National QB ranking has Drake Lindsey ahead of big names, just 1 behind Arch Manning

The national media is starting to take notice of Minnesota's QB1.

Sep 6, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey (5) warms up before the game against the Northwestern State Demons at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

We're just over one month into the college football season, and Gophers QB Drake Lindsey has put himself into national conversations with Arch Manning, Drew Allar and Cade Klubnik.

ESPN college football analyst Bill Connelly released a story on Wednesday ranking all 68 starting quarterbacks or situations in power conference college football. Lindsey was ranked 42nd, one spot below Manning, who was the preseason Heisman trophy favorite.

Notable big-name quarterbacks like Penn State's Drew Allar, Clemson's Cade Klubnik and Florida's DJ Lagway all ranked lower than Lindsey on Connelly's list. Minnesota's redshirt freshman signal caller has gotten off to a hot start this season and the national media is beginning to take notice.

"Lindsey enjoyed a nice performance against Rutgers, throwing for 324 yards and three touchdowns in a win. He's 15th nationally in success rate (52.8%) despite rarely throwing at or behind the line, though he's averaging only 10.6 yards per completion against power-conference opponents. There's absolutely no run threat here, but safe passing combined with strong defense should produce at least seven or eight wins," Connelly wrote.

We knew this would be an odd QB year in college football, but the preseason stars have mostly bombed, and the best performer has been ... Maiava, I guess? Pavia? Moore?

I ranked all 68 power-conference QBs (or QB situations) to date: https://t.co/3QsbFd0WBa

— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) October 1, 2025

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Lindsey also ranks above California freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (49) on the list, despite Sagapolutele arguably out-playing Lindsey in their Week 3 matchup in Berkeley.

Lindsey's 90.8 Pro Football Focus (PFF) grade ranks second among all college quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks. His performance against Rutgers, where he completed 75.6% of his passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns, was one of the best by a Gophers quarterback in a long time.

It was the most yards by a Minnesota QB since Tanner Morgan in 2019 (368), his 31 completions for the fifth-most in program history, and he was the first three-touchdown performance by a Gophers QB since Max Brosmer against Maryland last season.

Preseason rankings in college football are often all over the place, but if you mentioned Lindsey in the same breath as Manning, Allar or Klubnik before the season, you would've likely gotten laughed out of the room.

Minnesota still has 75% of its regular-season games left on the schedule, so there is a lot of football left to be played. Lindsey faces his toughest test of the season this week on the road at Ohio State, but it's hard to argue that he hasn't exceeded expectations so far this season.