Who’s arguably the best quarterback coming back that few people know very much about?
Alabama’s Jalen Milroe? Nope. We didn’t say best quarterback that was most disrespected.
Georgia’s Carson Beck? Nope. We didn’t say best quarterback that was most underappreciated.
Colorado’s Shadeur Sanders? Nope. Didn’t say best quarterback most likely to put his team on his back and carry them to the finish line.
You get the idea.
How about Arizona’s Noah Fifita?
Fifita and all of the young men mentioned in ESPN’s article on ESPN.com today – ranking the top 10 quarterbacks in college football next season (Ranking the top 10 college football quarterbacks in 2024 – ESPN) – are deserving to be right where they are. Fifita just isn’t the household names in their areas, or even their conferences, that the other players are.
But Fifita, and perhaps Milroe, have the biggest challenges: having to break in new coaching staffs when they are getting ready to be breakout stars.
Fifita had this stat line in 2023: 2,869 passing yards and 25 touchdowns, just six interceptions. He did lose 33 yards on the ground (as in negative rushing yards) and didn’t run for a single score.
Milroe, in leading Alabama back from the dead (and regaining his starting job after being benched and after losing to Texas at Tuscaloosa), had almost identical passing numbers: 2,834 yards and 23 touchdowns, six interceptions, but rushed for 531 yards and 12 touchdowns. And if he’d had one more – on that bizarre final play call on the last play in Pasadena against Michigan – the national championship game might’ve had a different participant.
We won’t spoil the rest of ESPN’s list, but it’s intriguing, to say the least. It’s good reading, and it’s compiled by a number of their fantastic college football writers, none of whom get enough credit.
