College football’s 75 best quarterbacks of the 2000s

• Costs Connelly, ESPN Staff WriterMay 22, 2023, 07:00 AM ET Close Costs Connelly is a staff writer for ESPN.com.

With Alabama’s Bryce Young and others qualified, it’s time to update– and add to– our ranking of the leading quarterbacks of the 2000s. AP Photo/Butch Dill

In the in 2015 of the 20th century, quarterback play in college football seemed to be making a quantum leap. Virginia Tech’s Michael Vick was revealing us a combination of hurrying and passing expertise that we didn’t recognize was possible, while Georgia Tech’s Joe Hamilton was integrating 3,000-yard passing with 700-yard hurrying. Mike Leach was, through Oklahoma’s Josh Heupel, introducing the Air Raid offense to its eventual house, the Big 12. Purdue’s Drew Brees was, through Joe Tiller’s Basketball-on-Grass spread, tossing 70-plus times in Big 10 games.Everything we believed was progressing at the turn of the century did so, and then some. Quarterback play in the 2000s has developed to include numbers we never thought imaginable: 3,500/ 1,000 seasons, 200 passer rankings, conclusion rates nearing 80%. Where may things go next?As we wait to discover the response to that question, let’s step back

and analyze what we’ve seen so far by ranking the best quarterbacks of the century to date. We’ve updated and contributed to our previous rankings from 2021, going from 60 QBs to 75. That implies space for NFL stars like Matt Ryan and Dak Prescott, plus beginners Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Stetson Bennett. No Caleb Williams, however, considering that we’re just counting players who finished their college careers.This was, to be truthful, an even more difficult task than I envisioned. We have actually seen single-season surges from the Camera Newtons of the world, and we’ve seen controlled, 4 – or five-year fires from Case Keenums and Baker Mayfields that produced apparently untouchable profession overalls. How do you compare a Keenum or Kellen Moore to a Newton or Joe Burrow? Very thoroughly! I make sure you will not disagree with a single among the picks below!Let’s get started. 75. Matt Ryan, Boston College Years: 2004-07 Stats: 9,313 passing backyards, 60%completion rate, 56 TD, 37 INT, 11 rushing TD The supreme late-career breakout

star: Ryan threw for 4,507 yards and 31 touchdowns as a senior, leading BC to 11 wins and a brief No. 2 ranking and ending up seventh in the Heisman voting. 74. Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville Years: 2011-13 Stats: 9,817

passing backyards, 68%conclusion rate, 72 TD, 24 INT, 6 rushing TD He was almost instantly Charlie Strong’s best player at Louisville, and his last 2 seasons– 7,688 yards, 58 goals and a 23-3 record– made him a legend. 73. Timmy Chang, Hawai’i Years: 2000-04 Stats: 17,072 passing backyards, 57%completion rate,

117 TD, 80 INT, 6
hurrying TD June Jones ‘early-2000s Hawai’i groups were late-night must-watches for college football degenerates,

and Chang was at the helm for a lot of them. Only Keenum threw for more lawns at the FBS level.