s a process of checking and cross-checking that often goes by region, so many scouts haven’t dug into all the prospects in the same way they will by the end of the season.

“Much like last year,” a general manager said, “it’s hard to pick this early.”

Why is Sellers the early favorite?

“He’s got most physical talent,” one veteran scout told ESPN. “His ability to scramble and make plays with his feet as a runner. He’s instinctive and the ball comes out quick. He’s got a unique talent level. The kid, his story and how he got there. He’s got a toughness to him. It intrigues people.

“He’s got the makeup, intangibles and ability to run. He’s got the most potential to be an impact player.”

The debate between Sellers and Nussmeier came down to physical traits for some scouts. Sellers is a 6-foot-3 and 240 pound redshirt sophomore who fits the modern paradigm of quarterbacks who can be a threat in the called run game.

Nussmeier is listed at 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds and is considered a good athlete, as LSU coach Brian Kelly wanted him to use his legs more this season as part of his development. While both are in their second full season as a starter, Nussmeier has been in school five seasons and is the son of an NFL offensive coordinator.

“Instinctive and finds a way,” another scout said. “He’s got a great feel for the position and a good arm.”

Beck has helped himself in the early part of the season, as he struggled in stretches during 2024 after entering the season as the projected favorite to be the top quarterback in the 2025 draft.

“Let’s see if Beck can continue his renaissance,” said a scout, “because there’s enough ability there.”

Mateer’s performance against Michigan convinced a few scouts, as he also fits the more pure dual-threat role.

Most scouts around the NFL expected Manning to go to school another year, and that belief has been amplified only by his tepid start to the 2025 season.

“He’s very talented,” a scout said. “Just from top-to-bottom, arm talent. Just understanding in the pocket and seeing the field and feeling the field. You see his arm strength.

“He just needs to get everything under control and for the game to slow down.”

Florida might be without three of its top defensive linemen when it tries to end a two-game losing streak at No. 4 Miami on Saturday night.

The Gators (1-2) will be without defensive tackles Caleb Banks and Michai Boireau, and potentially starting defensive end George Gumbs Jr., sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Saturday.

Gumbs made the trip to Miami (3-0) for Saturday’s game at Hard Rock Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) and will try to play, but sources told ESPN that he’s unlikely to go.

Gumbs has 10 tackles and a half-sack in three games.

Sources told ESPN that Boireau didn’t travel to Miami and won’t play against the Hurricanes. He has five tackles in two games and missed last week’s 20-10 loss at LSU with an undisclosed injury.

Banks has already been ruled out of the Miami game after suffering a foot injury against LSU. After missing the first two games, Banks played 29 snaps against the Tigers.

Swamp247 reported Wednesday that Banks had surgery on his foot in Birmingham, Alabama, and a timeline for his return wasn’t known.

Brendan Bett, Brien Taylor Jr. and Jamari Lyons will likely continue to get the majority of playing time up front for the Gators.

“We got a really good group. I’m excited about what I see out of the young players in the group,” Gators coach Billy Napier said. “Still enough players there to have a very effective group.”

LOS ANGELES — It ended with a fastball, dotted on the lower edge of the zone to strike out Rafael Devers looking. It was the first out of Friday’s fifth inning and perhaps the final pitch Clayton Kershaw will ever throw at Dodger Stadium.

Kershaw, who announced his retirement at season’s end, dispersed hugs with the infielders upon seeing Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts emerge from the dugout to remove him from his final regular-season home start. Roberts, his manager for the past 10 years, shook Kershaw’s hand, wrapped him in a hug, shared some words, then watched as the eventual Hall of Fame left-hander soaked in a raucous standing ovation from a sold-out crowd.

Kershaw lifted his hat to the fans, hugged his teammates in the dugout, then came out once more for a curtain call.

Kershaw, 37, wasn’t at his best in this matchup against the San Francisco Giants. He walked four, navigated several prolonged at-bats and allowed a couple of runs. But, as he has so often these past few years, he found a way to navigate a game and left his team with a chance to win.

The Dodgers trailed 2-1 when Kershaw departed but went on to a 6-3 victory, clinching their 13th consecutive postseason berth.

“I wouldn’t change it,” Kershaw said. “Perfect night.”

The night began with Kershaw alone on the mound. His teammates stayed back in the dugout briefly, wanting to give Kershaw and Dodgers fans a moment to themselves. Kershaw urged them back onto the field and allowed a leadoff home run to Heliot Ramos on his third pitch of the game. He wound up throwing 23 pitches in the first inning, later working around a walk and an error.

He did something similar in the second, issuing a couple of walks before inducing a couple of infield popups. And in the third, which featured a double by Matt Chapman and a run-scoring single by Wilmer Flores. And the fourth, when he worked around a leadoff hit. But he limited damage.

Kershaw finished the top of the fourth by striking out Willy Adames, ending a nine-pitch at-bat and putting his pitch count at 86. Roberts did not even look at him as he approached the bench, wanting to give Kershaw one last hitter so he could remove him mid-inning. It came in the form of Devers, one of the sport’s most dangerous sluggers. Kershaw retired him on his 91st pitch, resulting in his sixth strikeout — a fitting conclusion to what could be the end of his Dodger Stadium career.

Soon after, Kershaw cheered while Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts delivered back-to-back home runs to give the Dodgers a three-run lead with a four-run fifth.

“It wasn’t his best,” Roberts said, “but like he does, he just finds ways to compete, get outs and put us in a position to win a ballgame.”

Kershaw is scheduled to make one more regular-season start next week. But given the depth and talent in the Dodgers’ rotation, his role on the team’s postseason roster is very much uncertain.

In an 18-year career spent entirely in L.A., Kershaw won three Cy Young Awards and an MVP, has accumulated 222 regular-season victories — 11 shy of Don Sutton for the franchise record — and holds a 2.54 career ERA that stands as the second lowest among those who have thrown at least 1,500 innings in the live ball era. His Friday start was attended by Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, his childhood friend, and several former teammates, including Austin Barnes, Russell Martin, Jimmy Rollins, Trayce Thompson, A.J. Pollock and Andre Ethier.

Ethier was in the starting lineup when Kershaw made his major league debut at Dodger Stadium on May 25, 2008, and wound up with the walk-off hit.

Seventeen years later, he watched what might have been Kershaw’s final Dodger Stadium appearance.