Heading into the 2021 college football season, it was a wide-open race to be the top quarterback prospect in the 2022 NFL draft class. A few games in, it’s still anybody’s guess who the first passer off the board will be come next April.
After his performance up to this point, Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong is making as strong a case as any other signal-caller in the country to claim that title.
Armstrong is lighting up opposing defenses at a ridiculous rate, and putting up video-game numbers for the Cavaliers. He’s also doing a huge chunk of his damage with deep throws, proving he’s not afraid to challenge opposing defenses down the field:
UVA QB Brennan Armstrong has been TEARING through College Football
💥 93.9 overall grade (1st)
💥 13 big-time throws (1st)
💥 473 deep passing yards (1st) pic.twitter.com/0vBoyBvxH6— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 23, 2021
His latest effort, despite losing a shootout to another top quarterback prospect in North Carolina’s Sam Howell, Armstrong threw for a whopping 554 yards and four touchdowns, completing 39 of his 54 pass attempts.
Production is great, but we’ve seen plenty of college passers who can light up the stat sheet, but don’t necessarily have the tools to succeed in the pros at the game’s most important position. Thankfully for Armstrong, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Listed at 6-2, 215 pounds, Armstrong doesn’t have any size concerns when projecting to the next level, and his arm appears to be capable of making every throw to all levels of the field. He’s not surrounded by superstars, and he’s still putting up big numbers and putting his team in position to win games.
There’s still plenty of season left, and the predraft process always has plenty to say about the quarterback pecking order, but Armstrong is doing everything he can on the field to be among the top players selected at his position next year.
