Earlier this month, the Oregon Ducks announced the date for the annual spring scrimmage, which will take place on April 26 at 1 p.m. in Autzen Stadium. While this information is important for Duck fans and their spring vacation plans, it’s also important for the college football season.
It’s a turning of the page. We are no longer in the offseason, floating about while focusing on the additions of incoming recruits to the transfer portal. Now, we’re in spring preview season, and the next several weeks will be spent ramping up toward the start of the Ducks‘ spring practices in March.
To start this preview season, we want to examine the Big Ten Conference as a whole. With the Ohio State Buckeyes winning the national championship in 2024 and four Big Ten teams making the College Football Playoff, it was quite a year for the conference. That shouldn’t change going into the 2025 season, with three of the top-six teams in ESPN’s ‘Way-Too-Early’ top 25.
To start our preview kick-off we want to look at the quarterbacks in the Big Ten in particular. It will be an interesting year for passers in the conference, with some veterans returning for a final year at the college level, while other teams, like Oregon, Ohio State, and Michigan, will be ushering in new starters to take over the program. There are also a number of highly contested QB battles that will take place this spring.
Which Big Ten teams should feel the most confident in their signal-callers going into the spring season? We broke it down and ranked them, projecting the 18 starters for every team in the conference.
No. 1 — Penn State QB Drew Allar
Career Stats: 39 games, 6,302 yards, 53 TD, 10 INT // 650 yards, 11 TDAnalysis: Not only is Drew Allar at the top of the list of QBs in the Big Ten, but he is among the best returning quarterbacks in the nation in 2025. With three years of experience at Penn State, Allar could have gone to the NFL this year and been one of the top QB prospects in the class, but he chose to come back for one more year with the Nittany Lions. While there are still some things that he needs to prove, especially in late-game situations, Allar is the most proven QB in the Big Ten this year.
No. 2 — Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola
Career Stats: 13 games, 2,819 yards, 13 TD, 11 INT Analysis: With all due respect to Dylan Raiola, the fact that we have him at No. 2 on this list shows how wide open the race for top QB in the Big Ten is in 2025. As the former No. 1 QB in the 2024 recruiting class, Raiola had a solid freshman season at Nebraska, with 13 TDs and 11 INTs, leading the Cornhuskers to their first bowl game victory since 2015. He’s got a high ceiling in Lincoln, and we might see it come to fruition this season.
No. 3 — Oregon QB Dante Moore
Career Stats: 14 games, 1,659 yards, 11 TD, 9 INTAnalysis: Ranking Dante Moore and Dylan Raiola was a bit tough in this exercise. Both are former 5-star recruits who were among the best players in their respective classes, and both have a single year of production on a roster where they had little help around them and probably asked to sink or swim a bit early. Ultimately, I put Moore lower on the list because it has been longer since he played meaningful football. Ultimately, though, I would argue that Moore has a higher ceiling at Oregon than Raiola does at Nebraska.
No. 4 — Ohio State QB Julian Sayin
Career Stats: 4 games, 84 yards, 1 TD // 24 yardsAnalysis: Julian Sayin is another player who is tough to rank on this list, because he has all of the upside you could ask for as a former 5-star recruit, but little opportunity for production so far in his career. After transferring from Alabama to Ohio State ahead of the 2024 season, Sayin got to wait in the wings behind Will Howard and experience a national title run in Columbus. He is now set to take over with the Buckeyes and is expected to be ready to lead a highly anticipated title defense.
No. 5 — Illinois QB Luke Altmyer
Career Stats: 31 games, 4,917 yards, 38 TD, 19 INT // 502 yards, 8 TDAnalysis: Illinois was one of the surprise teams in the Big Ten last season, and Altmyer is one of the reasons. He had a great year and stands as one of the more reliable veteran players in the conference. However, it feels like he has an established ceiling at this point, and probably won’t be contending for the No. 1 spot on this list any time soon.
No. 6 — Michigan State QB Aidan Chiles
Career Stats: 21 games, 2,724 yards, 17 TD, 11 INT // 304 yards, 6 TDAnalysis: Throughout his two seasons, both at Oregon State and Michigan State, Chiles has shown that he can be a dynamic quarterback both with his arms and his legs. Of course, he was not surrounded by the best talent at either place, but with Jonathan Smith coaching him, there is certainly a high ceiling. It will just be about whether or not he can reach that ceiling in 2025 with the Spartans.
No. 7 — USC QB Jayden Maiava
Career Stats: 21 games, 4286 yards, 28 TD, 16 INT // 322 yards, 7 TDsAnalysis: After sitting behind Miller Moss for the majority of the 2024 season at USC, Maiava eventually took over and seemingly staked his claim as the starter for the Trojans. Before joining Lincoln Riley, Maiava had a great career at UNLV, but it is still yet to be seen if he can produce at the same level in the Power 4 and lead USC to a College Football Playoff berth.
