Both college football and the NFL seasons are right around the corner as we enter the final phase of Summer. An annual tradition in sports media around this time is tier lists. With the smartest, or rather, loudest sports pundits ranking teams, players, coaches, uniforms, you name it, and there’s a tier list for it.
In this article, I’ve decided to create a tier list for QBs in EA Sports College Football 26, separating the best QBs in the game from their slightly worse counterparts all across the country. Before we get started, I want to set some ground rules. Every QB above 80 overall in the game is on this list, as well as the “best” (in my opinion) QB of any Power Five team without an 80+ overall QB. Any player who is a backup will be designated with a *.
Methodology
I went heavy with the hard data on this list, unlike most tier lists, which rely more on the author’s presupposed opinions than objective numbers. I used a 1000-point scale, adding up the 10 attributes that I believe are the most important for QB success:
- Speed
- Agility
- Ball carrier vision
- Throw power
- Short accuracy
- Medium accuracy
- Deep accuracy
- Throw on the run
- Throw under pressure
- Break sack
This scale considers all the passing attributes in the game and three running attributes. Because of the large variance of the running attributes compared to the relatively small variance of the passing stats, this list tends to favor dual threat and backfield creator archetypes rather than pocket passers, which is in line with what my QB archetypes analysis and rankings stated, which is that mobile fast QBs rule the game just like in real college football.
Quarterback Tier List
A+ (+880 points)
- LaNorris Sellers SO – South Carolina, 91 OVR
- John Mateer JR – Oklahoma, 91 OVR
- D.J. Lagway SO – Florida, 90 OVR
The cream of the crop! These are likely future first-round picks who are a young group of dual-threat stars.
A (879-870 points)
- Avery Johnson JR – Kansas State, 89 OVR
- Kevin Jennings JR – SMU, 89 OVR
- Devon Dampier JR – Utah, 87 OVR
- Kaidon Salter SR – Colorado, 88 OVR
- Cade Klubnik SR – Clemson, 92 OVR
If Klubnik were just a hair faster, he would be in the top tier, as he’s clearly the best pure passer in the game. Kaidon Salter is also a great quarterback with three rushing attributes above 90, 92 throw power, and 90 short accuracy.
A- (869-860 points)
- Diego Pavia SR – Vanderbilt, 88 OVR
- Jalon Daniels SR – Kansas, 87 OVR
- Blake Horvath SR – Navy, 90 OVR
- Nico Iamaleava SO – UCLA, 88 OVR
- Sam Leavitt SO – Arizona State, 91 OVR
- Alonza Barnett III JR – James Madison, 86 OVR
- Taylen Green SR – Arkansas, 86 OVR
- Darian Mensah SO – Duke, 89 OVR
Is Blake Horvath a real QB or a glorified RB? Either way, he’s talented enough to sneak into the third tier and gain an A grade. Sam Leavitt is on the opposite spectrum of Horvath, with him being the first QB to appear on the list with a speed rating below 85.
B+ (859-841 points)
- Arch Manning SO – Texas, 90 OVR
- Haynes King SR– Georgia Tech, 86 OVR
- Rocco Becht JR – Iowa State, 88 OVR
- Jayden Maiava JR – USC, 86 OVR
- Marcel Reed SO – Texas A&M, 85 OVR
- Dylan Raiola SO – Nebraska, 87 OVR
- Gio Lopez FR – North Carolina, 83 OVR
- Dante Moore SO – Oregon, 84 OVR
Arch Manning gets a lot of headlines, but EA decided not to buy in just yet. His ratings are good, maybe even great, but he just barely falls out of the A category.
B (839-833 points)
- Demond Williams Jr. SO – Washington, 82 OVR
- Tommy Castellanos SR – Florida State, 83 OVR
- Bryce Underwood* FR – Michigan, 81 OVR
- Fernando Mendoza JR – Indiana, 87 OVR
- Sawyer Robertson SR – Baylor, 88 OVR
- Byrum Brown SR – USF, 83 OVR
- Keelon Russell* FR – Alabama, 80 OVR
- Noah Fifita JR – Arizona, 87 OVR
- Austin Simmons SO – Ole Miss, 83 OVR
This tier includes two freshmen backups in Bryce Underwood and Keelon Russell, already B-tier QBs on my scale. Just imagine how great they’ll be next year. They are also transfer targets in Dynasty mode, if you have a top-end team with a departing starting QB, speaking of which.
B- (inflated overall senior pocket passers with less than 830 points)
- Garrett Nussmeier SR – LSU, 92 OVR
- Drew Allar SR – Penn State, 92 OVR
- Carson Beck SR – Miami, 91 OVR
- Luke Altmyer SE – Illinois, 89 OVR
This is the only section in which I break the rankings and go against my scale. I felt like these senior pocket passers, who are so highly rated in the game but so poorly rated on my scale, needed some extra love. Instead of putting these guys down between C and F like they would have, I put them at a solid, but clearly not as good, as their overall ratings would suggest.
C+ (832-830 points)
- Matthew Sluka* SR – James Madison, 82 OVR
- Jackson Arnold JR – Auburn, 84 OVR
- Kyron Drones SR – Virginia Tech, 83 OVR
How in the world does James Madison, who just entered the FBS a few years ago, manage to get two top 40 QBs (in the game) and become the only team with two quarterbacks this high on the tier list?
