Congratulations, Steelers fans and BTSC readers, we’ve made it through the long summer between the NFL Draft and the return of actual football. I know that this website is primarily focused on the Steelers and the NFL, but it’s been a ton of fun reviewing college quarterbacks with you these past few months.
Below, you’ll find the winner from our Final Round of Five fan vote, but first, let’s set the table for the weekend ahead of us.
Week 1 of the NFL season is still a week away, but college football
has already begun. After a handful of games were played last weekend, the season will kick off in earnest this week. All 15 of the quarterbacks featured in this series will see their first action of 2025.
Better still, three of our finalists will undertake marquee matchups against ranked opponents. That includes the highlight of the week: Garrett Nussmeier and Cade Klubnik squaring off head-to-head. And of course, Arch Manning is facing his first real challenge as Texas’ QB1 right out of the gate.
CFB Week 1 games featuring our QB Dating Game contestants:
- Friday, August 29 — Western Michigan @ Michigan St. (Aidan Chiles)
- Friday, August 29 — Auburn @ Baylor (Sawyer Robertson)
- Saturday, August 30 — (1) Texas (Arch Manning) @ (3) Ohio St.
- Saturday, August 30 — Old Dominion @ (20) Indiana (Fernando Mendoza)
- Saturday, August 30 — Nevada @ (2) Penn St. (Drew Allar)
- Saturday, August 30 — Montana St. @ (7) Oregon (Dante Moore)
- Saturday, August 30 — Alabama A&M @ Arkansas (Taylen Green)
- Saturday, August 30 — Illinois St. & (18)Oklahoma (John Mateer)
- Saturday, August 30 — (9) LSU (Garrett Nussmeier) @ (4) Clemson (Cade Klubnik)
- Saturday, August 30 — Missouri St. @ USC (Jayden Maiava)
- Saturday, August 30 — Northern Arizona @ (11) Arizona St. (Sam Leavitt)
- Saturday, August 30 — Utah @ UCLA (Nico Iamaleava)
- Sunday, August 31 — Virginia Tech @ (13) South Carolina (LaNorris Sellers)
- Sunday, August 31 — (6) Notre Dame @ (10) Miami (Carson Beck)
Denotes Final Round of Five Finalist
And now our winner…
The race was tight from start to finish. After collecting a cumulative 802 votes for the entire first round, y’all nearly halved that with 304 votes in our Final Round of Five. Four of the five finalists led the vote at some point during the polling process, demonstrating that QB1 is still very much up for grabs roughly eight months from the 2026 NFL Draft.
But in the end, much like Highlander, there can be only one.
As a reminder, we used a ranked choice voting system to determine our winner. Voters were asked to tell us which quarterback they’d most like to see the Steelers draft by ranking our five finalists. First-place votes were awarded five points, second-place votes four points, and so on. This was done in an effort to form a more accurate hierarchy of these prospects, according to the BTSC community.
| QB | Cade Klubnik Clemson |
Arch Manning Texas |
LaNorris Sellers South Carolina |
Garrett Nussmeier LSU |
Drew Allar Penn St. |
| 1st Place: (Votes) Points | (79) 395 | (82) 410 | (55) 275 | (56) 280 | (32) 160 |
| 2nd Place: (Votes) Points | (72) 288 | (52) 208 | (84) 336 | (50) 200 | (46) 184 |
| 3rd Place: (Votes) Points | (49) 147 | (57) 171 | (61) 183 | (76) 228 | (61) 183 |
| 4th Place: (Votes) Points | (53) 106 | (45) 90 | (54) 108 | (73) 146 | (79) 158 |
| 5th Place: Votes/Points | 51 | 68 | 50 | 49 | 86 |
| Total Points | 987 | 947 | 922 | 903 | 771 |
Let’s break down the results for each of our finalists.