No. 8 — Michigan QB Bryce Underwood
Career Stats: True FreshmanAnalysis: Our first true freshman on the list is Bryce Underwood. It may seem unfair to rank him ahead of players who have actual game experience, especially considering that he still has to beat out Fresno State transfer Mikey Keen in Ann Arbor, but Underwood seems to possess everything you want in a QB prospect and was rated as the No. 1 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class. It may seem far-fetched at this point in the calendar but don’t be surprised to see Underwood establish himself as a future star this season with Michigan.
No. 9 — Washington QB Demond Williams
Career Stats: 13 games, 944 yards, 8 TD, 1 INT // 282 yards, 2 TDAnalysis: While Will Rogers got most of the run at QB for Washington last year, the Huskies turned to Williams late in the season and gave him some valuable experience. It was a good call, too, as the freshman showed that he can be a dynamic player both with his arms and his legs. The talent around him needs to provide some more support before we can start to see him climb the list, but the Huskies definitely have a good player here.
No. 10 — Rutgers QB Athan Kaliakmanis
Career Stats: 36 games, 5,480 yards, 35 TD, 20 INT // 485 yards, 6 TDAnalysis: Kaliakmanis stands as one of the better veteran quarterbacks in the conference, and while he provides a nice floor for Rutgers and their offense, there are some real questions about his ceiling, and how far he can take him in any given season.
No. 11 — Purdue QB Hudson Card
Career Stats: 43 games, 5,551 yards, 35 TD, 17 INT // 250 yards, 6 TDAnalysis: Much like Kaliakmanis, Hudson Card is a solid quarterback, but he is nowhere near talented enough to raise the level of play around him, as seen last season with Purdue. Should the Boilermakers improve around him under a new coaching staff, then Card could be a nice player, but I don’t expect him to lead Purdue to a bowl game any time soon.
No. 12 — Iowa QB Mark Gronowski
Career Stats: 55 games, 10,309 yards, 93 TD, 20 INT // 1,767 yards, 37 TDAnalysis: Mark Gronowski is going to be an interesting name to follow this year. The transfer from South Dakota State is among the most accomplished players in all of college football, but his production came at the FCS level, where he won back-to-back FCS Championship Games, and was named the MVP in both games. Can he continue to be a star this year with Iowa and their, shall we say less-than-explosive offense? If the answer is yes, then the Hawkeyes could be a fascinating team in 2025.
No. 13 — Wisconsin QB Billy Edwards Jr.
Career Stats: 26 games, 3,322 yards, 19 TD, 10 INT // 375 yards, 13 TDAnalysis: You can stick Billy Edwards Jr. in the category of Big Ten quarterbacks that are solid, but nothing special, with all due respect. During his time at Maryland, he was decent but unable to lead the Terrapins to any sort of success. It will be tough for him to do much more at Wisconsin as the Badgers look to turn things around under Luke Fickell.
No. 14 — UCLA QB Joey Aguilar
Career Stats: 25 games, 6,760 yards, 56 TD, 24 INT // 452 yards, 5 TDAnalysis: Joey Aguilar was able to find some pretty great production at Appalachian State over the last couple of years, and he comes to UCLA with hopes of helping Dashaun Foster turn things around in Los Angeles. The roster is in need of a lot of work, though, and was able to do very little last season, so expecting Aguilar to come to a higher level of play and have an instant impact is a bit rich.
No. 15 — Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza
Career Stats: 20 games, 4,712 yards, 30 TD, 16 INT // 197 yards, 4 TDAnalysis: We saw what Curt Cignetti was able to do in 2024 with Kurtis Rourke, so can he do the same with Fernando Mendoza? In 2024, Mendoza was decent, throwing for 16 TDs and 6 INTs, so it will be interesting to see what he is able to do in the Indiana offense this year. His ceiling isn’t as high as Rourke’s was, though, so I have my doubts that the Hoosiers will be reaching the College Football Playoff again in 2025.
No. 16 — Maryland QB Malik Washington
Career Stats: True FreshmanAnalysis: Another true freshman who cracks the list is 4-star Malik Washington, who was rated by 247Sports as the No. 5 QB in the 2025 class. He certainly has a high upside, and shouldn’t have too much trouble earning the starting role if he is as good as expected, but whether or not he can be good enough to lead the Terrapins to instant success is another question entirely.
No. 17 — Northwestern QB Jack Lausch
Career Stats: 21 games, 1,792 yards, 7 TD, 9 INT // 290 yards, 3 TDAnalysis: The bottom of this list is pretty tough. In his first year as the starter at Northwestern, Jack Lausch struggled, throwing for just seven touchdowns and eight interceptions. The Wildcats aren’t expected to turn things around any time soon under Ryan Braun, so it could be another tough season ahead for Lausch.
No. 18 — Minnesota QB Zach Pyron
Career Stats: 19 games, 995 yards, 5 TD, 7 INT // 271 yards, 6 TDAnalysis: Zach Pyron served as a backup at Georgia Tech behind Haynes King over the last couple of seasons, and now he comes to Minnesota with hopes of taking over for Max Brosmer. The Golden Gophers were decent in 2024, beating Virginia Tech in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Will Pyron be good enough to lead Minnesota to more success going forward? We don’t have a ton of production to base it on, so it seems like a big unknown at this point.
This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Ranking Big Ten QBs ahead of 2025 spring football season
