Kirk Herbstreit names QB1 in college football right now

ESPN College GameDay: Kirk Herbstreit | Doral Chenoweth/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The 2025 college football quarterback classes has certainly been a box of chocolates. You never quite know how the top passers will perform on a week-to-week basis, while the names at the top of NFL Draft boards are a bit different than they were to start the season. On Monday, Kirk Herbstreit joined the Pat McAfee Show to pick out which QB has caught his eye when it comes to evaluating at the next level.

Guys like Arch Manning, Drew Allar, LaNorris Sellers and several others were seen as the most likely professional products back in August. However, the actual games have produced far different results as totally new names emerged into the spotlight. Given what he's seen from the position this year, Kirk Hersbstreit was asked to name his current QB1 for draft purposes on a Monday appearance with the Pat McAfee Show.

“To answer your question, I would say Ty Simpson," Herbstreit responded. "He’s not sexy, he’s not going to go to the combine and he’s not going to be like, ‘Look at this guy!’ But he seems to be a guy that has an ability to read, recognize coverage, process, get the ball out."

Sometimes, preseason projections, especially with a focus on the NFL Draft, can value physical tools and potential rather than more cerebral skills like Herbstreit just mentioned with reading defenses and distributing the ball on time. It can be hard to peg who will and won't excel in those areas, where that's not the case with raw athleticism.

Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson (15) | Gary Cosby-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

"He can move around just enough to be able to be dangerous, to be able to keep plays alive," Herbstreit added on Simpson. "But we don’t have that huge 6'4, 240-pound guy that everybody is going to say, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to watch.'"

Despite a more modest stature and athletic traits, Pat McAfee was on the same page as Kirk Herbstreit when it comes to the Alabama quarterback who's navigated a heck of a conference slate thus far.

“To echo your point, though, I love Ty Simpson," said McAfee. "They love that guy in the locker room.”

Ty Simpson is still in the thick of the Heisman Trophy race as well. The Big Ten duo of Julian Sayin and Fernando Mendoza, leading the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country, remain atop consensus leaderboards, but the SEC trio of Simpson, Diego Pavia and Marcel Reed are all chasing just behind.