Phil Steele's Top 15 QB Units

[Wade Garrett]

Sorry for the length. It's an ESPN Insider article.



1. Florida State Seminoles
Jameis Winston had a spectacular redshirt freshman season, throwing for 4,057 yards, with a 67 percent completion rate and a 40-to-10 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He also rushed for 219 yards while taking home the Heisman Trophy. Oh, by the way, he also guided the Seminoles to a BCS title. He may be the first quarterback taken in the 2015 NFL draft if he opts to come out. His backup Sean Maguire (PS No. 42) understands the playbook and got some playing time last year, while John Franklin (PS No. 66) and true freshman JJ Cosentino (PS No. 19) are both mobile.



2. Oregon Ducks
We saw last year how much Marcus Mariota means to the potent Ducks offense. When he was banged up and not seen as a run threat, the offense bogged down, especially in Oregon's loss to Arizona. He was healthy again in time for the bowl game, and ran for a season-high 133 yards. In his two years he has thrown for 6,342 yards, completed 66 percent of his passes and has a 63-to-10 TD-to-INT ratio while rushing for 1,467 yards. He will certainly battle Winston for not only the Heisman this year, but also being the top pick in the 2015 NFL draft. His backup his Jeff Lockie (PS No. 70), who played in nine games in 2013.




3. Baylor Bears
The famous former Dallas Cowboys scout Gil Brandt alerted me to Bryce Petty's NFL potential when he was just a backup QB in 2012 and he had just 10 pass attempts. In his first year as a starter last year, he threw for 4,200 yards, completed 62 percent of his passes with an amazing 32-to-3 TD-to-INT ratio and had 14 rushing touchdowns. He pilots Art Briles' potent offense and has a great set of wide receivers. Sophomore Seth Russell (PS No. 86) and redshirt freshman Chris Johnson (PS No. 42) are the backups.



4. UCLA Bruins
Brett Hundley is 6-foot-3, 227 pounds and enters his third year as a starter. In two years, he has thrown for 6,811 yards and completed 67 percent of his passes with a 53-to-20 TD-to-INT ratio. Last year, he upped his rushing numbers from 355 to 748, becoming the first Bruins QB to lead the team in rushing since Larry Zeno did it in 1964. He is backed up by Asiantii Woulard (PS No. 9), who looked solid on the scout team last year.



5. Ohio State Buckeyes
Braxton Miller has improved his passing each year, going from 54 percent completion rate as true freshman to 58 percent in 2012. Last year, he completed 64 percent of his passes, and has a career 52-to-17 TD-to-INT ratio. He also may be the most dangerous running QB of the top five depth charts, with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. The backup slot is a concern, with the reliable and often called upon Kenny Guiton departing. The top backup candidates this year are Cardale Jones (PS No. 41) along with J.T. Barrett (PS No. 11).



6. Auburn Tigers
Nick Marshall did not join the Tigers until the fall last year, but adapted quickly to the offense and got better each week. He threw for 1,976 yards, completed 59 percent of his passes and had a 14-to-6 TD-to-INT ratio. He also ran for 1,068 yards, and was the trigger man for an offense that averaged 501 yards per game. This year, I look for him to be an improved passer and his backup Jeremy Johnson (PS No. 13) is now an experienced sophomore.



7. Arizona State Sun Devils
Taylor Kelly won the QB job by surprise in 2012, and threw for 3,039 yards, completed 67 percent of his passes and had a 29-to-9 TD-to-INT ratio, with 516 yards rushing. Last year, he followed that up with 3,635 pass yards, completed 62 percent of his passes and had a 28-to-12 TD-to-INT ratio, while adding 608 rushing yards. He's not the biggest or fastest player, but is a mobile passer that led an Arizona State offense to 39.7 points per game. Veteran Mike Bercovici (PS No. 60) is the backup.



8. East Carolina Pirates
The Pirates run a Texas Tech-style Air Raid offense, so the QB will often put up huge numbers. In 2012, Shane Carden threw for 3,116 yards, completed 66 percent of his passes and had a 23-to-10 TD-to-INT ratio. Last year, he upped his numbers to 4,139 passing yards, completed 71 percent of his passes and had a 33-to-10 TD-to-INT ratio, along with 10 rushing touchdowns while being named Conference USA offensive MVP. His backup is redshirt freshman Kurt Benkert (PS No. 75).



