The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Joel Klatt’s Top 10 Quarterbacks for the 2025 College Football Season

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt ranks his Top 10 Quarterbacks heading into the 2025 season. He explains his rankings when evaluating up-and-coming QBs like Texas’ Arch Manning and Florida’s D.J. Lagway against experienced veterans like Penn State’s Drew Allar and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik. Klatt also reveals two transfer Quarterbacks in his Top 10 that will both be trying to follow Cam Ward’s blueprint from a year ago. He explains why he has some reservations about one player while the other got the nod inside his Top 5. 0:00-1:23 Intro1:24-2:07 Top 10 qbs2:08-4:28 Carson Beck4:29-6:31 Luke Altmyer6:32-7:50 LaNorris Sellers7:51-9:07 DJ Lagway9:08-10:17 Garrett Nussmeier10:18-14:19 Drew Allar14:20-16:11 Sam Leavitt16:12-19:38 John Mateer19:39-24:05 Arch Manning24:06-28:24 Cade Klubnik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At number 10 was the guy that I had at the top of the list last year, I wanted to pace myself on this one because he's got to take a next step. Penn State has not gotten over the hump of beating the Michigan's and the Ohio states of the world. I believe in his coach. I think that this program is one of the three best programs in college football right now. It's time for Archmanning. I think Dabwe and Clemson are building something that could threaten this year. College football has never been better now.

Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn. of the golden age of college football. Hey, welcome into the Joel Clatt show. I am Joel Clatt. This show, as always, is brought to you by Hampton by Hilton. We thank them for their support, as always. And we are diving in more college football conversation for you.

This is going to be an episode that will live all summer long, kind of an evergreen episode that we'll get into. Before we do that, though, just remember wherever you're listening or watching this show, make sure to subscribe, follow us, rate review us, subscribe on YouTube, that's always a good idea. leave a comment below. That would be awesome. And then wherever you like to social media or there at Joel Clashow, you can follow us there and get all of our content.

Okay, here's what I want to do on this episode. And again, you can revisit this or listen to it a couple of times, send it to a friend. This is going to be good all summer long. It's really not timely. I'm just going to bring to you right now my top 10 quarterbacks going into next season. Preface with this by saying like this is not just the guys who I think are going to have the statistically best seasons.

You know, there are going to be guys that throw for more yards than the 10 quarterbacks that I'm going to mention here. But this is very much a combination of team and player. And when we look up at the end of the year, I think that all 10 of these guys were going to sit there and we're going to be like, yeah, man, these guys were absolute stars on their team and led their teams to successful season. So it's a bit of a combination that I wanted to get to. And it was interesting. I was watching last year's version of this. And we only did five last year.

And so I wanted to do 10 this year. And at number 10 was the guy that I had at the top of the list last year, this year, at 10 Carson Beck. So Carson Beck comes in transferring to Miami. He's my number 10 quarterback going into next season. And I'll be real honest. I felt like this was giving him the benefit of the doubt. There's a lot of things that crept up both in season and then now postseason about Carson Beck that gives me a lot. a little bit of pause. One, he turned the ball over too much last year. Yes, Georgia struggled

with drops on the outside. They had more drops than anybody amongst their wide receivers than more than anybody in the country. That was clearly a problem. That's not necessarily his fault. And I was a guy that defended Carson Beck during the course of the season. Maybe not to the point that Kirby Smart did, but I certainly defended some of his play because, listen, that's maddening as a quarterback. When you make the right read, you make the right decision, throw a good ball, and then it's dropped. That's not your fault. Some of those were tipped and into interstate. but he did turn the football over too much. You just can't do that and expect your team to perform at their highest ability.

So that's the on-the-field stuff with Carson Beck. Then we get the injury, which also was on the field. But now we really haven't seen him throw all off-season. And he hasn't been able to really generate any rapport with his new team or wide receivers. just cleared to play recently and throw recently. We're now in the latter stages of May when I'm recording this. So if you listen to this in June or July, he hasn't had a ton of time.

