CBS Sports ranks Big Ten quarterbacks from best to worst

The 2025 college football season is just over a month away from beginning, which means fans and analysts alike are evaluating, analyzing, and judging teams based on their performance from last season, or their ranking coming into the season.

This is no different for quarterbacks, which is why CBS Sports released its recent list rankings the quarterbacks in the Big Ten from best to worst. The conference features a combination of returning starters, incoming transfers and first-year starters. Two starting QBs will be incoming true freshman.

Find out how CBS Sports ranked the QBs in the Big Ten below. It comes as little surprise to see which name appears on top of the list.

1. Drew Allar, Penn State

Drew Allar turned down the opportunity to turn pro at the end of last season. However, he’s returning to Happy Valley for one reason — to win it all.

2025 will be Allar’s third season as the Nittany Lions’ starting quarterback. He led Penn State to the national semifinal while throwing for 3,327 yards and 24 touchdowns compared to eight interceptions last season.

2. Julian Sayin, Ohio State

Sayin was a part of last season’s national championship squad as the backup quarterback to Will Howard. A former five-star recruit, fans are excited to see what Sayin can bring to the offense.

Fans got to see a little bit of his work during the Buckeyes’ annual spring game. In that matchup Sayin completed 17 of his 24 passing attempts for 175 yards. He threw for just 84 yards last season to go with one touchdown.

3. Fernando Mendoza, Indiana

Mendoza arrived in Bloomington this offseason after spending two seasons with Cal. He enters a Hoosiers program with high expectations after last season’s run to the College Football Playoff.

One season ago he threw for 16 touchdowns and six interceptions while passing for 3,004 yards. He’ll need to perform well on the road against both Oregon and Penn State down the stretch if Indiana wants to remain in the CFP conversation in October and November.

4. Luke Altmyer, Illinois

2024 was Altmyer’s second season with the Fighting Illini — his fourth season overall at the collegiate level after beginning his career at Ole Miss. He had a career year with 2,717 passing yards on 60.8-percent passing and 22 touchdowns to six interceptions while adding 217 rushing yards and four scores on the ground. 

With Altmyer under center, he helped lead Illinois to its first 10-win season last year. They’ll hope he brings similar success to Champaign this fall.

5. Demond Williams, Washington

Demond Williams shined in Washington’s bowl 35-34 loss against Louisville to end last season. He completed 26 of 32 passes for 374 yards, five total touchdowns and one interception.

As a true freshman in 2024, he was used sporadically under center and ultimately appeared in all 13 games for the Huskies. He finished the year with 944 passing yards to go with eight touchdowns and one interception.

6. Nico Iamaleava, UCLA

Nico Iamaleava will be put under a microscope in 2025 — not because of his abilities on the field, but because of how he left Tennessee.

Regardless, Iamaleava led the Volunteers to the CFP last season. For the Bruins to get a quarterback of his caliber out of the transfer portal is huge for Deshaun Foster and company entering year two of their stay in the Big Ten.

7. Dylan Raiola, Nebraska

Raiola helped lead Nebraska to a 7-6 season in 2024, which saw the team qualify for a bowl game for the first time since the 2016 season. That was the longest postseason drought in Lincoln since the 1950s. He went on to throw for 2,819 yards, 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

The former five-star recruit will likely need to clear up those mistakes and add a bit more production in 2025 before he’s considered among the best quarterbacks in the country, let alone the Big Ten based on CBS Sports’ rankings. Matt Rhule’s teams historically take a large leap in year three, and Raiola is at the forefront of it in Lincoln.

8. Bryce Underwood, Michigan

Sherrone Moore wouldn’t budge on naming a starting quarterback during Big Ten Media Days earlier this week, but all signs point toward Underwood taking the first snaps for Michigan in Week 1. If so, he will be one of two true freshman starting quarterbacks this fall along with Maryland’s Malik Washington.

Bryce Underwood arrived in Ann Arbor to a ton of fanfare. The hype is justified given he’s the No. 1 overall player in the country per the On3 Industry Rankings, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services.

9. Jayden Maiava, USC

While he started in four games for the Trojans, Maiava appeared in seven total games during his first season with USC. He finished the year with 1,201 passing yards to go with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.

This came after Maiava lit up the Mountain West Conference at UNLV as a true freshman in 2023. There, he played a full season as the starter where he totaled 3,085 passing yard to go with 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He then transferred to USC, where he is now entering year two in Lincoln Riley’s offense in 2025.

10. Dante Moore, Oregon

Similar to Maiava, Moore arrived in Eugene with prior experience but was forced to play a backup role during their first season with their new program. As a true freshman in 2023, Moore started five games for UCLA and threw for 1,610 yards along with 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

He’s now set to take over the starting quarterback job for a national championship contender. Moore has the opportunity to prove his doubters wrong by leading the Ducks back to the CFP in 2025. It helps that he has a fantastic supporting cast.

11. Aidan Chiles, Michigan State
12. Mark Gronowski, Iowa
13. Billy Edwards Jr., Washington
14. Preston Stone, Northwestern
15. Malik Washington, Maryland
16. Athan Kaliakmanis, Rutgers
17. Ryan Browne, Purdue
18. Drake Lindsey, Minnesota