9. Marshall Thundering Herd
Rakeem Cato has now had a touchdown pass in 32 straight games, and is on the verge of the FBS record held by Russell Wilson, who threw for a TD in 38 straight contests. Cato has more than 10,000 yards passing in his career, with his best campaign coming two seasons ago when he threw for 4,201 yards, completed 70 percent of his passes and had a 37-to-11 TD-to-INT ratio. Marshall loses backup Blake Frohnapfel, who led a high percent of scoring drives in relief, with Gunnar Holcombe (PS No. 108) taking over as the new backup.



10. Oregon State Beavers
Sean Mannion (6-5, 220) has thrown for 10,436 yards and 68 touchdowns, while completing 65 percent of his passes during his career. He also has 46 interceptions and minus-498 yards rushing. He did go from a poor 31-to-31 TD-to-INT ratio his first two years to 37-to-15 last year, and is 1,891 yards away from topping Matt Barkley's Pac-12 career passing record. His backup is Alabama transfer Luke Del Rio (PS No. 62) who is eligible immediately.



11. Ole Miss Rebels
Bo Wallace (PS No. 27) is known for making some spectacular plays, but has also been inconsistent. Wallace threw for 2,994 yards, completed 64 percent of his passes and posted a 22-to-17 TD-to-INT ratio in 2012. He improved to 3,346 pass yards, 65 percent accuracy and an 18-10 ratio last year, with five of his 10 interceptions coming in the final three games. I expect another year of improvement from him, while backup Ryan Buchanan (PS No. 35) gives them solid depth.



12. Nevada Wolf Pack
Cody Fajardo took over for Colin Kaepernick, and enters his fourth season as a starter. He missed two games with injury last year, but still threw for 2,668 yards, completed 68 percent of his passes and had a 13-to-3 TD-to-INT ratio. He rushed for 1,121 yards in a full season two years ago, and is an electrifying QB that can hurt you both running and passing. His backup is Devin Combs, who had one start last year while throwing for 384 yards total.



13. Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech had little experience returning at QB last year, and then the expected starter was injured leaving a pair of true freshman. Three quarterbacks started, and Davis Webb (PS No. 38) led with 2,718 pass yards, completing 63 percent of his passes with a 20-to-9 TD-to-INT ratio. While the other two quarterbacks depart this year, Webb is an experienced Texas Tech QB that will put up big numbers as long as he stays healthy.



14. Old Dominion Monarchs
Taylor Heinicke threw for 5,076 yards, completed 69 percent of his passes and had a 44-to-14 TD-to-INT ratio against FCS competition in 2012, winning the Walter Payton Award (FCS equivalent of the Heisman). Last year, against a half-FBS and half-FCS schedule, he threw for 4,022 yards, completed 70 percent of his passes and had a 33-to-8 TD-to-INT ratio. He now faces a full slate of FBS teams this year, but has a solid arm, can make throws on the run and has 1,181 career rushing yards.



15. Washington State Cougars
Last year Connor Halliday set Pac-12 single-season records for completions (449), attempts (714) and passing yards (4,597) while leading the Cougars to their first bowl game since 2003. He also tied a NCAA bowl record with six touchdown passes and had a solid 16-to-5 TD-to-INT ratio in his last five games. Now in his third year of head coach Mike Leach's pass-happy offense, he could even top last year's outstanding numbers. His backup Tyler Bruggman (PS No. 29) was highly regarded coming out of high school and Lucas Falk had a solid spring.

[hacker]

lol

[RougeDawg]

Phil Steele continues to show his ignorance. Every year he proves he's a bigger ****ing moron than I previously thought. No way he actually watched some of the teams on that list, if he has them ahead of others with proven experience.

[RC3]

is there one single person here who would trade our qb group for ole miss's?? no way

[Goat Holder]

Wallace is better than most on this board give him credit for, but damn, there's no friggin' way their QB unit can be considered better than ours. I guess they are figuring that Wallace has started more and beaten bigger names than Prescott (Texas, LSU). The backup is an absolute joke. Buchanan? WTF?

[FISHDAWG]

it's not just OM ... for the most part that's a list of 2nd tier teams other than the obvious few

[codeDawg]

So, he bases that ranking off a guy who is consistently rated lower than Prescott and a backup in Buchanan who isn't even #2 on the depth chart and hasn't played a game?

Okay. Sure. That makes sense.