I think that this injury is going to be a bigger deal than a lot of people want to lead on. Again, the opportunity to develop chemistry with wide receivers during spring ball wasn't there. And then even at Miami, let's face it, he's had some off-the-field distractions. let's just call them. And I don't think that that's going to benefit anybody.

But I do think that he's a really good player. That's why I had him number one last year. And even with some of those things that give me pause going into this season, he's still going to be on my list, except this time he's at number 10. Disappointing year, injury, I think he can bounce back. At number nine, this one's going to be a bit of a surprise. And I'll be honest. There's other guys that I really wanted to put here at 9 and 10.

And I landed on Beck, and I landed on, Luke Altmeyer from Illinois, namely because of experience. I also believe that their teams could have solid years. But this experience factored in particular for Altmire, I think, is real. This is going to be his third season playing. That's a lot of football. We've seen in this age of NIL and more specifically transfer portal, what we've seen in college football is the guys that play best at this position,

the quarterback position, are guys with a lot of experience. We've seen that now payoff in spades. We saw it. Two years ago, we've saw it. Last year, we're going to see it again this year. And Oatmire has that experience. He's not the flashiest guy on the list. And it's not an offense that's going to put up a huge amount of numbers throwing the football.

But it's a team that won over 10 games last year. I think that they've got a schedule that could put them in the college football playoff. You look at his touchdown interception ratio from a year ago. It's 22 to 6. I really like that. He's entering year three. He can run when he needs to.

He's not hyper elusive, I wouldn't say, but he can run when he needs to. So again, there are players that I could have put here at 9 and 10. I was thinking of Sawyer Robertson. I thought he played really well at Baylor. Rocco back to Iowa State. You know, Rocco's losing a couple of guys on the outside from a wide receiver perspective that are going to be hard to recoup. There's other guys out there.

And I landed on these two, mostly because, again, I'm going to come back to this. What have we seen succeed in college football? We've seen experience succeed. And these guys have it. Now, Beck doesn't have it at Miami, but that doesn't really matter when you're a player of his caliber. And I think that both of them are going to have successful years. Now we get into these guys that are like, okay, now we get into kind of like this talent stretch. And this is a guy that took off second half of last year.

if he can do anything remotely similar to what he did in the second half of last year for the entirety of this year, then we've got a star on our hands. And that's Lenora Sellers at South Carolina. I'm a huge fan of this kid. I think he is a really good player. And again, that second half of the year led himself to the SEC freshman of the year as a red shirt freshman. And he's huge. He's six, three, 240 pounds. He's really tough to bring down. He's athletic. He can get out. on the edge, dynamic athlete, showed off what he can do, by the way, when he had over 160 yards on the ground against Clemson. And that was a good Clemson team, proved that they were a good team, not only winning the ACC and getting into the college football playoff,

but playing Texas really tough in that game down in Austin. Still room to grow as a passer, but that's why I'm going to bet on the come here with Lenora Sellers. I think that this guy is a terrific player. And again, like I said, the second half of last year, you watch some of that tape. You see what he does dynamically on the outside. If he can grow and develop as a passer, you're talking about a guy that has all SEC caliber written all over him. Now, you can also say that about the next guy. And this is a guy that I got to tell you. I think that SEC fans

that are not fans of this school are a bit nervous about. They're nervous to face this guy. And rightly so, I think he's a star. I think you saw that late last year. And that's DJ Lagway from Florida. DJ Lagway is a hell of a player, man. I'm telling you, this guy could be an absolute superstar by the end of the year. Florida is still going to have to deal with that horrific schedule. But when he came in at halftime of that Tennessee game in Neeland and nearly pulled off the upset there, they lost in overtime after he threw a game tying touchdown in that final minute.

