Top 5 quarterbacks in college football right now

Now that we are a month into the 2022 college football season, I decided it was time to rank the five best quarterbacks at this very moment. For clarification, these lists are based on where these young men are today as college players. I’m in the business of projecting forward and evaluating them as draft prospects. In this exercise, I tried to isolate them from their team and purely judge them on who can win games at the CFB level right now.

Here are the five best quarterbacks:

#1. Bryce Young, Alabama

This was really a toss-up for number one, because with how good Alabama and Ohio State are. Given how well their quarterbacks are playing, Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud will likely be the ones sweating it out for the Heisman in New York. I ultimately went with the reigning award winner because I believe his receiving corps and O-line aren’t quite as impressive and he’s already had one of those Heisman moments (when Alabama was legitimately outplayed by Texas, but he led his team down the field for a game-winning field goal with just 84 seconds and no timeouts left).

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Bryce Young offers a lightning quick release, consistently leads his receivers to open grass and is willing to attack all areas of the field (depending on what defense he faces/what the progressions dictate). But what makes him so special to me is his composure in high-leverage moments and natural play-making skills, being slippery to corral and somehow finding the open target.

#2. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State

Stroud comes in as a close second, even though his numbers are better and yet again dictating an absurd pace. He has a 70.5% completion percentage, over 300 yards per game and 16 touchdowns versus just one interception. This is despite only having a likely top-ten pick at receiver in Jaxon Smith-Njigba for basically just one game so far.

He’s more of the prototypical pocket-passer quarterback. Particularly in terms of being willing to hang in the pocket and read the field high-to-low as one of the elite vertical throwers in college. Having elite protection and play-makers (who the quarterback regularly hits right out of their breaks on timing-based patterns) along with Ryan Day's play-designs makes this a difficult offense to defend. But what makes them great is the confidence with which Stroud throws the ball outside the numbers and how he doesn’t allow defenses to cheat in coverage at all.

#3. Caleb Williams, USC

You can argue here at number three, because as we saw last weekend against Oregon State, Caleb Williams is still a very young quarterback. His body-language wasn’t great as the USC offense finally got slowed down by somebody, but then he had that incredible fourth-down scramble. He allowed his O-line to push him past the marker before hitting a beautiful honey-hole shot to Jordan Addison against cover-two for the game-winning score.

The former Pitt receiver coming over along with Lincoln Riley bringing Williams along from Oklahoma (where he unseated Spencer Rattler) has been a beautiful marriage. Prior to being held to just 17 points this past Saturday night, the Trojans had combined for 152 against Rice, Stanford and Fresno State. Williams himself looks very comfortable operating the quick game as they spread defenses out and he throws one of the most beautiful deep balls you will ever see.

The component he brings to the table that not many can is having the power to run over linebackers, but also the speed to take it the distance (which we saw on 66- and 74-yard TDs against Texas and Iowa State last season).

#4. Hendon Hooker, Tennessee

After talking about a couple of true juniors and even a sophomore, now let’s get to a sixth-year senior quarterback in Hendon Hooker. We already know that being 25 years old come next April will be a huge deal for NFL evaluators. However, he’s playing the quarterback position as well as anybody outside of Alabama and not named Joe Burrow as I’ve seen in the SEC for a long time.

Coming over from Virginia Tech ahead of the 2021 season, all Hooker has done is complete 68.9 percent of his passes for well over 4,000 yards and 38 touchdowns compared to only three INTs. He's also added another 800 yards and eight TDs on the ground.

His ability to process information pre- and post-snap to dictate where to go with the ball and his ability to manipulate safeties is very advanced. He offers a great combination of being able to let it fly down the field and still taking care of the ball and not forcing it into tight windows. Sometimes I’d like him to stick a little bit longer inside the pocket, but he’s really elusive as a runner and has picked up several key first downs for the Vols when needed most.

#T-5. Anthony Richardson, Florida & Will Levis, Kentucky

Finally, I couldn’t quite decide between the two other SEC quarterbacks. They don’t have the experience of Hooker, but are most likely currently battling for QB3 in next year’s draft. Levis certainly has put up better numbers (10-to-4 TD-to-INT ratio) than Richardson, who currently sits at two touchdowns versus five interceptions, with a miniscule completion percentage of 53.7%. Levis also beat Richardson in their direct matchup, but my god, the talent is just surreal.

Richardson has 196 yards and five TDs on the ground (where he constantly bails out his offense with crucial scrambles on third and fourth downs), along with a rocket attached to his right shoulder. He seems to teleport the ball to any part of the field and this perhaps gives him the advantage. Levis is able to drive the ball with velocity, heave it over the heads of defenders and shorten his release when necessary. He’s also an excellent on-the-move thrower. Both have some decision-making issues at times, but they more than make up for this with individual skills.

Honorable quarterback mentions: Drake Maye (North Carolina), Michael Penix Jr. (Washington), Sam Hartmann (Wake Forest), Jaren Hall (BYU), Will Rogers (Mississippi State), Dillon Gabriel (Oklahoma), K.J. Jefferson (Arkansas), Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina) & D.J. Uiagelelei (Clemson)

You can check out all my other positional rankings here or as one piece on my page: halilsrealfootballtalk.com