The most important position in the sport is leading the way into the 2026 FBS season. Plenty of college football QBs are recognizable. Even the signal-callers you don’t know already, you soon will given the plethora of interesting storylines.
The college football season is nearing and the FBS quarterback crop is both better and more proven than it was at this time last year.
Whether Arch Manning levels up and becomes a Heisman Trophy winner is to be determined, but his Texas squad is among a handful of power conference programs – including the likes of Oregon (Dante Moore), Ole Miss (Trinidad Chambliss) and Ohio State (Julian Sayin) – to have a clear starting QB heading into fall camp. (When you’re paying seven-figure NIL checks, a camp battle doesn’t hit the same way.)
Still, there are plenty of QBs to know even below the elite level. Using an Opta data dive, we’re looking into seven to pay particular attention to during preseason camp and the early season.
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4 months ago Alex KirshnerBryce Underwood, Michigan
Maybe it wasn’t fair to expect the moon from Underwood in his true freshman season last year. But maybe it was. He is one of the biggest NIL investments that any team has made in a high school recruit, and the scouting reports on his arm talent, athleticism and poise could hardly have been more glowing.
What he produced wasn’t amazing. His 72.1% well-thrown ball rate was last among primary Big Ten starters. He was effective as a designed runner, taking 28 carries for a 7.3-yard average, and as a scrambler, taking off 44 times on broken plays and averaging 6.2 yards on them. He also didn’t fare too badly in the sacks department. But when Underwood faced elite defenses, he acted more like a true freshman quarterback.
Does this mean Underwood’s Michigan tenure is slated to go the way Dylan Raiola’s Nebraska tenure went? Of course not. But he was playing in what turned out to be an unstable environment last year, under now-fired head coach Sherrone Moore and now-removed offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey. All of that’s new in his sophomore season with Kyle Whittingham taking over the Wolverines and Jason Beck joining him from Utah as offensive coordinator. The wide receivers, famously lacking last year, also should improve this year, if only because sophomore Andrew Marsh is a stud.
Josh Hoover, Indiana
Hoover had a disappointing 2025 season at TCU, but there’s reason to think he’ll take well to Bloomington.
The first reason is that everyone takes well to Bloomington under Curt Cignetti. The second is that Hoover’s arm talent here is real: His 78.2% well-thrown ball rate was the fourth-best mark in the Big 12 last year, and he ably avoided sacks despite an often dicey offensive line.
Hoover, now a redshirt senior, is a relative statue who will provide extremely little value with his legs. You won’t see him taking off on a season-changing designed run like Indiana deployed for Fernando Mendoza on the way to their national championship last year. It’s also not like skill-position talent was lacking alongside Hoover at TCU as wide receiver Eric McAlister was one of the best players in the country over the past couple years.
Hoover will need to be a bit less cavalier with the ball and trim down a 4.7% pickable pass rate that ranked near the bottom of the Big 12 last year. But it doesn’t take much to imagine him following in Mendoza’s footsteps and, if not contending for the Heisman Trophy, at least having a career year for the defending champs.
Bear Bachmeier, BYU
What a difference a year makes. Around this time last year, Bachmeier was transferring before his true freshman season from Stanford to BYU, which would soon have a quarterback opening because it was splitting with 2024 starter Jake Retzlaff over an honor code violation. Bachmeier did not just prove steady in his first season, he turned out to be a real value-add.
Of Big 12 quarterbacks to throw 50 or more passes, Bachmeier’s 86.1% open target rate was the second highest in the conference, as the BYU staff and a nice group of wide receivers worked some magic to repeatedly get targets into open space for him. Bachmeier more than did his part, posting a 79.7% well-thrown ball rate that led the conference. His 2.9% pickable pass rate was solidly better than average, and Bachmeier was also respectable as a designed ball carrier (102 carries for a 4.6-yard average) and a scrambler (31 for 4.6). Best of all, Bachmeier took a sack on just 3.7% of his dropbacks, the second-lowest rate in the league, a credit to both a sturdy BYU offensive line and Bachmeier’s ability to get rid of the ball.
There’s still work to be done in his sophomore campaign. You couldn’t have watched BYU’s offense face-plant twice against Big 12 winner Texas Tech and come away with the conclusion this was a true national title contender last year. But with continued progression from Bachmeier, you could see how winning playoff games could be feasible for this program.