[messageboardsuperhero]

So Phil Steele says that a guy who gets >50% of his production from throwing routine bubble screens + two redshirt freshmen who haven't played a snap + a 300 pound converted DE = The #11 QB unit in America?

Okay...

[starkvegasdawg]

is there one single person here who would trade our qb group for ole miss's?? no way

I'll go you one better. I would not trade our QB group for anybody on that list...or any other list. There are probably some on that list that have more raw talent than the ones we have but I dare you to find a QB in the NCAA today that has more heart, fire, and drive than Dak. That is worth a lot to me and when you combine that with the very good talent that he does have that makes for a special QB.

[Covercorner2]

Bottom line is Steele is giving WAY too much credit to TSUN in the form of Bo Wallace and their recruiting "rankings." Why else would he have State (#34) ranked 18 spots below TSUN (#16) when State returns more from a team that had a better SEC record last year, won the head to head matchup, has a more favorable schedule this year, and is higher in every "experience" metric he has came out with this preseason? It's a joke.

ETA: He actuall has state ranked #34 lol

[Reason2succeed]

Magazines are meant to tickle the ears of big fanbases so that the company makes money. Period.

[msstate7]

Steele must have missed the egg bowl. Anyone who watched it knows who the best qb was on the field. Oh and our backup actually played...

[msstate7]

Magazines are meant to tickle the ears of big fanbases so that the company makes money. Period.

OM's fanbase is 18 spots bigger than ours?

[War Machine Dawg]

OM's fanbase is 18 spots bigger than ours?

Indeed. I mean, they are the largest university in the state and are putting out the most alumni.**

[Jacksondevildog]

So East Carolina' QB unit is better than State's? I couldn't tell you who their QB is and I watch college football religiously.

[DudyDawg]

Magazines are meant to tickle the ears of big fanbases so that the company makes money. Period.

Ahhhh yes, the big fan bases like Old Dominion

[MarketingBully01]

Wallace is better than most on this board give him credit for, but damn, there's no friggin' way their QB unit can be considered better than ours. I guess they are figuring that Wallace has started more and beaten bigger names than Prescott (Texas, LSU). The backup is an absolute joke. Buchanan? WTF?

I agree with what someone said on here earlier this year that with Wallace's arm at full strength he will have more interceptions and a lower completion percentage this year. It's easy to put up numbers when you throw screens to Laquan Treadwell nearly half the time. Those short passes are easy to complete and usually low risk for getting picked off. I think that we will see the Wallace of two years ago where he had as many INTs as TDs. He doesn't have his precious go to receiver anymore either. Moncrief is a bigger loss then they realize.

[DapperDawg]

Either way you look at it, those are good numbers by Wallace, and they trended up, showing improvement. If he continues that trend, he'll be a damn good QB. I don't care if he got those numbers with bubble-screens and shovel passes, he posted those numbers, so he deserves some credit for it.

Dak has much more upside than Wallace, but he's still somewhat unproven. He's carrying a lot of hype because of his performance against Rice, but Rice is still Rice. Until Prescott performs at that level against some upper tier teams, he's not going to get the recognition some of you are wanting.

[War Machine Dawg]

Either way you look at it, those are good numbers by Wallace, and they trended up, showing improvement. If he continues that trend, he'll be a damn good QB. I don't care if he got those numbers with bubble-screens and shovel passes, he posted those numbers, so he deserves some credit for it.

Dak has much more upside than Wallace, but he's still somewhat unproven. He's carrying a lot of hype because of his performance against Rice, but Rice is still Rice. Until Prescott performs at that level against some upper tier teams, he's not going to get the recognition some of you are wanting.

Yeah, that wasn't Dak who went blow-for-blow with Johnny Football in College Station last season. Or who had us a lead against SEC Champ Auburn late in the 4th. Musta been some guy named Pak Drescott.

[DapperDawg]

Yeah, that wasn't Dak who went blow-for-blow with Johnny Football in College Station last season. Or who had us a lead against SEC Champ Auburn late in the 4th. Musta been some guy named Pak Drescott.

And how many of those games did State win? The media typically doesn't care about moral victories, much like yourself. He also didn't play much against LSU, didn't play against Bama, played terribly against USCe and played very little against OM. All of that missed time against quality opponents tells me he still has some proving to do.

Also, you should never tout someone's offensive performance against TAMU's 2013 defense. That was a joke of a defense. Note to any Sensitive Sally's: I'm not knocking Dak with that previous statement; I'm just stating how terrible TAMU's defense was.