It is not how you start, but how you finish. One of my favorite things about college football is these are young kids, trying to grow and prove themselves as the season progresses. We may have an infatuation with this sport and its incredible games, but these are mostly 18-to-23-year-olds without fully formed brains going at it every day and twice on Saturday. The kids keep it interesting for us all.
So as we start to really turn our attention ahead to the upcoming 2025 college football season, how are we looking at the quarterback position? Yes, people should know all about the heavy-hitters in each Power Four league. If you do not know who Drew Allar, Sam Leavitt, Cade Klubik, Garrett Nussmeier or LaNorris Sellers are, I would suggest that you get a clue! Those guys are all superstars.
But then again, this post is not about them, nor is it about other guys we know a good bit about in Kevin Jennings, Avery Johnson, Fernando Mendoza, and of course, Arch Manning. The college game is not deficient with quarterbacks. I just want to bring to your attention some new guys on the block. I will share my favorite under-the-radar quarterback in each Power Four and Group of Five conference.
Let's start alphabetically through the Power Four before we work our way down to the Group of Five.
Power Four
You should know the names of these star quarterbacks in the Power Four, all with something to prove.
ACC: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets quarterback Haynes King
In the ACC, we know all about Cade Klubnik at Clemson, Kevin Jennings at SMU, and newcomer Carson Beck coming over to Miami from Georgia. Those are all proven commodities who led teams to the College Football Playoff last year. For this exercise, I am going to go with a seasoned veteran in Haynes King of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. He has an elite coaching staff backing him up again.
While King is still more of a runner than a thrower, he is the straw that stirs the drink down on The Flats. If he and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner can get on the same page immediately, the Jackets are a team that have an outside shot of getting to Charlotte. They could potentially face rival Clemson there, but they must take care of business in an always competitive eight-game ACC slate.
If King can get the Yellow Jackets to 10-2, he will be a Heisman Trophy contender for a playoff team.
Big Ten: Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback Mark Gronowski
In the Big Ten, the three quarterbacks everyone seems to be talking about are Drew Allar at Penn State, Luke Altmyer at Illinois and newcomer Fernando Mendoza coming over to Indiana from Cal. There are plenty of other quarterbacks I like in the Big Ten. I almost went with Demond Williams out of Washington for this exercise, but the clear and obvious pick for me is Mark Gronowski over at Iowa.
Gronowski is moving up a level. He starred for Jimmy Rogers at South Dakota State. While his former coach now leads Washington State, Gronowski is taking his Walter Payton Trophy to Iowa City to help turn around the fortunes of the Iowa offense. This is all about him separating and elevating from the perpetual Kirk Ferentz nonsense offensively. I think he has the right coordinator to do it in Tim Lester.
I have Iowa winning around eight or nine games this year, with a potential 10-2 ceiling with Gronowski.
Big 12: Iowa State Cyclones quarterback Rocco Becht
Hey, Rocco! Man, do I love me some Rocco Becht?! Over in the Big 12, the quarterback of note is Sam Leavitt at my girlfriend's alma mater of Arizona State. After that, I would say the likes of Kansas State's Avery Johnson, Texas Tech's Behren Morton and Baylor's Sawyer Robertson are getting most of the love this offseason. I would even argue that New Mexico transfer Devon Dampier is to at Utah.
But in case you forgot, Becht was the quarterback going up against Leavitt's Sun Devils in Arlington last December. We all know how good of a head coach Matt Campbell is. With Becht having NFL pedigree from his father, I think he could be as good for the Cyclones as Brock Purdy was. Becht has impressed me the last two years, so I do not expect his third year as the starter shall be any different.
I still have to go through their schedule, but Iowa State is a team that could make the playoff this fall.
SEC: Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia
The SEC is the best quarterback conference in the nation for this year. LaNorris Sellers and Garrett Nussmeier are candidates to go No. 1 overall in next spring's draft. If you think Arch Manning is turning pro after one season as the starter, I have a bridge to nowhere to sell you. After those three huge names, the guy we have to stop sleeping on for once is the Diego Pavia over at Vanderbilt.
He may be short in stature and on the older side of things, but he gets Vanderbilt turnt?! The Commodores may only be a borderline bowl team, but they do face one of the four hardest schedules in the country. If Vanderbilt somehow finishes the year at 8-4, build Pavia a statue along the Cumberland, right where the goal posts made their way into on Broadway after beating Alabama.
The fact people picked Manning over Pavia for the SEC Third-Team is not sitting well with me at all...
