Where Does Cal's Devin Brown Rank Among All FBS Quarterbacks?

The Athletic this week released its rankings of the starting quarterbacks at all 136 FBS schools, and Cal’s quarterback did not fare well.

Each quarterback was given an overall ranking from 1 to 136 and was placed in one of seven tiers.

The Athletic provided this explanation of how it arrived at its rankings:

For this exercise, we surveyed more than 40 coaches and staffers from across college football, soliciting their opinions on the quarterbacks they faced, how the QBs in their conference stack up and who the best in the country are. We relied heavily on this feedback to form the list. There was no formal point system or vote tally. We simply leaned on coaches for their expertise. All coaches were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor while discussing other teams’ quarterbacks.

The Athletic determined that Devin Brown, a transfer from Ohio State, will be Cal’s starting quarterback in 2025. That’s what most observers expect, although Cal has not named a starting quarterback yet. Freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and redshirt freshman EJ Caminong will continue to compete with Brown for the starting job in preseason camp.

Brown is ranked 84th of the 136 FBS quarterbacks, and is placed in the sixth tier.

The Athletics defines a Tier 6 quarterback is this way: These QBs have a lot of question marks, but there’s talent or a trait there that someone is betting on.

Brown ranks 15th among the 17 starting quarterbacks in the ACC.

Two players who have been starting quarterbacks for Cal in previous seasons are ranked ahead of Brown. Fernando Mendoza, the Bears starting quarterback the past two seasons, is now at Indiana and is ranked as the 17th-best quarterback in the country. Ben Finley, who started two games for Cal in 2023, is now at Akron and is ranked 77th in The Athletic's quarterback rankings.

Working against Brown in these rankings is that observers don’t have much to go on. He played in 17 games for the Buckeyes, but made just one start, in the Cotton Bowl following the 2023 season, and that start ended after 18 snaps because of an ankle injury.

The No.1-ranked quarterback plays in the ACC, Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, but the Bears do not face Clemson this season.

Here is how The Athletic ranked the starting quarterbacks in the ACC, along with that player’s overall ranking and the tier in which he was placed:

---1. Cade Klubnik, Clemson – No. 1 overall, Tier 1

---2. Kevin Jennings, SMU – No. 8 overall, Tier 1

---3. Carson Becker, Miami – No. 12 overall, Tier 2

---4. Haynes King, Georgia Tech – No. 16 overall, Tier 2

---5. Darian Mensah, Duke – No. 18 overall, Tier 3

---6. Gio Lopez, North Carolina – No. 28 overall, Tier 3

---7. Eli Holstein, Pittsburgh – No. 29 overall, Tier 3

---8. CJ Bailey, North Carolina State – No. 31 overall, Tier 4

---9. Miller Moss, Louisville – No. 43 overall, Tier 4

---10. Kyron Drones, Virginia Tech – No. 46 overall, Tier 4

---11. Chandler Morris, Virginia – No. 55 overall, Tier 4

---12. Steve Angeli, Syracuse – No. 61 overall, Tier 5