6 college football quarterbacks who will become future Pro Bowlers
By John Buhler
Trey Lance is the total wild card here. He plays for the FCS powerhouse that is the North Dakota State Bison. As a redshirt freshman last year, he completed 66.9 percent of his passes for 28 touchdowns and no interceptions. That’s right, absolutely no interceptions. He also ran the ball 169 times for 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns. The guy completely dominated the FCS level.
Lance won a national championship at North Dakota State, taking home the Jerry Rice Award for the most outstanding freshman player at the FCS level and the Walter Payton Award for the most outstanding offensive player at the FCS level. Guys like Cooper Kupp and Chase Edmonds have won the Rice, while Steve McNair, Tony Romo and Jimmy Garoppolo have won the Payton.
Because Lance is a redshirt sophomore, he can enter the 2021 NFL Draft if he feels so inclined. He may return to Fargo for his redshirt junior season in 2021 and then enter the 2022 NFL Draft, but Lance may already have a first-round feel to him. To go an entire college football season and not throw a single interception en route to a national championship is flat-out unheard of.
Many of the players who have won the Walter Payton Award have gone on to have a great deal of success in the NFL. McNair and Romo went to Pro Bowls. Garoppolo nearly won a Super Bowl. Heck, the 2018 winner Devlin Hodges almost helped the Pittsburgh Steelers make the AFC playoffs last year as a third-stringer. If Lance is the next Carson Wentz, that would be incredible.