College Football QB Rankings Deliver Tough Outlook For Florida State's Ashton Daniels

The Florida State Seminoles will begin the season with a transfer quarterback running the show for the third consecutive season.

Head coach Mike Norvell is potentially betting his job on redshirt senior Ashton Daniels, who takes over the starting job with the Seminoles after inconsistent tenures at Auburn and Stanford.

Daniels has earned the respect of the coaching staff and teammates, but can he capture the lightning in a bottle from his limited playing time with the Tigers and channel that over a full season?

It feels like Florida State is going to need a lot of things to go in its favor for that to happen, leading to doubt around the country that Daniels will be the one to get the Seminoles back on track.

Ashton Daniels Projected As One Of The Worst Starting QBs In P4

On Monday, Sports Illustrated's Zach Koons released his rankings of all 68 confirmed or projected starter Power 4 quarterbacks.

Daniels came in near the very bottom, slotting in at No. 60.

It's not hard to understand why, as he's gone through a bunch of twists and turns over the last five years.

"Daniels will get one last chance to turn his run-first skill set into wins as Mike Norvell coaches for his job in Tallahassee—and the track record doesn’t suggest that will be the case," Koons wrote. "The fifth-year quarterback is 5–18 as a starter, with just three of those wins coming against Power 4 programs."

Daniels was the 14th highest-ranked quarterback in the ACC, coming in behind Duke's Walter Eget (No. 59), Wake Forest's Gio Lopez (No. 55), Clemson's Christopher Vizzina (No. 50), Georgia Tech's Alberto Mendoza (No. 42), Lousville's Lincoln Kienholz (No. 41), Syracuse's Steve Angeli (No. 35), and Pittsburgh's Mason Heintschel (No. 33).

Virginia Tech's Ethan Grunkemeyer (No. 32), Virginia's Beau Pribula (No. 31), SMU's Kevin Jennings (No. 20), NC State's CJ Bailey (No. 17), Cal's Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (No. 16), and Miami's Darian Mensah (No. 5) also had the edge on Daniels.

Nine quarterbacks on Florida State's 2026 schedule are above Daniels, including Alabama's Keelon Russell (No. 30) and Florida's Aaron Philo (No. 34).

"Daniels has never delivered as a passer, throwing as many interceptions (18) as touchdowns in those 19 power-conference starts, while throwing for a measly 6.6 yards per attempt across his career, a number that would have tied for 99th among eligible FBS quarterbacks last season," Koons wrote.

"But his running ability remains a real asset (1,397 career yards even with having taken 59 sacks), and Norvell showed an ability to emphasize that in 2025 with Tommy Castellanos," Koons added.

The Seminoles displayed interest in a few other quarterback transfers, namely Wisconsin's Colton Joseph (No. 49), Baylor's DJ Lagway (No. 46), and Nebraska's Anthony Colandrea (No. 27), who were all ranked ahead of Daniels by decent margins.

Florida State opens its season against New Mexico State on August 29.

Who Does Florida State Have At Quarterback For The 2026 Season?

Ashton Daniels, Redshirt Senior

Dean DeNobile, Redshirt Senior

Michael Grant, Redshirt Junior

Malachi Marshall, Junior

Kevin Sperry, Redshirt Freshman

Jaden O'Neal, Freshman

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