C (829-825 points)
- Braylon Braxton SR – Southern Miss, 82 OVR
- Joey Aguilar SR – Tennessee, 82 OVR
- Julian Sayin SO – Ohio State, 85 OVR
- Maalik Murphy JR – Oregon State, 83 OVR
- Dequan Finn SR – Miami (OH), 82 OVR
- Brendon Lewis SR – Memphis, 82 OVR
- Jaylen Raynor JR – Arkansas State, 81 OVR
- Eli Holstein SO – Pitt, 83 OVR
- Chandler Morris SR – Virginia, 82 OVR
These are the average quarterbacks in the game, hovering around the low to mid-80s overall ratings. Julian Sayin is definitely the best quarterback in the group, with great passing attributes, including 94 throw power, 90 SAC, 88 MAC, and 84 DAC.
C- (824-820 points)
- Gunner Stockton JR – Georgia, 82 OVR
- Colton Joseph SO – Old Dominion, 80 OVR
- Maddux Madsen JR – Boise State, 86 OVR
- Ty Simpson JR – Alabama, 82 OVR
- Aidan Chiles JR – Michigan State, 81 OVR
- Tavien St. Clair* FR – Ohio State, 80 OVR
- Beau Pribula SR– Missouri, 80 OVR
- Parker Navarro SR – Ohio, 81 OVR
- Behren Morton SR – Texas Tech, 87 OVR
Tavien St. Clair is an exciting freshman who was the third-best quarterback prospect behind Bryce Underwood and Keelon Russell in the 2025 recruiting class (fourth-best overall). Ty Simpson, Gunner Stockton, and Aidan Chiles are all juniors set up for success on decent to great teams and should play much better than their rankings, just based on the talent around them.
D+ (819-810 points)
- Mark Gronowski SR – Iowa, 81 OVR
- Michael Hawkins Jr.* SO – Oklahoma, 80 OVR
- Matt Chadwick* SO – Miami, 81 OVR
- Billy Edwards Jr. SR – Wisconsin, 81 OVR
- Brendan Sorsby JR – Cincinnati, 83 OVR
- Lincoln Kienholz* JR – Ohio State, 80 OVR
This tier is bookended by a couple of guys with South Dakota ties, with SDSU (South Dakota State) veteran Mark Gronowski transferring to Iowa on a seven-figure NIL deal and Pierre, SD native Lincoln Kienholz backing up Julian Sayin at Ohio State. Is that an interesting tidbit? Or did I not have anything else to put in this section? The world may never know.
D (809-800 points)
- Ashton Daniels* JR – Auburn, 80 OVR
- Bobby Ashford SR – Wake Forest, 79 OVR
- C.J. Carr FR – Notre Dame, 80 OVR
- Zach Calzada SR – Kentucky, 81 OVR
- Athan Kaliakmanis SR – Rutgers, 80 OVR
- Jaylen Henderson SR – West Virginia, 76 OVR
- Devin Brown JR – Cal, 79 OVR
- Tayven Jackson JR – UCF, 77 OVR
We are now officially at the disappointing end of the list. We have CJ Carr, who will likely be good, but will be forced to start in his freshman year against a very difficult schedule. You also have a number of power five teams that don’t have an 80+ overall QB like UCF and West Virginia that could struggle mightily.
D- (799-780 points)
- Rickie Collins SO – Syracuse, 77 OVR
- Kadin Semonza SO – Tulane, 80 OVR
- James McCauley FR – Washington State, 76 OVR
- Conner Weigman JR – Houston, 83 OVR
- McCae Hillstead SO – BYU, 77 OVR
- C.J. Bailey SO – North Carolina State, 78 OVR
- Gavin Wimsett JR – Jacksonville State, 80 OVR
- Miller Moss SR – Louisville, 85 OVR
- Tucker Gleason SR – Toledo, 80 OVR
- Josh Hoover JR – TCU, 87 OVR
- Malik Washington FR – Maryland, 75 OVR
I like Malik Washington, but not as a freshman starter for Maryland, but rather as a transfer target later in your Dynasty playthrough.
F (779-750 points)
- Max Shickenjanski SO – Minnesota, 69 OVR
- Hauss Henjy FR – Oklahoma State, 73 OVR
- Shane Honeycutt FR – Purdue, 72 OVR
- Blake Shapen SR – Mississippi State, 81 OVR
- Greg James SR – Boston College, 78 OVR
- Mikey Keene SR – Michigan, 81 OVR
- Elijah Brown SO – Stanford, 75 OVR
- Caden Veltkamp JR – FAU, 83 OVR
- Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi JR – Colorado State, 80 OVR
- Preston Stone JR – Northwestern, 82 OVR
- Austin Mack* SO – Alabama, 80 OVR
- Walker Eget SR – San Jose State, 80 OVR
The Minnesota Gophers have a couple of QBs with better Overalls, but this Max guy performs way better than his top line number on my scale, so I put him in as the starter. I also like that his name last sounds like a certain meme from a certain movie about a certain video game.
Super F (749 and less)
- Joe Fagnano SR – UConn, 80 OVR
This guy has a decent overall rating for a UConn quarterback, but his numbers are terrible when you dig deeper. He only gets a 732 rating, by far the worst on the list.