Group of Five
You may know a few names in the Group of Five, but these quarterbacks should be on your radar now.
AAC: UTSA Roadrunners quarterback Owen McCown
In the American, the quarterbacks of note are Blake Horvath over at Navy, as well as newcomers Brendan Sullivan and Jake Retzlaff at Tulane. Sullivan comes over from Iowa, while Retzlaff is planning to walk on at Tulane after leaving BYU for less-than-stellar reasons. For this exercise, I am going with Owen McCown of the UTSA Roadrunners. If the last name sounds familar, that is because is totally is.
McCown is the son of noted NFL journeyman Josh McCown, as well as the nephew of former NFL backup quarterback Luke McCown. The former Colorado transfer has carved out a nice path for him at UTSA since leaving Boulder. Jeff Traylor remains one of the most well-respected head coaches in the Group of Five. UTSA may not win the American this year, but McCown can be a difference-maker.
Age, starting experience and NFL pedigree is on McCown's side to make some noise in the AAC.
Conference USA: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers quarterback Maverick McIvor
Admittedly, there is not a lot to write home about when it comes to Conference USA. The two programs with the best chance of ever making the College Football Playoff are Liberty and Western Kentucky. The league goes through more changes than the late David Bowie ever did. However, the quarterback everyone seems to be raving about is Keyone Jenkins over at Florida International now.
So if I cannot roll with Jenkins, how about Maverick McIvor for the Hilltoppers? If the name sounds familiar, that is because he initially played his college football at Texas Tech. He rode pine in Lubbock before transferring to Abilene Christian in 2022. Yes, this will be his seventh year of school. If I know anything about Western Kentucky football, it is that they love to sling it with their Air Raid offense.
I trust Tyson Helton to help get the most out of McIvor's talent for the one year he is in Bowling Green.
MAC: Ohio Bobcats quarterback Parker Navarro
Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I fully expect for Dequan Finn to run train on the MAC once again now that he is back in the conference. He was a sensational player at Toledo previously before spending last year at Baylor. He struggled in Waco before eventually giving up the starting job to Sawyer Robertson. Now that he is back in the MAC at Miami, I need to find another quarterback here...
My pick for this exercise is Ohio Bobcats signal-caller Parker Navarro. My FanSided.com colleague and Ohio U alumnus Wynston Wilcox is going to love this. With Brian Smith being promoted from within to replace the outgoing Tim Albin, who now takes over at Charlotte, I fully expect that Navarro will continue to flourish in the extended wake of Kurtis Rourke. Ohio U can really ball, and I respect it.
Navarro went 11-2 in his first full season as the starter for the Bobcats, so I am all-in on his rise here.
Mountain West: UNLV Rebels quarterback Anthony Colandrea
All hail, Anthony Colandrea, The Whoopsie Daisy King?! The former starting quarterback of the Virginia Cavaliers has made his way over from the ACC and into the Mountain West. He comes aboard at a great time for the UNLV program. Dan Mullen has gotten back into coaching and plans to build on the great success Barry Odom had before him. Boise State's Maddux Madsen better watch out, y'all!
Okay, not really. Madsen is really good, and Colandrea is just okay. That being said, he really took to Tony Elliott's coaching in Charlottesville and I expect for him to do the same under Mullen in Las Vegas. Having former Michigan run-always quarterback Alex Orji in the room as well will push Colandrea to be better. If all goes according to plan, UNLV could be a top-25 team in the playoff mix.
UNLV is one of the best bets out there to potentially usurp Boise State for Group of Five supremacy.
Sun Belt: Arkansas State Red Wolves quarterback Jaylen Raynor
When it comes to the Sun Belt, there are a slew of interesting starting quarterbacks. From the information I gathered, Braylton Braxton at Southern Miss may be the league's best. I have also heard really good things about Colton Joseph over at Old Dominion. To round out this exercise, I will go with Jaylen Raynor of those Fighting Butch Jones, far better known as the Arkansas State Red Wolves.
Raynor is a two-year starter in Jonesboro, having won Sun Belt Freshman of the Year two years ago. After going 5-5 as the starter in 2023, he helped propel Arkansas State to an impressive 8-5 mark. At some point, the Sun Belt is going to get its champion into the playoff as the Group of Five champion. The four other leagues have all had at least one of their teams play in a New Year's Six Bowl before.
For as much flack as Jones gets, he was the guy who got the most out of Josh Dobbs at Tennessee.