Ranking all 134 FBS QB situations into tiers ahead of the 2024 season
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David Hale, ESPN Staff Writer
This is a strange year for quarterbacks in college football.
In 2023, Caleb Williams and Drake Maye headlined our annual tiered rankings, which came as no surprise. One had a Heisman Trophy. The other projected as a top-five NFL draft pick. They were established stars with real cache, even among casual college football fans.
Before Williams and Maye there was Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud; before them Stetson Bennett; before them Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence; before them Tua Tagovailoa and Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield and Deshaun Watson and Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston and Johnny Manziel.
Since 2012, there has been only one other season that didn’t open with at least two QBs who finished in the top 10 in Heisman balloting or won a national championship the previous season — and that was the COVID year of 2020 (which was followed by a season of big-time recruits with serious name recognition like Young and DJ Uiagalelei taking over as starting QBs and, because of new NIL rules, doing national ad campaigns). In 2013, 2014, 2017, 2022 and 2023, the defending Heisman winner returned. In 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2022, the QB of the defending champ returned.
In 2024, we have Jalen Milroe. That’s it. He’s the only QB to finish in the top 10 in Heisman voting (sixth) and return for 2024, the most accomplished of a QB class the year after six quarterbacks were selected among the first 12 picks of the NFL draft.
That’s not to say there aren’t some big names. Quinn Ewers graces the cover of the new EA Sports College Football 25 game, but perhaps ironically, he garnered more attention during his recruitment and early struggles than when he finally moved into the upper echelon of QBs last season. Shedeur Sanders is a genuine star, but in a unique twist, he may be more famous among people with only a casual appreciation of college football. He is as much a brand as he is a talent (though he has got plenty of both). Carson Beck is widely projected to be the top NFL prospect in this group, and yet ask the average fan of a team not named Georgia what they most remember about Beck and odds are it’ll be the photo of him buying a Lamborghini with his NIL money.
Going through our rankings, you’ll find some genuine talent and a ton of potential. And yet, as the kids say, the vibes are all wrong. There’s steak, but is there sizzle?
Go back in time to 2012 when we last faced something akin to this quandary. From the ashes emerged Manziel, arguably the most famous — or infamous — QB of the social media era of college football.
This is our Tier 1 for now, but where a fame vacuum exists in college football, it stands to reason someone — perhaps someone entirely unexpected — will step up to fill it. Nonetheless, let’s break down all 134 FBS programs’ QB situations by tiers.
The Texas Rangers‘ pitching staff took another hit Friday, when right-hander Jon Gray suffered a right wrist fracture.
Gray was struck by a line drive from Colorado Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia to lead off the fourth inning that knocked him out of the game.
“Not good news, not good news,” manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. “It’s terrible. I feel awful for him, to be this close to getting the season going. It’s just not good news. I’ll get back in there and find out more, but right now, there is a fracture.”
Gray’s injury is the third setback for the Rangers rotation this week. The team said Thursday that left-hander Cody Bradford would start the season on the injured list because of soreness in his throwing elbow. Tyler Mahle had been scratched from a start with forearm soreness, but the right-hander returned to pitch in a minor league game Thursday.
Gray went 5-6 with a 4.47 ERA in 23 appearances (19 starts) for the Rangers last season, when he was shut down in September for a foot injury that required surgery. He is in the final year of a four-year, $56 million deal.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
TOKYO — Japanese star Shohei Ohtani showed off some prodigious power in his return to the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night.
In an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants, the three-time Most Valuable Player belted a long two-run homer to right field in the third inning to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead, setting off a roar from the roughly 42,000 fans in attendance.
The Dodgers put on quite a power display in the third with Michael Conforto, Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández all going deep to give Los Angeles a 5-0 advantage.
The Dodgers are playing in Japan as part of the Tokyo Series. The team is playing two exhibition games against Japanese teams before starting the regular season with two games against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to have at least 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in one season in 2024. He played several seasons for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan before coming to the U.S. in 2018 with the Los Angeles Angels.
TOKYO — Shortstop Mookie Betts will miss the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ two exhibition games in Japan because of an illness, manager Dave Roberts said Saturday.
Roberts said he’s still hopeful that the eight-time All-Star will be available for the team’s first regular season game against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome. The Dodgers are playing the Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers — two teams from Japan — in exhibition games on Saturday and Sunday.
Roberts said the 32-year-old Betts started to feel flu-like symptoms during the team’s final day in Arizona, but team doctors said he was OK to make the long trip to Japan.
“Mookie is here today, but he’s been really sick,” Roberts said. “Lost some weight, so we’re trying to get him hydrated. He’s going to work out a little today, but he won’t be playing either tonight or tomorrow.
“Then when we have our off day, our workout day, we’ll see how he is.”
Betts is making the full-time transition to shortstop this season after playing most of his career in right field and second base. The 2018 AL MVP hit .289 with 19 homers and 75 RBI last season, helping the Dodgers win the World Series.
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