Ranking college football's 10 best quarterbacks for the 2025 season

Quarterback remains the most important position in college football, or pro football, or any kind of football, and how your team is set there goes the longest way in determining how well situated you are to compete for the national championship.

Especially in the transfer portal era, quarterbacks are the most coveted players that teams are eager to poach and bring onto their own rosters, giving teams an incentive to not reveal too much about what they have on their depth charts heading into the season.

Who are the 10 best players at the quarterback position across the country heading into the 2025 college football season?

Ranking college football's 10 best quarterbacks in 2025

10. Devon Dampier

Where he plays: Utah

2024 stats: 226-390 (57.9%), 2,768 yards, 12 TD, 12 INT

Dampier may not have been must-see TV playing at New Mexico last season, but that should change as he takes the reins of a Utah offense that has needed an upgrade at the quarterback position the last couple of seasons.

Dampier has a big arm and proven dual-threat scrambling ability in and out of the pocket, traits he had to lean on harder a year ago given how poor New Mexico’s defense was.

Dampier came over to Utah alongside offensive coordinator Jason Beck, both of whom should have some fun against Big 12 defenses.

9. Luke Altmyer

Where he plays: Illinois

2024 stats: 211-347 (60.8%), 2,717 yards, 22 TD, 6 INT

Quarterback is a position of some confusion across the Big Ten, but not at Illinois, which returns a productive starter among so many other critical pieces of a roster than won 10 games last season and is in position to make another little run in 2025.

This is Altmyer’s third year as the starter, and experience is a vital component of productive quarterback play. He may not put up huge numbers, and he did struggle in games against the Big Ten’s better defenses, but his output is critical for this offense.

8. Sawyer Robertson

Where he plays: Baylor

2024 stats: 229-368 (62.2%), 3,071 yards, 28 TD, 8 INT

Robertson may not have been featured in that many headlines, but it was his production at the position that helped resurrect Baylor’s apparently doomed season last fall, winning six straight games to end the year.

He didn’t begin the season as the Bears’ starter, but the team was demonstrably better when he was put in under center, and he’s the primary reason why Baylor remains in the picture as a Big 12 title contender in 2025.

7. DJ Lagway

Where he plays: Florida

2024 stats: 115-192 (59.9%), 1,915 yards, 12 TD, 9 INT

Just one year into Lagway’s college football career, he’s unfortunately already something of a health risk, dealing with three various ailments so far, including a lower body concern over the course of this preseason.

But when he’s healthy, Lagway has already shown he can live up to his potential as a recruit, boasting one of the highest ceilings of any quarterback in the nation, with some promising medium-field accuracy and mobility that brings an important dimension this offense has lacked in recent years.

6. LaNorris Sellers

Where he plays: South Carolina

2024 stats: 196-299 (65.6%), 2,534 yards, 18 TD, 7 INT

Sellers showed off some consistent mobility and accuracy throwing the football that put him potentially in the same class as Jalen Milroe was for Alabama.

If he continues to progress in the right direction, Sellers could conceivably emerge as the best quarterback in the SEC this year, but the Gamecocks need to help him out by making the right replacements on the line, at receiver, and at running back.

5. Arch Manning

Where he plays: Texas

2024 stats: 61-90 (67.8%), 939 yards, 9 TD, 2 INT

College football’s most famous name finally steps into the starting role for good this season, and he does so on the back of some very promising output when he had a chance to step in for Quinn Ewers when the then-starter was injured last year.

Manning also boasts some running prowess, rushing for 108 yards on 25 carries while averaging more than 4 yards per touch and scoring 4 more times. If he puts it together on a weekly basis, Texas can easily get back to the semis, and more.

4. Carson Beck

Where he plays: Miami

2024 stats: 290-448 (64.7%), 3,485 yards, 28 TD, 12 INT

Beck put up his best numbers two seasons ago at Georgia, when he compiled nearly 4,000 yards passing and scored a personal-best 28 touchdowns last fall. But that came with a personal-worst 12 picks, doubling his number from the year prior.

But the two-year UGA starter has shown he can put up elite numbers against quality competition, and the defenses he’ll face in the ACC won’t be nearly as tough as what the Bulldogs went up against, allowing him to stack up even better numbers this year.

3. Garrett Nussmeier

Where he plays: LSU

2024 stats: 337-525 (64.2%), 4,052 yards, 29 TD, 12 INT

When NFL scouts look for arm strength, Nussmeier is what they’re looking for. The LSU quarterback brings a cannon for an arm that, when combined with the kind of talent the program has recruited at receiver, resulted in college football’s 7th ranked passing offense last season.

In addition to his power and accuracy, Nussmeier is also very confident in the pocket and has great instincts when avoiding pressure. The quality of LSU’s protection played a role in that confidence a year ago, so we’ll see if he can repeat that formula when working behind new blockers in 2025.

2. Drew Allar

Where he plays: Penn State

2024 stats: 262-394 (66.5%), 3,327 yards, 24 TD, 8 INT

A former five-star recruit who James Franklin plucked out of Buckeye country, Allar has all the ingredients to live up to that potential, but he hasn’t always had the best receiving talent around him, resulting in his production dipping against better defenses.

Case in point: Allar’s completion marks dipped from 74 percent during the regular season to under 60 during the postseason. But if Penn State can finally get the right combination at wide receiver to balance this offense, then Allar has the skill set to take this team to the national championship.

1. Cade Klubnik

Where he plays: Clemson

2024 stats: 308-486 (63.4%), 3,639 yards, 36 TD, 6 INT

Speaking of getting better production from wide receivers, Klubnik’s dramatic improvement last season is proof of that formula, as the former five-star quarterback put up career numbers and led the Tigers to an ACC title and the College Football Playoff.

Klubnik’s return is the best bet Clemson has to repeat that success in 2025, as arguably no other quarterback has the combination of skill, supporting players, and experience to make another run.