With multiple former star college football quarterbacks now in the NFL, Greg McElroy has revealed his top-10 quarterbacks ahead of the 2025 season with one surprising admission.
The ESPN analyst and former national champion quarterback at Alabama believes his list will upset “a lot of people.” Providing some clarification, McElroy explained that his rankings are largely based on proven quarterbacks rather than those who may have intriguing potential.
“Now, there’s going to be a lot of people that are mad at this list, but understand there’s a few pieces of the evaluation puzzle that we have to kind of put to the side, because a lot of people want to project and I’m great with that,” McElroy said on “Always College Football.”
“But for you to be a top 10 quarterback without ever having played against a top tier team, it’s a little bit tough for me to justify that ranking,” he continued.
McElroy’s strategy led to an interesting admission, as Texas quarterback Arch Manning was left out of the top 10 and listed, instead, as an honorable mention alongside Kevin Jennings (SMU), Taylen Green (Arkansas), Luke Altmyer (Illinois) and Nico Iamaleava (UCLA).
“It’s very hard for me to ever justify putting a first-year starter ahead of guys that have actually done it when the bullets are flying,” McElroy said.
Making the top 10 at the bottom of McElroy’s list is Georgia Tech’s Haynes King, Florida’s DJ Lagway, Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers and Miami’s Carson Beck.
Kickoff off the top five is LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, who is coming off his first season as a starter after waiting behind Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. Nussmeier, a fifth-year senior, threw for 4,052 yards with 32 total touchdowns to 12 interceptions last season.
Next up is Drew Allar, who helped lead Penn State to the College Football Playoff last season. Allar put up career numbers as a junior, totaling 3,327 passing yards with 30 total touchdowns and eight interceptions.
McElroy’s No. 3 quarterback, Sam Leavitt, has been largely overlooked despite leading Arizona State to its first playoff appearance last season. The former Michigan State transfer threw for 2,885 yards with 29 total touchdowns to six interceptions as a sophomore.
Another unheralded passer comes in at No. 2 in Oklahoma’s John Mateer, who transferred from Washington State this offseason.
The former three-star recruit was the only quarterback to record at least 20 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing touchdowns season. Mateer threw for 3,139 yards with 44 total touchdowns to seven interceptions as a first-year starter in 2024.
Coming in as McElroy’s No. 1 quarterback ahead of the 2025 season is Clemson’s Cade Klubnik.
It took some time for the former five-star recruit to reach his potential with the Tigers, but last season’s ACC championship run and playoff berth paint a promising picture for Klubnik moving forward.