Cade Klubnik: Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the ranked choice voting system. Though he finished three off the lead in first-place votes, Klubnik is the quarterback with the largest portion of BTSC readers seemingly comfortable with the Steelers selecting. Nearly half (49.6%) of the voting base placed the Clemson quarterback in their top two. Klubnik, along with Sellers, had the fewest share of fourth and fifth-place votes (34.2%). About to embark on his third season as a starter, Clemson is among the favorites to win it all this year. Klubnik is currently tied for the second-best odds on FanDuel (+410) to be selected first overall.
Arch Manning: Despite sharing multiple warnings from the Manning camp that Arch plans to return to school in 2026, and despite only having two college starts on his resume, the marquee appeal of the Manning last name and genetics proved irresistible to a large swath of voters, securing Arch the most first-place votes. It’s easy to understand the appeal. Manning seems to be at least in the same ballpark in terms of arm talent as his two Super Bowl MVP uncles. But, unlike them, Arch has shown the ability to create big plays with his legs. Still, I let a small sigh of relief when his totals came up just short of Klubnik’s. Despite being optimistic about his future as a prospect, I struggle to believe he’ll declare after only starting one year, and I just haven’t seen enough to feel confident making definitive assessments about him as the leader of an offense. I wasn’t alone in this feeling, as Arch recieved a fifth-place ranking on the second most ballots.
LaNorris Sellers: Sellers is in a similar boat as Arch in that a lot of his draft stock is tied up in the projection of what he might become in the future. Just 20 years old, Sellers only has one season of tape for us to go off of, and not all of it was impressive — especially at the beginning of last year. But what he does have right now is an appealing blend of size and speed, plus a highlight reel of broken sacks that will have Yinzers reminiscing about the Ben Roethlisberger years. Sellers may have had the second-fewest first-place votes, but he received the highest amount of second-place votes, resulting in the second-largest share of ballots (45.7%) that had him in their top two. That reflects the FanDuel odds, which give Sellers the same odds to go first overall as Klubnik.
Garrett Nussmeier: The LSU quarterback is the FanDuel favorite to be the top pick (+370), but he wasn’t quite as popular with BTSC readers. Whether it was concern about his knee’s health, his smaller stature, or his limited rushing upside, nearly half of voters (49%) placed Nussmeier at third or fourth on their ballot. Still, Nussmeier also had the fewest amount of fifth-place votes, which I think reflects that he is a talented individual and in the running for the best processor of this bunch. Nussmeier held the lead for the first several hours of the voting process, but was eventually overtaken as more votes came in. Could that be an early look at how his draft stock will play out as we get closer to the 2026 draft? Time will tell.
Drew Allar: If this vote established one thing, it’s that the BTSC readership sees a clear tier drop in talent after the previous four quarterbacks. More than half of voters (54.2%) ranked Allar in the bottom two of their ballot. FanDuel agrees with that sentiment as they currently have Allar’s odds of going first overall (+650) behind the other four passers in our finals, too. Allar remains an enigma. Penn State has remained in the national conversation with Allar at the helm. The Nittany Lions made the College Football Playoffs semifinal last season and enter this season ranked second in the AP poll. Still, it’s hard to suss out how much of that has been a credit to Allar or despite him. He can silence his doubters, of which I am one, if he can show another huge leap forward in development in his third season as a starter.
Remaining bits and bobs
Over the months spent conducting this series, there was plenty of data and research that I found fascinating, but didn’t necessarily fit smoothly into the already lengthy articles that came before this. In this final section, I will be sharing some of those observations for those of you who have stuck with me this long.
