Ivan Maisel: Comparing ACC quarterback depth to the SEC, Big Ten

ESPN’s Greg McElroy started a debate of which conference is the deepest conference in the NCAA. In an episode of ‘Always College Football’, McElroy argued for the ACC to take that honor. On3’s Ivan Maisel says not so fast.

During ‘3 Questions‘ with Maisel and JD PicKell, PicKell asked for Maisel’s opinion of that notion. Maisel said, if nothing else, they’re certainly deep.

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“They go four or five deep at least,” said Maisel. “Tyler Van Dyke is going to be on the come up this year. Devin Leary, a veteran guy. Brennan Armstrong, a veteran guy. Sam Hartman, a veteran guy. (Jordan Travis) is a good runner and passer.”

This commentary did come the day before Wake Forest announced Hartman would be out indefinitely due to a ‘non-football-related condition’. However, Maisel didn’t even mention some of the top quarterbacks like Louisville’s Malik Cunningham or Clemson’s DJ Uiagalelei. With them all combined, the ACC is at least seven high-level QBs deep.

Although deep, Maisel questioned McElroy’s argument for that group as the best. He leaned more in the direction of the SEC and the Big Ten as the conferences deserving of that label.

“Deepest? I don’t know,” Maisel said. “I mean the SEC has got a lot of guys back plus Jayden Daniels and one of those guys back is Bryce Young. You got a lot of guys coming back. In the Big Ten, (there’s) two very good ones at the top in (CJ) Stroud and (Aidan) O’Connell. So I don’t know if I’d say the best but they are deep.”

The SEC boasts names like Young, Stetson Bennett, Hendon Hooker, Will Levis, and Spencer Rattler as just a start. Meanwhile, the Big Ten includes Taulia Tagovailoa, Payton Thorne, Sean Clifford, Tanner Morgan and more beyond Stroud and O’Connell. Ivan Maisel respects how deep the ACC can go but giving that race to the ACC, especially before this season, may be a step too far.