Devon Dampier, Utah
The dynamic around Dampier’s career changed a bit this offseason when the NCAA moved to a new five-year eligibility policy. That appears to mean Dampier, who played two seasons at New Mexico before a transfer, could have two more years in Salt Lake City, not just one.
Dampier was a sloppy passer last year as his 70.5% well-thrown ball rate was second-worst for Big 12 QBs with 50+ attempts. When Dampier was in clear passing downs, he often looked out of it.
But Dampier gave Utah what it was hoping for in what turned out to be Whittingham’s last season. He had a 3.1% pickable pass rate, half a percentage point better than the Big 12 average. His 6.6-yard average on 115 designed carries was best among the league’s quarterbacks, and he barely took sacks, going down on just 3.5% of his dropbacks.
The Utes, now under Morgan Scalley, are doing their best to get Dampier some downfield passing help. Utah State receiver transfer Braden Pegan, who had 60 catches for 926 yards last year after transferring from UCLA to Utah State, is a highlight of this effort.
Jaylen Raynor, Iowa State
Raynor arrives at Iowa State from Arkansas State in the Sun Belt. His 85.7% well-thrown ball rate last year was best among FBS quarterbacks with 205+ attempts.
The senior fits the gunslinging mold and is sometimes too aggressive for his own good, as evidenced by a 4.8% pickable pass rate that translated to a whopping 23 pickable balls last year. According to Opta data, he was fortunate to “only” throw 11 interceptions. That might seem contradictory with the well-thrown ball rate, but what it really says about Raynor is that he is either extremely sharp or downright destructive to his team’s chances.
Also pointing in that direction: a perfectly fine 5.3% sack rate overall, but an unsightly 24.6% sack-per-pressure rate. Raynor usually stayed clean, but when he was pressured, he rarely met a sack opportunity he was not willing to grant the defense.
Raynor is the key man in new coach Jimmy Rogers’ rapid rebuild of Iowa State after Matt Campbell headed to Penn State and took many of the Cyclones’ best players with him. But there’s enough upside here for Iowa State to be a pain in the side of Big 12 opponents this year. Asking for league contention in Year 1 is probably a bit much.
Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State
Mestemaker was the key man for North Texas’ top-ranked offense (45.1-point and 512.4-yard averages) last year. His counting stats were enormous: His 81.8% well-thrown ball rate was one of the handful of best marks in the country for a starting quarterback; his 2.4% pickable pass rate was lovely; and he was even an effective scrambler, averaging 6.7 yards on 23 of those plays.
Most interesting, though, is Mestemaker’s open target rate playing in coach Eric Morris’ offense. Opta data assessed Mestemaker was throwing to an open receiver on 86.7% of his attempts last year. Only five quarterbacks had a higher open target percentage and none of them threw nearly as many passes as Mestemaker.
To what extent will Morris be able to scheme people wide open in Stillwater? How much harder will it be than it was in Denton? And if the answer is “a lot harder,” how much personal development on Mestemaker’s part is reasonable to expect in the redshirt sophomore’s first year at a higher level of competition? The answers to these questions will go a long way toward telling us how quickly Oklahoma State gets up off the mat after the disastrous last couple years under Mike Gundy.
Camden Coleman, James Madison
Coleman is the only signal-caller on this college football QBs list who didn’t see a down of game action in 2025. He transferred across state from Richmond and sat behind James Madison starter Alonza Barnett (who’s now gone to UCF) and Matt Sluka (who’s out of eligibility).
Coleman might have been the most intriguing third-stringer in the country: He was named to the 2024 All-CAA third team and was top-25 in completion percentage and passing efficiency over his two seasons (2023-24) in the FCS.
New coach Billy Napier opted to keep the redshirt junior around after taking over from the UCLA-bound Bob Chesney. The early scuttlebutt out of Harrisonburg has been that Coleman is the likely Week 1 starter. If that’s the case, he’ll be the player most responsible for keeping JMU on track as a playoff contender under a third different coach in four years.
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College Football 2026: Here Are Seven of the Most Fascinating QBs in the FBS Opta Analyst.
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