I know for a fact, because one of them works on this show, Tennessee fans are like, oh, man, I don't like the thought of that game at all this year. I get it. DJ Lagway is a hell of a player. And you saw that last year and you can extrapolate out some of that growth and development to a guy that can be really dynamic. He got hurt early in that Georgia game. Then he missed the Texas game the following week. Came back.

He won the last four games of the year, including LSU, including Ole Miss against Jackson Dart, first round draft pick. He's a five-star guy and he got to play. It wasn't all highlights, obviously. So as is the case most of the time with young players, interceptions, turnovers. Got to clean that up. Only completed 60% of his passes, but he's got a huge arm. He's got legs. He's got athleticism.

I like Lagway. I really do. I think that he's excellent. I'm going to stay in the SEC at number six. I'm going to go Garrett Nussmeyer. Garrett Nussmeier might not be the most athletic guy out there, but he's huge and he threw for over 4,000 yards last year. He's an absolute gunslinger.

Good and bad. He can take some chances. but in that offense with Brian Kelly, you know that he's going to put up numbers. And I think LSU is going to be a really good football team. This should be Brian's best LSU team, I think at least. Got to cut down on turnovers 15 last year. And for a traditional pocket guy that's not going to bail you out with his legs, minimizing turnovers is a must.

You cannot turn the football over if you're going to be a traditional pocket guy. because you're never going to equate numbers and make up for mistakes. You're never going to be the eraser that the guys with athleticism are. So that's something that he's going to have to clean up on. He'll have guys to throw to at LSU. They've got a really improved wide receiver room through the portal. Again, I think Nussmeyer is going to be terrific. So that's my 10 through 6.

And now we get into the top five. Here are my top five quarterbacks going into the season next. year in 2025. At number five. And I tried to pace myself on this one because I'm very high on this team. I think this team is going to be an excellent team. They're following the blueprint of a team that can go and actually win a national championship. I wanted to pace myself on this one because he's got to take a next step in his development, in his leadership, and in what the team has accomplished. Drew Aller at Penn State. I've loved Drew Aller since the moment I saw him when he was a true freshman warming up in a game that he wasn't even going to play in as a true freshman

before Penn State opened at Purdue a few years ago. A few years ago. And I've seen the growth. Now, this is what's tough. This is what's really tough. Is that I, and I'm hesitating here because it's going to sound like I'm talking down to people, and I don't want to. I don't want to. I just think that there is a difference between people that just view for statistics or results and not for like a guy playing the position and how he plays the position, how he grows in the position, how he's developed, whether it's his pocket presence, his accuracy down the field, his decision-making. I felt like Drew Aller last year played excellent football. I really did.

Now, there's things that he can get better at. There's no doubt. He was playing with a wide receiver cord that was below average. There's no other way to say it. And it's not shading. I'm not trying to shade the wide receivers, but listen, you can't play a playoff game and go out there and have zero catches from your wide receiver core

and think that your quarterback is just going to bail you out because what, he has a tight end in Tyler Warren? So I think that Drew Aller has gotten a bad rap from a lot of people, including some Penn State fans. You know, the thing is like, oh, no, you know, Alar's no good. Alar's actually very good. He's got incredible skill levels. He has shown the ability to run and is willing to run for first downs,

even though it's not like he's going to go tear the world up running the football. He can do it. He can do it as well as Will Howard did it at Ohio State last year. He's got an excellent arm. They pushed the ball down the field more so last year than they had in years prior. I thought he took a step forward with Andy Kodalnicki, and now they're going to have better wide receivers on the outside. He's going to be in year two with Kodalnicki.

That's going to be, I think, huge for them. The next step for him and his team, you've got to go beat a team that you are either even with or some of us think might be even more talented than you. Penn State has not gotten over the hump of beating the Michigan's and the Ohio states of the world. in their own conference. And then that happened again,

even though in the playoffs, they won a couple of games, they beat teams that they should beat. And then in an evenly matched game against Notre Dame, they had a wide receiver core that didn't catch a ball. Okay, so that's the next step. That's the next step for their head coach, James Franklin. That's the next step for their new defensive coordinator.

