Quarterback Rankings: Phil Steele ranks the Top 10 units ahead of 2024 college football season

In modern college football, it’s almost impossible to find long-term success as a program without having a good quarterback. However, at times, even that isn’t enough and teams often need to have depth at the quarterback position to find success amid injuries and other issues.

Ahead of the season, Phil Steele releases his annual preview for the college football season. That included raking the top quarterback units for 2024. There’s not necessarily a set standard for how these rankings are compiled. Part of it comes down to a team’s talent at the quarterback position. It also comes down to a team’s depth.

Here’s a look at those Top 10 quarterback unit rankings for the 2024 college football season:

1. Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns are coming into the 2024 season with one of the deepest quarterback rooms in college football. That starts with the returning starter, Quinn Ewers. He’s coming back for his third season as the starter in Austin and with that, he’s looking to take another step forward.

Right behind Quinn Ewers in the quarterback room is Arch Manning. One of the most highly anticipated quarterback prospects in recent memory, Manning comes from a long line of excellent quarterbacks. Thanks to him, Texas enters the season with depth and Phil Steele’s top quarterback room.

2. Georgia Bulldogs

Another team returning its quarterback from last season is Georgia. The Bulldogs have Carson Beck back and, after a good season where he led the team to the Orange Bowl, he will want to take Georgia back to the Playoff in 2024. He’s also already proven that he’s very capable of doing that.

Behind Beck, head coach Kirby Smart has added plenty of talent. That includes Jaden Rashada, who transferred into the program and was once a top quarterback recruit. He helps make a very deep quarterback room that Georgia is going to be poised to have well into the future.

3. Oregon Ducks

The Oregon Ducks don’t return their starting quarterback from the past two seasons with Bo Nix heading to the NFL. However, head coach Dan Lanning did hit the Transfer Portal hard to find Nix’s replacement. He ended up landing a pair of quarterbacks, including the very experienced Dillon Gabriel and the talented but raw Dante Moore.

Dillon Gabriel is expected to start for the Ducks while Moore develops for the future. He has been a starter in college football since the 2019 season, when he led UCF as a freshman. He later went on to play at Oklahoma before now making the jump to Oregon. For his career, he has 14,865 yards and 125 touchdowns passing for his career.

4. Alabama Crimson Tide

In many cases, when a team has a coaching change it can lead to massive amounts of turnover, especially in the quarterback room. While Alabama did have its fair share of turnover with Kalen DeBoer taking over, the Crimson Tide managed to retain Jalen Milroe who is now perceived as a potential Heisman Trophy winner going into 2024.

Behind Jalen Milroe, Alabama is talented if unproved on the field. That includes Ty Simpson, who appears to be the second-string option going into 2024. Being there, he provides much needed depth and should give Alabama a level of comfort going into the season.

5. Ole Miss Rebels

There are big expectations for Ole Miss in 2024. A lot of that comes down to the play of quarterback Jaxson Dart. It’s going to be his third season with the program as a starter. During his first two years there, he’s proven to be an excellent fit for head coach Lane Kiffin‘s offensive system.

From 2022 to 2023, Dart took a major leap forward and was a more consistent thrower who made fewer mistakes. He also ran for eight touchdowns after only running for one the season before. If he can take another jump forward, then the Playoff is very much in reach for Ole Miss.

6. Colorado Buffaloes

One of the most talked about quarterbacks in all of college football is, undeniably, Shedeur Sanders at Colorado. He took fans by storm last season after a hot start and since then there’s been talk about his potential NFL future. At the same time, Colorado gave up too many sacks in 2023 and he finished the season injured.

Now, in 2024, with a new offensive system, Sanders needs to be the key for Colorado to have success on offense. If he can control that offense and get the ball out quickly, then Colorado could be one of the best teams in the Big 12. However, if he struggles then the Buffaloes’ season could go sideways quickly.

7. Utah Utes

With Cam Rising at quarterback, Utah is moving to the Big 12 to start the 2024 season. He’ll bring with him plenty of talent and experience that should help the Utes compete for a spot in the Playoff. However, that’s going to depend on him being healthy throughout the season.

Rising has been the starter at Utah since 2021, proving to be an excellent fit and leader for the team during that time. However, injuries have become an issue for him and he missed the entire 2023 season. Still, at his healthiest, he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country. If he’s not healthy, then Utah will need to find a way to replace him as soon as possible.

8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

For the second season in a row, Notre Dame has turned to the Transfer Portal for its next presumed starting quarterback. Head coach Marcus Freeman ended up landing Riley Leonard, the former starter at Duke who finished the 2023 season injured. Throughout spring, he continued to deal with injury issues but the talent is also clearly there.

Behind Riley Leonard, Notre Dame feels good about its depth, especially after a good spring game for the quarterbacks. That includes potential future starters for the Irish in CJ Carr and Steve Angeli who lack experience but have plenty of talent.

9. SMU Mustangs

The SMU Mustangs are officially making the jump from the Group of Five to a power conference with their move to the ACC. Normally, that would put a team at a disadvantage but that doesn’t seem to be the case for SMU. At least, Phil Steele doesn’t think it’s going to be an issue for the quarterback unit.

SMU’s success at quarterback is going to start with Preston Stone. SMU’s returning starter at quarterback, Stone threw for 3,197 yards and 28 touchdowns last season and is now looking to take a step forward. Behind him, SMU lists six total quarterbacks on its roster. That includes Kevin Jennings as his expected backup.

10. Miami Hurricanes

It’s year three at Miami for head coach Mario Cristobal and after an inconsistent first two seasons, the third is going to be vital. Because of that, he made the decision to find his next quarterback in the Transfer Portal, bringing in Cam Ward after Ward considered going to the NFL.

Cam Ward is on his third college, most recently playing at Washington State where he was a dual-threat star for the Cougars. The hope is that he’s going to fit well into Miami’s offense and help the Hurricanes become a more consistent team. Depth is a potential key to that, where Miami will look to lean on backups like Emory Williams and Reese Poffenbarger.