Insider intel on college football's top QBs - ESPN

Every few years, college football brings back a group of quarterbacks set to dominate discussion and flood the races for the Heisman Trophy and other national honors. The 2026 season has one of those memorable collections.

Only two quarterbacks (Indiana's Fernando Mendoza and Alabama's Ty Simpson) heard their names called in the first two rounds of the NFL draft in April, while seven starters from the College Football Playoff field are back for 2026. The group of returnees includes several projected top prospects for the 2027 draft, including Oregon's Dante Moore, Texas' Arch Manning, Notre Dame's CJ Carr and others, as well as Heisman candidates, such as Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss, Ohio State's Julian Sayin, Georgia's Gunner Stockton and USC's Jayden Maiava, and notable transfers such as LSU's Sam Leavitt (Arizona State), Miami's Darian Mensah (Duke), Oklahoma State's Drew Mestemaker (North Texas) and Indiana's Josh Hoover (TCU).

Manning likely will be the most-talked-about quarterback for the second straight season, but now he has some substance behind the buzz after his strong finish to 2025. There are many others in many different leagues to dissect, and I spent the spring and summer talking to coaches who mentor and scout the sport's top quarterbacks.

My goal was to get a range of perspectives, not only about established players but up-and-coming ones in key roles. I spoke with coaches, coordinators and several general managers across college football to gather intel on 43 of the top returning quarterbacks. I tried to avoid those in competitions.

Here's a conference-by-conference look:

Jump to a conference:

SEC | Big Ten
ACC/Notre Dame | Big 12

Manning faced outsized and largely unrealistic expectations entering