You know, like, I think this is going to be a really good team. Part of that is that they've replenished their wide receiver core. they've got guys on the outside that I think are going to be very good and will improve Aller as he continues to improve. So I didn't want to go way too high with Aller and make the mistake that I did last year with Carson Beck. And so I put him at five. And this is just like a patient deal where I think he can play higher than this. I wouldn't be shocked if Drew Aller was actually in Heisman conversations during the course of the middle or even second half of the season. the tools are there.

And so Alar's just got to go out there and prove it. So does Penn State. So does James Franklin. And we'll see if they can do that. All right, at number four, a guy that had a great season last year. I mean, a great season is Sam Levitt. Sam Levitt at Arizona State. I think that he, again, could have a tremendous season.

They've got to replace and replaces the wrong word. They've got to find a way to recoup the loss of Cam Scatibu. Scataboo was so important to them, even outside of just the numbers that he produced. You know, he was terrific for them in so many different ways. And yet their red shirt freshman quarterback, Sam Levitt, who was one of the best in the country. And he gets Jordan Tyson back with him, as is not the case, you know, with maybe a Rocco Beck that Iowa State, when he's got to replace Noel and Higgins,

you get Tyson back. and that's going to be a huge difference for Sam Levitt. Now, got to replace Scatibu, but this is an offense with Kenny Dillingham at the helm. They're going to put up points. This is a team that is going to have a chance to repeat as Big 12 champions. It's going to be difficult because, again, this is a league in the Big 12 that's going to have like six, seven, eight teams that are all going to be matched up, I would say, somewhat evenly. And it can go here or there whether a team is actually going to go out there and win it like they did.

or they fall off and they're just like a 500 football team. I think that it could be that tight. And the Delta could be that wide as far as successful seasons and average seasons in the Big 12. Leavitt is a threat with his legs on the scramble. He ran for 60 yards against Texas in that CFP game. I was impressed with his poise in that game. I think he is a terrific player. And again, I trust Kenny Dillingham.

You've got Jordan Tyson on the outside that he's back. Those are the factors that lead me to believe that Levitt's going to have one of the five best years in college football at the quarterback position. So he's number four. At number three, here's a guy I'm very high on. I think probably, and judging by where I see, you know, people fall on other lists, John Mateer, the transfer from Washington State to Oklahoma is going to be my number three quarterback.

I really like John Mateer. And here's the thing. Here's the thing. As much as some who cover this sport will tell you like, oh, you know, I watch everything, man, people don't watch Washington State. And when I prepared for the holiday bowl, when Washington State was going to play Syracuse and I was calling that game and I got to watch every snap of offense that Washington State played last year on film, I came away so impressed with John Mateer. He is really talented as a thrower. He is athletic and quietly put up one of the best quarterback years in the country. Now he's going to enter the spotlight.

So now he goes down to Oklahoma and he goes to the SEC. And yes, that's a jump. There's no doubt. But he brings his offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, with him. So he's not going to have to learn a new system. And in a lot of ways, that should pay dividends from Matier. He's got a big arm. he can run it. He's a dual threat guy. He was the only quarterback last year to average at least 250 yards through the year, throwing the football and 50 on the ground in every game.

When you strip out sack yardage, which we should because it's a stupid rule in college football that we count the sack yardage against the rushing numbers for the quarterback. But if you strip out the sack yardage at Washington State, he ran for over 1,000 yards. And again, when I watched him on film, I'm like, hey man, this guy is a player. there's no doubt last year he was one of the 10 best quarterbacks in college football. Now he's coming back. He's going to have better players around him. And he retains his offensive coordinator this time at Oklahoma and not in Pullman. Yeah, he's going to be one of the 10 best.

