New No. 1 in Joel Klatt’s revised Top 10 quarterbacks in college football

College football analyst Joel Klatt released his updated Top 10 quarterbacks in college football on his podcast, The Joel Klatt Show, Wednesday, and the list saw significant changes from how Klatt ranked the position in the preseason.

Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer was the new No. 1 on Klatt’s list, followed by Miami’s Carson Beck, Oregon’s Dante Moore, Georgia’s Gunner Stockton and Georgia Tech’s Haynes King.

When Klatt released his preseason list of the top quarterbacks back in the spring, Mateer was ranked No. 3. Following three wins to open the 2025 season, including a Week 2 win over a ranked Michigan team at home, Mateer has found himself atop Klatt’s ranking of the best quarterbacks in the sport.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback John Mateer has thrown for 944 yards and accounted for nine touchdowns this season. | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

“I thought he was going to be good. He has been good, and maybe even better than advertised,” Klatt said of Mateer. “He goes out there and elevates the play of everyone around him. We saw that against Michigan. He can go to a different level and give his team a chance to win a football game - be the reason that they win a football game.”

The second half of Klatt’s list showed Florida State’s Tommy Castellanos at No. 6, Iowa State’s Rocco Becht at No. 7, Tennessee’s Joey Aguilar at No. 8, USC’s Jayden Maiava at No. 9 and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin rounding out the Top 10. None of those names were on Klatt’s preseason ranking of the Top 10 quarterbacks.

What is as notable as the new names are those quarterbacks who were on Klatt’s previous list in May, but do not show up on the Fox analysts’ updated list after three weeks of the college football season. Clemson’s Cade Klubnik was No. 1 for Klatt in the preseason, followed by Texas’ Arch Manning. Those two were also favorites for the Heisman Trophy in the preseason, but have fallen after leading their teams to a combined 3-3 record.

Florida quarterback DJ Lagway is another who was removed from Klatt’s previous list. The Gators are unquestionably struggling this season, and head coach Billy Napier’s job is on the line seemingly every week. Klatt, however, was particularly critical of Lagway’s play this season earlier in the week.

Florida quarterback DJ Lagway was left off Klatt's list after a rough start to the 2025 season. — Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway was left off Joel Klatt's list of the Top 10 quarterbacks in college football after a rough start to the 2025 season. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

“There’s no scenario on the planet that Haynes King is a more talented player than DJ Lagway,” Klatt said on Monday’s episode of his show.” Yet, Haynes King is the reason his college football team wins games and DJ Lagway is the reason his college football team loses games.”

Besides Mateer, only Miami’s Carson Beck remains from Klatt’s original version of the Top 10. After just edging his way in at No. 10 back in the preseason, Beck now sits just behind Mateer at No. 2 on Klatt’s ranking of the top quarterbacks in college football.

“(Beck) looks great at Miami,” Klatt said. “I had a lot of questions about what was going to go on with the health of his arm because of that elbow surgery, but he has been terrific.”

Among the other quarterbacks who were ranked in Klatt’s preseason list who were not included on his updated rankings were Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, Penn State’s Drew Allar and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier.

Klatt, a former three-year starter at quarterback for Colorado, jumped into college football television analysis almost immediately after his college career ended. Along with college football, he has worked NFL, XFL and USFL games as a color analyst, and even moonlights on some Major League Baseball television (Klatt was selected in the 2000 MLB Draft and played a few years in the minor leagues before college). Klatt is now entering his fourth year hosting The Joel Klatt Show, which started at the beginning of the 2022 college football season.