In the day and age of the transfer portal, it's rare to have a room stacked with college football quarterbacks. Even if those highly recruited, talented quarterbacks have barely touched the field or never touched it at all, with their itching to become a starter, most will head toward a new school, leaving their former schools depleted. We see it happen every season. That is unless you're Texas football, which has somehow held onto Arch Manning amid Quinn Ewers return in 2024.
In just the latest transfer portal window, there were many highly talented quarterbacks, even starters, that left for other schools, looking for either better opportunities on the field or in NIL. A few of those were: Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel, who left for Oregon; Washington State's Cameron Ward, who left for Miami; Kansas State's Will Howard, who left for Ohio State; Texas' Maalik Murphy who left for Duke; Mississippi State's Will Rogers, who left for Washington; and UCLA's Dante Moore who left for Oregon as well.
College football quarterback rooms ranked
With that said, let's now try to rank who has the best quarterback room in college football heading into the 2024 season.
5. Alabama Crimson Tide
Jalen Milroe proved a lot of doubters wrong, though it may have taken some as the season went on. Nonetheless, Milroe looks more than capable of being the starter and maybe even a potential Heisman Trophy candidate. Of course, there are a few more question marks in Tuscaloosa than there were, thanks to Nick Saban's retirement and his incumbent Kalen DeBoer taking his place.
However, with DeBoer also came Austin Mack, a four-star prospect and transfer, who was ranked the No. 56 overall player in the transfer portal and No. 10 quarterback. He was the No. 8 quarterback prospect in the country in 2023. Also in the room will be former five-star Ty Simpson and former four-star Dylan Lonergan.
4. Georgia Bulldogs
You have to feel good about getting back to the national championship if you're a Georgia football fan. Carson Beck and his high-dollar ride are returning to Athens next season, which, combined with the other Bulldogs' talent, puts them right back in the mix to win their third title in four years. What's behind Beck isn't too bad either, though.
Head coach Kirby Smart will have Class of 2022 four-star prospect Gunner Stockton and 2024 four-star prospect (No. 10 ranked quarterback in the country in 2024 cycle) Ryan Puglisi, per 247sports. Imagine how stacked this room would be if Smart would have been able to hold onto Brock Vandergriff, who transferred to Kentucky, and Dylan Raiola, who decommitted from Nebraska to join Georgia football.
3. Oregon Ducks
Bo Nix had to be replaced somehow, so Oregon football head coach Dan Lanning went out and grabbed Dillon Gabriel from Oklahoma out of the transfer portal. Gabriel keeps the Ducks right in the thick of things in the College Football Playoff next season, and at the top of their new conference, the Big Ten.
But right behind Gabriel is former UCLA quarterback Dante Moore, who, although didn't have the most notable few games as a Bruin last season, still comes in with tons of upside. And then there's the often-forgotten former class of 2023 four-star Austin Novosad, who was the No. 13 ranked quarterback in the country. The Ducks are doing pretty well in the quarterback room.
2. Texas Longhorns
Picking between the No. 2 and No. 1 rankings wasn't easy, as it came down to a splitting of hairs. No doubt that Quinn Ewers coming back was not just a surprise but a huge accomplishment for head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Texas staff. Just his return, along with the rest of the Longhorns roster, makes them a contender once again in 2024. The only worry with Ewers will be if he can stay healthy, which has proven to be an issue over the last two seasons.
Luckily behind him will be one of the most highly touted prospects in recent history, if for nothing else merely for his last name, that being Arch Manning. Manning is a former five-star prospect in the class of 2023, ranked the No. 1 overall player in the country. There is a bit of concern with Manning, however, as most are curious as to why he has chosen to stick it out in Austin, and why he wasn't chosen over Maalik Murphy, who transferred to Duke. But everyone is excited to finally see Manning hit the field, whenever that may be.
Behind the star quarterbacks are three-star Cole Lourd and Trey Owens, who was a four-star and No. 16 ranked college football quarterback in the 2024 cycle.
1. Ohio State Buckeyes
There's no other way to say this — the Ohio State quarterback room is loaded. Granted, the problem is that hardly any of that talent has proven itself yet, as most have not even touched the field. That makes one believe that one, if not more, are bound to transfer eventually. But until then, the Buckeyes boast the top-ranked quarterback room in college football.
What's really odd about all the quarterbacks on the roster is the fact that the presumed starter in 2024 may be the least talked about and talented, that being Will Howard, the transfer from Kansas State.
Once last year's QB1 Kyle McCord transferred to Syracuse unexpectedly, the Ohio State quarterback room was looking unproven and bare, with only Devin Brown, who had little experience, and former four-star Lincoln Kienholz, who had to take over in the Buckeyes' bowl loss to Missouri once Brown got hurt.
There's now not a quarterback on the Ohio State football roster who isn't at least a four-star, whether transfer or former prospect. What makes this room the best in the nation is the fact that Ryan Day was not only able to pull off Air Noland, who was the No. 7 quarterback in the country in the 2024 cycle, but also pulled in Julian Sayin, a former five-star, who was the No. 1 quarterback in the cycle. Sayin decided to transfer from Alabama after Saban's retirement.
Again, it's unlikely in the era of NIL and the transfer portal that the Buckeyes hang onto all these guys, but as of now, it's mighty impressive that they have.
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