And I actually think he's going to be one of the five best. He's a heck of a player. Just think of this. Did anyone really? Maybe they did. Maybe I'm not giving people enough credit on this one. When Cam Ward went from Washington State to Miami, I heard it in people's reaction early in the year last year when they started

started seeing and watching Kim Ward actually play at Miami. And they were like, oh, man, he's so good. And it's like, yeah, I mean, he's playing the exact way he did at Washington State. And I believe that we're going to have a very similar effect with Mateer going from Washington State and now going to Oklahoma. Oklahoma's got a terrible schedule. Again, I get it. But he's going to have a chance early when they play that game against Michigan week two of the season against the defense that you know is going to be very good. I mean, very good. Michigan's defense is always solid, even without some of those guys that went to the NFL draft, in particular in the middle and the interior.

Look at what Michigan did last year to Alabama in the ball game. All of those players from Michigan on defense are back. And so Mathieu and Arbuckle are going to have their work cut out for him right away. That one at home. So I can't wait to watch that game. So John Mateer at number three. Again, watch out, man. This guy is a hell of a player. And I just don't think many people actually watched him last year. looked at his numbers, thought he was really good. And then you actually watch him through the year. And it's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was one of the 10 best last year.

He's coming back for sure. All right, let's go to number two. I've got to do it because I believe in him. I believe in his coach. I think that this program is one of the three best programs in college football right now. It's time for Archmanning. Archmanning is going to be number two. I know he only started two games last year, and I'm always big on experience, but did you see him play in those two games?

Don't we know anything about Steve Sarkesian and the way that he builds an offense around the tools that he has? And now with Arch, you've got a big quarterback, 6-4, 225 pounds, he can move. He's got a stronger arm than Quinn yours. Quinn was experienced and there's no doubt. And Sark was loyal to Quinn. There's no doubt. But like there's a difference to the offense when Manning went in than when Quinn Ewers was in. This is not a knock.

It just becomes more dynamic. And the reason is because Arch puts more players in conflict on the field than what yours did. Again, not a knock, just a comparison. Arch puts edge defenders in conflict because he can run. And that was something last year. I don't think anybody realized how athletic he actually. is on the outside, but he can run. And then he puts safeties in conflict because he can

threaten every blade of grass on the field. He's got a great arm, a really great arm, and he's accurate with it. I just, I look up and I think to myself, you know what? Like, Arch is going to be really good. Again, I know it's a projection and I know that maybe some of this is his last name, but it's just going to work out. If there was a quarterback with the exact same build and history and a different last name, but in the same situation with Sark, with Texas, with those athletes around them, I know they're going to have to replace some of those offensive linemen. But don't we trust Sarkesian by this point?

Yes, the answer is yes. The answer is yes. Arch brings that downfield threat like you just saw if you're watching on YouTube, averaged almost 10.5 yards per pass attempt last year. that would have ranked second in college football. If he had played more, that would have been only behind Jackson Dart. Again, if you're watching YouTube, you already saw that graphic up there. And if you're not watching YouTube, you should.

And you should probably go over there and you should probably subscribe. He's been sitting. He's been learning for two years, speaking of Arch. And I think he's going to hit the ground running. Now, he's got a hell of a challenge. Week one, he's going to have to go on the road and play Ohio State. But I already referenced this guy earlier, but Jim Knowles now is the defensive coordinator at Penn State.

So he's leaving. And now you're going to face Matt Patricia and a new defense at Ohio State with a lot of new players, a lot of new players. Now, you still have to play Caleb Downs. And they've recruited to a point and played enough depth where it's like these guys are going to be able to play for Ohio State. But man, they had a ton, a ton of experienced players that are now leaving that defense. You've got a new coordinator. This is the time you would want to play Ohio State. if you had to play them on the road in the shoe,

you'd want to do it early in the season before that defense catches their stride. The last thing that I would say about Archmanning, and I want to be totally fair and transparent. My executive producer of my work life is the name Steve Owens. And, no, he didn't win the Heisman trophy. I'm not talking about that, Steve Owens. But Steve said this,

comparison to me last year when Arch did start those two games and he had a couple of those long runs. And Steve was like, man, that looks like Trevor Lawrence. And I was like, you're right. It's exactly what it looks like. When he gets a step, he's gone. You don't think of him as an athletic dual threat quarterback. And yet he is. And so again, that's why I go back to he puts defenders in conflict. I know he's not experienced, but I trust everything around him. even if some of the players are going to be an experience around him, I trust the system around him. I trust his upbringing.

