With the additions of Colorado, Arizona, and Utah, the Big 12 will be rolling out one of the most highly-touted quarterback groups in all of college football. However, schools like Cincinnati, BYU, and ASU will be rolling out some of the least reliable quarterback groups in the country.
All 16 projected starting quarterbacks have been sorted into one of five buckets: the top tier, guys with high ceilings, question marks, athletic one-year rentals, and the teams that are in trouble. Read on to see how each passer stacks up against one another, ranked based on who I would trust the most as my signal-caller both in 2024 and beyond.
Top tier:
These are the top-flight guys who are on high-upside teams with potential as an early-draft prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft. There's no questioning these guys' talent, and it's more a matter of whether the rest of the team will keep up.
As overrated as the Colorado program is as a whole, it's largely because of one man: Shedeur Sanders. The son of Hall-of-Fame NFL player turned college football head coach Deion Sanders was slinging the rock all over the yard last season, and he certainly is a first-round pick in terms of pure talent.
If the younger Sanders can do away with some of his ego and stop fueling the noxious flames surrounding the Buffaloes, his stock will skyrocket. He's got a cannon of an arm and uses his legs effectively but sparingly. The sky is the limit for Sanders; he just needs to understand that having a flashy watch and a big name doesn't make you a better player or man.
Noah Fifita was one of the biggest surprises in the entire Power 5 last season, going from Jayden de Laura's backup to one of the best quarterbacks in the country in a matter of weeks. Despite missing the first three games and most of a fourth, the undersized signal-caller nearly reached the illustrious 3,000-yard mark and completing an astonishing 72.4% of his passes.
Fifita's chemistry with future first-round NFL Draft pick Tetairoa McMillan is truly something to behold, and it's a connection dating back to the 2019-20 season at Servite High School. Considering his caution with the ball, great pocket presence, and athletic upside, the biggest knock on Fifita is his size — but we've already seen Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray overcome in the NFL.
Much like with Sanders, Cam Rising is one of the main reasons that Utah is in so many conversations to win the Big 12. He missed the entirety of last season with a lower-body injury he suffered in the 2023 Rose Bowl and will return for a seventh season of college ball looking to prove the doubters wrong.
After spending his first two seasons with Texas, Rising landed at Utah ahead of the 2019 season and finally took the reins in 2021. His experience undoubtedly contributes to his status as a smart quarterback, and the same can be said for head coach Kyle Whittingham. It's the rest of the team around Rising that starts to generate questions.
Kansas is reviving its football program under head coach Lance Leipold, and Jalon Daniels could spearhead the movement all the way to the Big 12 Championship. Despite only playing in three games last season due to injury, Daniels is a true dual-threat who will hit the field in 2024 ready to kick ass and take names.
The fourth-year Jayhawk was primed for a breakout season after firmly establishing himself over Jason Bean as the starter for the end of the 2021 and all of the 2022 seasons. In the last season where he was a full-time starter, he threw for over 2,000 yards and tacked on another 419 rushing yards, while posting 25 total touchdowns. Expect him to return with a vengeance like Rising in 2024.