BTSC Rankings vs. My Rankings
| Final BTSC Community Ranking | Opening Round Votes | My Pre-2025 Rankings |
|---|---|---|
| Cade Klubnik | 155 | Cade Klubnik |
| Arch Manning | 76 | Garrett Nussmeier |
| LaNorris Sellers | 100 | LaNorris Sellers |
| Garrett Nussmeier | 147 | Sam Leavitt |
| Drew Allar | 80 | Fernando Mendoza |
| Sam Leavitt | 78 | Drew Allar |
| Nico Iamaleava | 48 | John Mateer |
| John Mateer | 39 | Arch Manning |
| Taylen Green | 31 | Sawyer Robertson |
| Fernando Mendoza | 29 | Taylen Green |
| Carson Beck | 17 | Aidan Chiles |
| Jayden Maiava | 10 | Nico Iamaleava |
| Sawyer Robertson | 10 | Dante Moore |
| Aidan Chiles | 6 | Jayden Maiava |
| Dante Moore | 4 | Carson Beck |
- If we had gone by overall popular vote — instead of the episodic head-to-head format we adopted — Arch Manning would not have made the final nor finished as the BTSC readers’ second-ranked passer. Instead, Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt would have snuck into the final.
- Arizona State and Leavitt are among the most intriguing teams heading into the 2025 season. They flew under the radar for most of the national audience until late in the season, when they emerged as Big 12 champions following a blowout of Iowa State in the conference championship game. Arizona State then went toe-to-toe with Texas in their playoff matchup, despite injuries to their receiving core. That included Jordyn Tyson, who is in the running to be the first wide receiver selected in the 2026 draft.
- While the BTSC community and I landed on the same QB1 ranking, the rest of our rankings are pretty different. For starters, neither Arch Manning nor Drew Allar cracks my top five. I’m optimistic about Manning and he’s my tentative 2027 QB1, but I couldn’t rank him higher while believing he won’t declare in 2026. I’m also wary of Allar, which I’ve detailed enough in this series. I’m higher than consensus on Leavitt, and I think the readers are sleeping on Mendoza. I can’t say I blame them; Cal wasn’t exactly on the national radar deep into the season. Mendoza’s playstyle reminds me a lot of a young Aaron Rodgers, and I’m excited to see how he handles the step up in competition after transferring to Indiana and the Big Ten.
- Another quarterback that I think flew under the readers’ radar was John Mateer. Again, I get it, Washington State isn’t a powerhouse, is no longer in a Power Five conference, and the kickoff times for West Coast teams is often a huge barrier of entry for those living in the Eastern Standard Time Zone. However, Mateer’s production was impressive (more on that in a bit), and if he can replicate that at Oklahoma against SEC competition, he’ll be entering the first round discussion.
- My darkhorse candidate that I hope to see take a major leap this year is Aidan Chiles. Chiles only got six votes in our poll, but I blame that mostly on his limited national exposure and being in the same episode as Manning and Mateer. I currently think he’s more likely to come out in 2027, but if Michigan State has a big turnaround, that could see Chiles’ profile on the rise. The Spartans had a new coach in 2024 — Jonathan Smith, formerly of Oregon State — and it’s difficult to find success during a regime change. Chiles, then a 19-year-old sophomore, followed Smith from Oregon State and was named the starter. His passing and rushing numbers were modest, but so were Klubnik and Allar’s in their first year starting, and Nussmeier sat for three years before getting his opportunity. There were throws on Chiles’ tape that caught my attention, he already has work under center using play action, and he appears to be a decently quick and elusive runner. With 70 players returning for Smith’s second year as a head coach, keep an eye out to see if the Spartans and Chiles start to make the leap.
- If you’re looking for a different contextualization of my rankings, I think they break into the following tiers:
- Tier 1 (Comfortably 1st round): Klubnik, Nussmeier, Sellers
- Tier 2 (On the verge of the first round): Leavitt, Mendoza, Allar, Mateer
- Tier 3 (Arch Manning): Arch Manning
- Tier 4 (Intriguing question marks, need more): Robertson, Green, Chiles
- Tier 5 (High pedigree underperformers and Maiava): Iamaleava, Moore, Maiava, Beck
Some final numbers
Lastly, I’ll leave you with one last data dump for you to consider. While conducting this series, I looked up a ton of stats to try to parse out the full picture on these quarterbacks. In the end, I settled on 23 different statistical metrics that I believed to be the most relevant. Those are included in the table below.