I think Arch is going to be an absolute star. I will be shocked if it does not work out for Arch at Texas. So he's number two. And my number one quarterback going into next season in 2025 is Cade Clubnick. I'm a big believer in Clemson. I'm a big believer in Clemson, mainly because I think Cade Clubnick is going to be the best quarterback in college football next year.

I think Cade is tremendous. A year ago, there were real questions going into the season about Clubnick. Would he be able to lead Clemson? What were they going to be, in particular throwing on the outside? And now they get him back. This is a team that I think is absolutely a top five team. Dabo is making another run. I think he's building for another run at Clemson.

This is impressive what Dabo is doing. We don't see teams win at a high level generally over different cycles of recruits. Generally speaking, teams do not win national championships. I should say coaches don't win national championships over multiple cycles of recruit. That's why what Nick Sabin did at Alabama was so stinking impressive. Now, he had threats during his run at Alabama, right? Dabo at Clemson over one cycle of recruits, really, if you want to call it that, although Dabo was good with Trevor and Deshaun. And then you've got Kirby kind of raises up with that great defense over a couple of years.

But again, the mark of like the true elite coach, the elite of the elite in the history of our sport is winning national championships over multiple cycles of recruits. I give that long dissertation to tell you, like, I think Dabo and Clemson are building something that could threaten this year. And if you were to win this year, that would put Dabble on a totally different level, at least how I look at the history of our sport and the history of the coaches within our sport. So, Cade Clubnick, a big reason why I think that could potentially happen. I think that he's fantastic. He showed why he was the number one quarterback out of high school last year when he

played so well. He pushes the ball down the field. You think about this. He had the third most completions in the country last year of throws that traveled at least 20 or more yards down the field. He's athletic. He's got good players around him. And he's got Garrett Riley still. And this offense where he's now played for a number of years. This is the perfect storm for a guy whose team is on the rise. He's played a ton of football. He's experienced. He's the prototype of the type of guy that's going to succeed in college football moving forward, and he's got a perfect storm around him. Perfect storm around him. Again, it's going to be really tough for me not to go into next season and say, like, my Heisman pick before the year is not Cade Clubnick. If

there was, again, like, it's just hard from wide receiver. Jeremiah Smith is going to be the best player in the country. And we saw Travis Hunter win the Heisman, but like Cade Clubnick is the guy at the quarterback position, the stars align. I always look at blueprints. I've done that with teams, and that's why I'm so high on Penn State. And now I'm doing this with a quarterback. You look at what's around Clubnick.

You look at his history, his experience. We should expect a great season out of Cade Clubnick. That's why he is my number one quarterback going into the season in college football. All right, there you have it. There's my top 10. I hope you enjoy it. This is an episode that you can come back and revisit. You can share it with your friends all summer long.

And it's kind of the evergreen topic, if you will. This will be good all the way up until kickoff of next season, which I already can't wait for. And yes, the announcement did come out. Like we, Gus and I and Jenny will be in Columbus for Ohio State and Texas. Really pumped about that. I mean, I could not be more excited about that game. I've seen that game on the schedule for years and known that we would likely be there.

And so I cannot wait to be there. Listen, thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. And again, if you have not subscribed, please go subscribe to YouTube. Follow us wherever you like to social media at Joel Clatio. And I hope you have a wonderful week. We will be back, excuse me, next Monday. And hopefully I've got some info from the Big Ten Spring meetings.

We'll see. Talk to you then.