The college football season is once again upon us, and Mississippi State is gearing up for another season under first-year head coach Jeff Lebby. State was not handed a favorable draw in its conference schedule as they have one of the toughest slates in the country. The Bulldogs will face some of the best college quarterbacks this season, and in this article I will rank them from eighth through first.
Coming at number eight is Boise State-transfer Taylen Green. In two years as the starting quarterback, Green passed for 3,794 yards with 25 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He will also play a pivotal role in Bobby Petrino's offense running the football. Green rushed for 1,022 yards and 19 touchdowns. Green's success in Petrino's offense will determine the Razorbacks' season as Sam Pittman enters the season on the hot seat. If the offense falls short of expectations, the Razorbacks will most likely be looking at a coaching search this fall.
7. Nico Iamaleava
Nico Iamaleava comes in ranked at seventh only because we saw him in limited action last season. By the end of the season, Iamaleava, who was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, might end up being the best quarterback State will have faced this season. The talented sophom*ore has a tremendous upside, and he will look to replicate the success that Hendon Hooker had in 2022. He has an good coaching staff behind him along with elite talent at the skill positions which should help ease him into the starting role. Josh Heupel has an a very good track record with quarterbacks, and it will be interesting to see how Iamaleava plays in Tennessee's offense.
Weigman, like Iamaleava, is another former five-star quarterback who is looking to showcase his skills this season. In two seasons in limited action while splitting snaps with Max Johnson and Haynes King, Weigman completed just over 61 percent of his passes for 1,875 yards and 16 touchdowns. When he did play, he also took care of the ball passing by throwing only two interceptions. Now that former Duke head coach Mike Elko is leading the program in College Station, Weigman will look to potentially blossom into the quarterback many analysts predicted when he committed to the Aggies out of high school.
5. Brady Cook
As we enter the top five, we are looking at quarterbacks who have either proven it in the SEC or on the national stage. You can argue that Cook should be ranked higher than Graham Mertz or even Jaxson Dart, but he comes it at fifth on this list. In his first full year as a start in 2022, Cook completed 64 percent of his passes for 2,739 yards with 14 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Last season, Missouri surprised almost everyone outside of Columbia, Missouri when the Tigers went 11-2 which culminated in a win in the Cotton Bowl over Ohio State. Cook improved from his 2022 campaign by completing 66 percent of his passes for 3,317 yards and 21 touchdowns. Entering this season, many people predict Missouri to make the playoffs, and the play of Cook and standout receiver Luther Burden III will determine the success the Tigers will have.
In a less than ideal year for the Gators last season, Graham Mertz was one of the few bright spots for Florida. A former, highly touted four-star quarterback, Mertz transferred to Florida from Wisconsin to replace Anthony Richardson. He had a few slumps throughout the year, but he finished strong by completing almost 73 percent of his passes for 2,903 yards with 20 touchdowns and only three interceptions. Mertz has a tall task ahead of him this season, as Florida has one of the hardest schedules on paper in the last decade. He will look to build upon this season to try and get Florida back to a bowl game.
3. Jaxson Dart
In what many people are predicting to be Ole Miss' best collection of talent ever, Dart will look to lead the Rebels to its first ever College Football Playoff berth. In his first season with the Rebels in 2022, Dart threw for 2,974 yards with 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also rushed for 614 yards and one touchdown. In year two under Head Coach Lane Kiffin, Dart improved his completion percentage from 62 percent to 65 percent. He passed for 3,364 yards and 23 touchdowns. Dart was also smarter with the football as he only threw five interceptions last season. His rushing yards were down from 2022, but he did rush for 8 touchdowns a season ago. He should be even better this year, and along with more editions from the transfer portal, anything short of a playoff berth for Ole Miss will be a disappointment.
Now that we have two quarterbacks left, you are splitting hairs when debating who is better between Ewers and Carson Beck, and I have decided to rank Ewers just behind Beck. Ewers did take the Longhorns on the road to Tuscaloosa last season to take down Alabama, and he did lead Texas to the playoffs. However, if I were to build a team from scratch and had to pick between Beck and Ewers, I would choose Beck. With that being said, in two seasons, Ewers has thrown for 5,656 yards with 37 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Now that Texas is joining the SEC, their week-to-week competition will be more difficult. But Head Coach Steve Sarkisian has them rolling, and the Longhorns appear to be ready for the SEC.
1. Carson Beck
After winning back-to-back championships in 2021 and 2022, Carson Beck had big shoes to fill left behind by Stetson Bennet. Beck delivered by completing 72 percent of his passes for 3,941 yards with 24 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. However, the Bulldogs failed to meet expectations last season by not winning the SEC or making the College Football Playoffs. With a full season under his belt, Beck is poised to help Georgia try and win the SEC again while also competing for the national championship.