I also wanted to see what picture those statistics would paint about each quarterback’s productivity in 2024 — or 2023 in the case of Dante Moore. It should be noted that I’m not a mathematician, so there is probably a better way to weight certain statistics. But I have a journalism degree, so the best system I could come up with involved awarding 15 points for being a statistical leader, and so on, all the way down to one point being awarded for finishing last in a category.
Some of the results may surprise you.
| QB | Points | Passing yards | Passing TDs | Comp% | INTs | Sacks | Pressure To Sack % | Avg. Time To Throw (TTT) | TTT Under Pressure | Comp% | Yards | Yards Per Attmempt | TD | INT | Turnover Worthy Plays (TWP) | TWP % | Yards | YPA | Touchdowns | Fumbles | Yards After Contact | Missed Tackles Forced | 10+ Yard Runs | Elusiveness Rating | Avg Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Mateer | 249 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 10.83 |
| Cade Klubnik | 247 | 14 | 15 | 7 | 13 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 11 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 4 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 5 | 10.74 |
| Sam Leavitt | 233 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 10.13 |
| Drew Allar | 227 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9.87 |
| Sawyer Robertson | 208 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 9.04 |
| Fernando Mendoza | 195 | 8 | 6 | 15 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 8.48 |
| LaNorris Sellers | 188 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 13 | 2 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 8.17 |
| Taylen Green | 185 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 1 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 8.04 |
| Arch Manning | 183 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 7.96 |
| Garrett Nussmeier | 181 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7.87 |
| Nico Iamaleava | 159 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 6.91 |
| Jayden Maiava | 157 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 6.83 |
| Aidan Chiles | 150 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 6.52 |
| Carson Beck | 142 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 15 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Yards Per Attempt | 6.17 |
| Dante Moore (2023) | 127 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 15 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5.52 |
- Of our finalists, only Klubnik and Allar finished in the top-5 of this exercise.
- Mateer, who had over 3,000 passing yards, threw 29 touchdowns against seven interceptions, and added 826 yards and 15 touchdowns rushing, cleaned up and narrowly edged out Klubnik for the top spot.
- Leavitt and Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson rounded out the top five.
- Players like who didn’t play a full season like Manning, Dante Moore, Jayden Maiava were obviously at a disadvantage in this exercise, so take that how you will.
Lastly, I’ll leave you with this final table, which breaks down the data above in a more digestible way. It shows total points and average score, but also tallies how many statistical categories a quarterback finished in with a top-five score, as well as how many with a bottom-five score.
| QB | Points | Avg Score | Categories w/ Top 5 Score | Categories w/ Bottom 5 Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Mateer | 249 | 10.83 | 14 | 5 |
| Cade Klubnik | 247 | 10.74 | 12 | 2 |
| Sam Leavitt | 233 | 10.13 | 12 | 5 |
| Drew Allar | 227 | 9.87 | 8 | 1 |
| Sawyer Robertson | 208 | 9.04 | 7 | 2 |
| Fernando Mendoza | 195 | 8.48 | 9 | 4 |
| LaNorris Sellers | 188 | 8.17 | 9 | 8 |
| Taylen Green | 185 | 8.04 | 9 | 10 |
| Arch Manning | 183 | 7.96 | 8 | 10 |
| Garrett Nussmeier | 181 | 7.87 | 9 | 9 |
| Nico Iamaleava | 159 | 6.91 | 5 | 8 |
| Jayden Maiava | 157 | 6.83 | 4 | 11 |
| Aidan Chiles | 150 | 6.52 | 2 | 8 |
| Carson Beck | 142 | 6.17 | 7 | 15 |
| Dante Moore (2023) | 127 | 5.52 | 2 | 13 |
Check back each week this season as we keep track of how draft-eligible quarterbacks are performing during the 2025 college football season, and analyze whose stock is rising and whose is falling.
