Who is the greatest college QB ever?

[KaiserUEO]

Who won the 2nd Heisman Tebow should have gotten? Ingram? Tebow was my 2nd guy I thought Leinart was better because I appreciated the pro style offense USC ran over the fun/gun Meyer offense which if you see Urban's system is a juggernaut if QBs can run the football.

bradford.

tebow had the most 1st place votes, but finished 3rd behind colt mccoy.

 

[kcsu]

Gary Beban

 

[Macky44]

i have a hard time with "rankings" like this. Mariota on a Syracuse team would be sacked 10 times a game. Tebow on say Colorado wouldn't be a starter because he couldn't throw the ball unless the receiver was wide open ( which they always were because Florida was stacked). See my point? All these guys who look amazing are all on ridiculous teams. You have to look deeper than what the idiot pundits in the media say during their slurp-fests of these guys. Vick had much less of a supporting cast to work with than 95% of the people listed on this thread. Let me also say I hate Vick, so i have no reason to throw his name out there other than its legitimate. I think if you look at what MacPherson was able to do he should be up there in the ranks as well.

 

[Macky44]

If stats are all that matters to some of you guys...Keenum and Brennan should be 1 and 1a.

 

[chugg21]

and Timmy Chang 1b

 

[milerock]

Archie Manning was an awesome player at Ole Miss. May not be the best but he has to be on any list
of the most exciting...

 

[Eric15]

I'm going to throw out Steve McNair. Yes, he played in 1AA. But how many 1AA's have ever been picked in the Top 3 of the NFL draft, or received enough votes to place 3rd in the Heisman? He won the 1AA's version of the Heisman (Walter Payton Award).

Sophomore - 3,541 passing yards 39 TDs (throwing and running)
Junior - over 3,000 yards passing and 30 passing TDs.
Senior - NCAA record 5,799 yards, 59 total TD's, 155.4 QBR and placed third in the Heisman vote...as a 1AA player!

Overall, he finished with 14,500 passing yards, threw 119 tD's, had over 2,400 yards rushing and 33 rushing TD's. Passing yards and total yards are still FCS records (and holds a couple other records) and his passing was less than 100 yards shy of the FBS record.

I just went to McNair's Wikipedia page, and I don't know why but I had totally forgot that he was killed in a murder-suicide.

 

[jekelish]

Chad Elliott.

 

[OburgOrange]

Chad Elliott.

Chad Kelly. What is it with college QB's named Chad?

 

[cuseincincy]

Do you have his autograph?

This article makes the argument that if Oregon wins, you could make a very strong case that Mariota is the greatest of all-time.

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/82814/mariota-can-make-case-for-greatest-of-all-time

I personally would put Tebow #1 right now, with Tommie Frazier and Danny Wuerffel close behind. Cecil Howard probably somewhere in the mix, as well.

He's not even the best QB in college right now. On the field, I take Winston.

All-time? I'd have to say Tebow. His brand of leadership, physicality and play making was probably the best I ever saw in college. Even in college he wasn't a great passer, but the question is best QB not best passer. My runner ups are Detmer, Flutie and Leinart.

 

[sufandu]

Mike Vick was a game changer. I watched every VT game just because of him.

I worked with a Big East referee at another job. We had long discussions about what he saw and heard on the field. Said hands down, in over 12 years of officiating (at that point) there was nobody comparable to Vick on the field.

Doesn't necessarily mean he was the greatest college QB ever, but, he was the greatest dual threat of all time, IMO.

I've thought he may have the best physical tools of anyone ever. I just don't think he ever completely figured how to use them as best he could, at least in the NFL. In college he was just head and shoulders above everyone... except Dwight Freeney .

 

[sufandu]

With so many different eras, etc, it's really tough to choose. In my lifetime, I'd say that Detmer, Manning, Frazier, and Vick (gulp) are up there. Those guys were really good.

I know Millhouse brought up Johnny Football. Loved him as a college guy guy. He was really exciting and put up some nice numbers, but in retrospect, that team was loaded. 4 starting OL will be first round picks and Evans was a beast. I wonder what he would have done at say, Illinois. I think the four above would have been great anywhere, not sure about Manziel.

To be fair, we could probably ask the same questions about Frazier. Everyone knew what those Nebraska teams were going to do, but they just lined up and steam rolled everyone anyway. Those teams were sick.

 

[Macky44]

He's not even the best QB in college right now. On the field, I take Winston.

All-time? I'd have to say Tebow. His brand of leadership, physicality and play making was probably the best I ever saw in college. Even in college he wasn't a great passer, but the question is best QB not best passer. My runner ups are Detmer, Flutie and Leinart.

I guess my point is...throw Leinhart or Tebow on Flutie's team and see what they look like.

 

[sutomcat]

This article makes the argument that if Oregon wins, you could make a very strong case that Mariota is the greatest of all-time.

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/82814/mariota-can-make-case-for-greatest-of-all-time

I personally would put Tebow #1 right now, with Tommie Frazier and Danny Wuerffel close behind. Cecil Howard probably somewhere in the mix, as well.

I will start by saying I am not a hard core college football fan and really only follow teams in the East (and South now that SU is in the ACC). So I haven't seen a lot of great QBs play, in person or on TV.

With that as a disclaimer, I hate to say something nice about a rival program, but I think Doug Flutie might be the guy. He almost singlehandedly took a non-descript program of nobodies and made them nationally relevant. He was amazing to watch...he really was special.

My criteria is greatest college QB; this has nothing to do with the NFL.

 

[Millhouse]

I will start by saying I am not a hard core college football fan and really only follow teams in the East (and South now that SU is in the ACC). So I haven't seen a lot of great QBs play, in person or on TV.

With that as a disclaimer, I hate to say something nice about a rival program, but I think Doug Flutie might be the guy. He almost singlehandedly took a non-descript program of nobodies and made them nationally relevant. He was amazing to watch...he really was special.

My criteria is greatest college QB; this has nothing to do with the NFL.

he was at his best when everyone was watching him but some of his career numbers are surprisingly bad, even considering that it was a different era. 70 td to 56 int for his career.

 

[Millhouse]

ty detmer's numbers for his era were pretty amazing. mcnabb had one of the best 4 year runs. 3rd, 12th, 6th, and 7th in passer rating with his running ability.

it's fun to imagine all these guys playing today. that's why i'm inclined to drop tebow. i think he was great but lucky to be born when he was born - a lot of guys could've been tebow

 

[SUFaninNJ]

Sid Micek .OK, he's my friend's dad, but he was the QB for Kansas when Gale Sayers played there.

 

[sufandu]

ty detmer's numbers for his era were pretty amazing. mcnabb had one of the best 4 year runs. 3rd, 12th, 6th, and 7th in passer rating with his running ability.

it's fun to imagine all these guys playing today. that's why i'm inclined to drop tebow. i think he was great but lucky to be born when he was born - a lot of guys could've been tebow

I couldn't agree with this more. Imagine McNabb or Vick on those Florida teams with that system and all of those weapons. I think people would be saying, "Tebow was really good but..."

I don't think too many QB's made something out of nothing more often than McNabb did. I think I remember a Florida's coach coming onto the field and shaking McNabb's hand after he threw his only TD in the Orange Bowl against them.

 

[VaSaltine]

Did you know he is worth about $600 million?

He sold his real estate company for $613 million. Holy crap!

 

[SWC75]

Bernie Testaverde, if he was one guy. And you could be excused at the time if you thought so.

 

[kuethstheman]

Phil Robertson! Career cut short by a duck hunting addiction.