2025-Q2 Rankings Report: QBs
Today, VP discusses 72 QBs for the upcoming 2025 college football season.
(Neo) Are you trying to tell me that I can dodge bullets?
No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.
- Morpheus, The Matrix (1999)
Cade Klubnik (Clemson) — Klubnik took a huge step forward as a second year starter in 2024, and with a full fleet of returning WRs from a year ago, the arrow appears to be pointing upwards on this passing offence. What’s more, Klubnik offers value on the ground as well, scoring seven times and rushing for 463 yards on 119 carries last season. In non-four point passing TD formats, Klubnik is the highest scoring returning QB who will be playing for the same team in 2025.
Blake Horvath (Navy) — This may surprise you, but Horvath is the highest scoring returning QB who will be playing for the same team in 2025 in four point passing TD formats, and second only behind Klubnik in five point+ passing TD formats. He averaged 28.23 PPG a year ago, and his value increases in formats with discrepancies between the scoring of passing vs. rushing TDs. Obviously, as an option QB his primary selling point is the rushing involved with his offence. He does score passing TDs too. He does it at just a high enough rate to make him a ‘dual threat QB’ and not just a RB at QB. Horvath and the Mids have virtually the exact same charmin soft schedule this year that they did a year ago, so that’s good. I went back and forth on he and Klubnik for #1; my conclusion is both feel appropriate. Horvath being in a service academy does offer just a touch more risk vs. Klubnik being in a traditional offence.
Garrett Nusmeier (LSU) — See the section below regarding the two paths for QBs to CFF excellence—dual threats and air raids baby. Here we have the latter variety. Nussmeier attempted a pig-gasmic 40 passes per game last year. The team as a whole averaged a 59/41 pass to run split in play calling. Nuss returns his lead receiver from a year ago in slot receiver Aaron Anderson, and a whole host of other options on the boundary. This is a CFP or bust year for the whole program and Nuss will be in his second year as the starter. While Nuss offers nothing on the ground, the setup here is conducive for an elevation in production from a year ago, especially considering Nuss’ TDs lagged behind his yardage. There is room here for more. At the very least, I view Nuss as one of the ‘safest’ options at QB to net at least 25 PPG.
Parker Navarro (Ohio) — The name of the game in CFF for QBs is to either find a dual threat QB, or a good passer in an air raid offence. Navarro fits the former category, finishing 2024 with six(!!) games over 100 yards rushing. That’s insane. As with all MAC players, the hardest part is holding onto them through the mud in September to get the gold in October. As a refresher, Ohio plays Ohio State, WVU and Rutgers as P4 OOC opponents. Yikes.
Micah Alejado (Hawaii) — What a year for the G5 this is shaping up to be. In an era with NIL and the transfer portal, you’d think that the G5 ranks would be thinning down to nonexistence for CFF relevancy, but the opposite is true for 2025. At least, at the QB position. The Run-N-Shoot offence that Hawaii has been trying to bring back has been a failed experiment thus far, but as the head coach rightfully pointed out after Alejado’s first start, when you have the right QB, the sky is the limit in this system. That’s exactly what CFF players want to hear. The one thing I would caution drafters with is that Alejado’s one and only start was vs. a poor New Mexico team. It was a great game, but even NM is bad defensively by MWC standards. Hawaii has a relatively friendly OOC schedule, playing Arizona and Stanford as their only two P4 opponents.