College Football’s Leading Passer Named ‘Most Overrated’ Player in the Nation

The most productive single player in college football is also the sport's most overrated, according to a vote cast by NFL scouts ahead of the 2026 season.

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Take a look around any list of the most overrated players in college football, and you might feel inclined to find the name Arch Manning prominently featured.

The star Texas quarterback never played up to the standard of the enormous preseason hype machine that built him up a year ago, but it’s another signal caller who actually did put up elite numbers that is getting the overrated moniker by experts this time around.

College football's most overrated player is... ?

With apologies to Drew Mestemaker, it’s the new Oklahoma State quarterback who led all college football passers in production last season that was just named the most overrated player coming back in 2026.

That’s the opinion of a group of front office executives and scouts in the NFL and college football, who voted the Cowboys signal caller the most over-hyped player in the country.

Presented with a list of 10 prospects to choose from in a CBS Sports poll, one NFL scout called Mestemaker the “one and only unproven player at the Power Four level.”

They added: “[I] like some of the traits and he has ability, but I’m rolling with him because I think he is overpaid and [the Cowboys] won’t even make a bowl game.”

Mestemaker, unproven?

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Unproven specifically at the Power Four level, yes, that would technically be true.

But there’s no denying the yardage that Mestemaker has covered during his career to date, enough to put North Texas in College Football Playoff contention before a loss to Tulane in the American championship game.

Mestemaker threw for 4,379 yards, the most of any quarterback in FBS a year ago, and scored 34 touchdowns in just his second season playing college football, leading the Mean Green to a 12-2 record in his first starting effort since his freshman year in high school.

Then, when head coach Eric Morris jumped ship for Oklahoma State to replace Mike Gundy, the quarterback followed, set to make his Power Four debut in a Cowboys uniform in 2026.

That should be good news for the Oklahoma State offense, which ranked just 116th among 136 FBS programs with 174 passing yards per game, completed all of 57 percent of its collective attempts, and was second worst with 7 touchdowns in the air.

Calling Mestemaker the most overrated player in college football at this point may be a stretch, given he has already shown he can lead an offense and perform under pressure.

His move to a tougher conference gives him a chance to prove himself against stronger competition. Until he struggles at that level, labeling him as overrated is more speculation than fair evaluation.

(CBS)