Ranking the top pass-rushers in college football for 2024

Mar 22, 2024, 07:00 AM ET When we started our leading 10 rankings for 2024 in college football, we began at quarterback, a natural area given the significance of the position.This week we turn to the players whose job it is to make the quarterback’s life miserable.We asked our reporters to rank their leading 10 pass-rushers–

and the list is as differed as it is remarkable. We have a number of transfers, a mix of veterans and underclassmen and even a set of teammates.Points were appointed based on their votes: 10 points for top place, nine for 2nd location and down to one point for 10th place.Here are the results.Previous leading 10 lists: Receivers|Running backs|Quarterbacks Picture by Donald Page/Getty Images 2023 stats: 10 sacks, 14.5 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles Points: 58(5 first-place votes)Tennessee signed six blue-chippers in its 2022 recruiting class. Pearce wasn’t one of them, but he had a blue-chipper’s offer list– Georgia, Florida State,

Oklahoma, Texas and so on– and in only his very first season as a regular, he quickly became one of the best pass-rushers in the sport. He was seventh nationally with 10 sacks and 5th with 11 sacks produced (very first pressures on what eventually ended up being sacks ). He boasted a 19%pressure rate( 3rd nationally)and developed pressure within 2.5 seconds of the breeze on 10%of his pass hurries (also 3rd ). He reduced the quarterback at least when in eight of 13 games, and he developed at least three pressures in 8 contests, including five of his last six. He was Pro Football Focus’highest-graded SEC defensive lineman.Pearce is listed at a slender 6-foot-5, 242 pounds, however he proved capable doing damage against the run too, ending up the season with 10 run stops– he was among only 12 protectors(and one of only two in the SEC)with double-digit run stops and sacks. He is an outright threat, and as he enters only his 3rd year of college, he might still have more room to establish.– Costs Connelly 2023 stats: 11 sacks, 14.5 tackles for loss, 3 forced fumbles Points: 53 (one first-place vote) When Gillotte revealed he was going back to Louisville for another season, the choice sent Cardinals fans rejoicing. Gillotte offers

Louisville a bona fide star heading into the 2024 season, a player

who has been on a constant upward

trajectory since his freshman year in 2021. Gillotte has actually begun 26 games the previous two seasons, but last year was his breakout, with 14.5 takes on for loss and 11 sacks (his sack total ranked No. 10 nationally). As an outcome, Gillotte made first-team All-ACC honors and was a second-team Walter Camp All-American. Entering this season, Gillotte will head a defense that returns 6 starters and made significant strides up front as one of the very best pass-rushing teams in the ACC. He will be a preseason favorite for ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors.

— Andrea Adelson 2023 statistics: 14 sacks, 17.5 deals with for loss, 1 forced fumble Points: 43( two first-place votes )Don’t be surprised if Moore is among the most impactful non-quarterback transfers throughout the 2024 season. He brings elite pass-rushing abilities to an ascending Texas defense that enters the

SEC requiring to replace Huge 12 Defensive Gamer of the Year T’Vondre Sweat and other standouts. Moore shined for UTSA, setting the group record for takes on for loss( 18)as a redshirt freshman, then the sacks record with 14 last season, just a half-sack shy of the AAC record. He earned conference Defensive Player of the Year honors and had 35.5 tackles for loss, 22 sacks and 3 forced fumbles over the previous 2 seasons with the Roadrunners.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated The San Antonio native ought to fit perfectly into organizer Pete Kwiatkowki’s defense, which showed clear improvement in 2023 however had no player eclipse 5.5 sacks. Moore has collected sacks in bunches, taping three or more in three contests last season. He fills an apparent requirement at Texas, which hasn’t had a player reach 13 sacks considering that Jackson Jeffcoat in 2013. Moore has room to grow as a run defender, and Texas’move to the SEC will allow him to sharpen his abilities versus leading competition before a most likely move to the NFL.– Adam Rittenberg 2023 statistics: 6.5 sacks, 10 deals with for loss, 2 forced fumbles Points: 35 Sawyer said he understood deep down in his heart that it would not have actually felt right to leave Ohio State following last season, activating a return that will give the Buckeyes one of the leading defensive end tandems in the nation in Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau.The 6-4, 265-pound Sawyer was ESPN’s No. 1-rated possibility overall in the 2021 finalizing class and played like it throughout the second half of last season. He had 5.5

of his 6.5 sacks in his previous 6 games and likewise racked up 8

deals with for loss during that stretch. He hung around during the 2022 season in a hybrid” Jack” linebacker role, however has the burst, size and skills to reach double digits in sacks in 2024 on an Ohio State protective line that will be filled.– Chris Low 2023 stats: 7.5 sacks, 12.5 deals with for loss, 3 forced fumbles Points: 35 Here’s what Bain had going against him in 2023: He was a real freshman. He was splitting time between edge rush and interior defender. He was on a group that, for the 2nd straight year, felt directionless. It would have been entirely affordable then to presume Bain would chalk up the season as a learning experience, work to sand off some rough edges and be all set to take the ACC by storm in 2024. Sadly for opposing QBs, he was

n’t that patient.Bain was a force of nature in 2023, acquiring 7.5 sacks, 12.5 deals with for loss,

4 quarterback hurries, 3 required fumbles and 31 pressures– ninth most in the ACC– en path to being named the league’s Defensive Novice of the Year. His expected progression in 2024 is one of the factors Miami thinks this season might be a turning point for the Canes.– David Hale Nell Redmond/USA TODAY Sports 2023 stats: 8.5 sacks, 15 deals with for loss, 1 forced fumble Points: 30 Rucker is one of the nation’s most experienced pass-rushers, having actually started games in each of the previous four seasons. Although he revealed the capability to interrupt quarterbacks early in his career, he didn’t have a true breakout year until 2023, when he gathered 8.5 sacks, 15 deals with for loss and 12 quarterback rushes. He led UNC in all three classifications and made second-team All-ACC honors, while rankingseventh nationally in total quarterback pressures with 41. Rucker opened the 2023 season with a career efficiency, taping 5.5 takes on for loss and 2 sacks in a win over South Carolina. He enters his last season with 16 sacks, 30.5 takes on for loss and 4 forced fumbles in 28 profession starts.An unheralded three-star hire out of Georgia, Rucker provides new Tar Heels defensive organizer Geoff Collins a proven star off the edge in 2024. Nicknamed”The Butcher,”Rucker has ended up being a bigger element versus the run and posted a career-high 61 takes on, 24 more than in any other season, in 2023. At 6-foot-2 and 265 pounds, Rucker is a bit undersized but makes up for it with his technique and savvy in pursuing quarterbacks. He will be among the ACC’s the majority of recognizable protectors getting in the fall.– Rittenberg 2023 stats: 5.5 sacks, 13 deals with for loss, 3 forced fumbles Points: 26 There’s no argument versus Perkins ‘transcendent pass-rush abilities. He rupture onto the scene as a true freshman in 2022, holding his coming-out celebration in a 13-10 win over Arkansas in which he racked up four sacks and efficiently closed down the Hogs’offense single-handedly. Big things were anticipated of Perkins ‘sophomore project, however the results were mixed. He continued to be a force off the edge, racking up 5.5 sacks, 13 tackles for loss and taped a remarkable 16%pressure rate when rushing the quarterback.But Perkins had a hard time severely against the run and typically ended up being a nonfactor on defense when playing within. LSU has suggested it plans to utilize him inside again