New Bearcats Star JC French IV Placed in Low FBS Quarterback Tier Ahead of 2026 Season

The Athletic college football duo of Sam Khan Jr. and Antonio Morales dove into the quarterback tiers for all FBS college football teams this week, and Cincinnati checked in pretty far down the list.

JC French IV is the team's new starting passer, and he fell into Tier 6, the second-lowest tier on the list.

French has all the motivation in the world to prove this projection wrong, with most people fully convinced he's a big downgrade compared to last year's star passer, Brendan Sorsby.

The pair talked with coaches, GMs and more from all FBS teams this summer to put together another list.

Plenty To Prove

Sep 6, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Georgia Southern Eagles quarterback JC French IV (12) throws a pass during the first half against the USC Trojans at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

They described who made up Tier 6 below.

"Former Power 4 blue-chip recruits who have found new homes and are trying to make the most of their new opportunities, plus some veterans who have not put it all together yet and young QBs with bright futures who are just now getting their chance. And there are a lot of quality Group of 6 QBs teams can win with," the article stated.

French did take a big leap up from last year, going from 96th in 2025 to 79th this season.

"French, a two-year starter at Georgia Southern, has plenty of experience (36 games, 26 starts), sufficient arm talent and enough mobility to be a factor in the run game. 'He spins the ball really well,' a Big 12 personnel director said," The article noted. "But he’s much smaller than his predecessor (Brendan Sorsby was 6-3, 235) and though he had solid numbers — and improved his interception rate from 2.7 percent in 2024 to 2.1 percent in 2025 — he doesn’t jump off the page to opponents."

French had pretty pedestrian numbers all the way around last year.

He tossed 20 touchdowns to go with eight interceptions on 63.8% completion and 7.5 yards per attempt. French ranked 86th in Pro Football Focus quarterback grading last season (65.4). He was mediocre at taking care of the ball (70th in turnover-worthy play rate, 2.6%) and took sacks at far too a high rate for what Cincinnati needs this season (21.7% pressure-to-sack ratio, 15th worst nationally).

It's a big reason one Sun Belt coach isn't impressed.

“I thought that kid was just average, to be honest,” a Sun Belt head coach said in the article. “He’s so up and down.”

Now, this isn't a cemented fact that French will keep playing like this, but it leaves plenty to be desired from the offense this season. Cincinnati has a definitive top 25 offensive line in the country (arguably top 15), and that should help, but French just played behind a good pass-blocking offensive line.

Georgia Southern ranked 13th nationally in PFF's 2025 team pass-blocking grade, but gave up 30 sacks (104th nationally) because French couldn't operate fast enough/escape pressure at an average rate. Now, the run blocking is a different story. GSU gave up 71 tackles for loss (84th) and ranked 88th in run-blocking grade (56.8). Cincinnati will be way better in both rushing figures this fall.

All in all, French has to be take a leap when things get hairy in the Big 12, or Cincinnati will struggle to get bowl-eligible this season.

Check out the full tiers list here.

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