Big 12 football quarterback rankings: Shedeur Sanders headlines post-spring projections for 2024 season (2024)

Jake Retzlaff had an opportunity to take the BYU starting quarterback job but was far from impressive in his four appearances last year when he completed just half of his passes for three touchdowns to three interceptions. Enter veteran transfer Gerry Bohanon, who at the very least adds competition to the struggling room and carries a higher ceiling than any of the other options. Bohanon had a year of excellence at Baylor and was decent at USF but battled significant injuries throughout his career. Whether he has anything left in the tank in 2024 remains to be seen.

The Arizona State quarterback room is in flux after prized 2023 recruit Jaden Rashada hit the transfer portal during the spring window and committed to Georgia. In his stead, incoming transfer Sam Leavitt has a potential slight edge over veteran spot starter Trenton Bourget, but the Sun Devils could also turn to a late transfer addition in Jeff Sims. Leavitt has the greatest ceiling of the three as a four-star recruit in last year's class but is also the most untested as he played just 45 snaps as a true freshman at Michigan State.

Four-star transfer Brendan Sorsby has to beat longtime backup Brady Lichtenberg first, but assuming the newcomer lands the starting job, he could be in line for the most extensive playing time of his career. He flashed potential last season at Indiana when he logged a three-touchdown effort at Penn State in his first career road start and posted a five-touchdown performance later in the year at Illinois. Still, the No. 18 quarterback in the 2024 transfer cycle has just seven career starts and holds a career completion rate of 57.7%.

TCU's 2023 season was a major letdown as the Horned Frogs came up short of bowl eligibility on the heels of their run to the national championship game. The overall results did not improve when the program made a quarterback change and elevated Josh Hoover to the starting job for the final six games, but the offense's upside did take a step forward. Hoover posted a pair of 400-yard passing performances and crossed the 300-yard mark in more games than not, all the while racking up 15 touchdowns to nine interceptions in his six starts. Cleaning up the turnovers would make him a breakthrough candidate as a redshirt sophom*ore.

Behren Morton was the highest-rated quarterback prospect ever to sign with Texas Tech when he ranked as the No. 11 signal-caller in the 2021 recruiting class. Three years later, he enters his first season as the Red Raiders' unquestioned starter. Morton earned the job early in 2023 and ran away with it in a career-best year, but there still remains ample room for growth after he completed a modest 62% of his throws for 1,757 yards and 15 touchdowns to eight interceptions. He still has the ceiling of an "upper half of the league" type of quarterback.

Continuity could spark another strong year at Oklahoma State as the vast majority of the offense returns for 2024. That includes Alan Bowman, who received a seventh year of eligibility from the NCAA and elected to use it in a return to his post atop the Cowboys' offense. While accuracy and consistency are far from Bowman's strong suits, he still had a productive year leading the passing game to complement Ollie Gordonand the remarkable rushing attack. He seeks to improve upon a 15-14 touchdown-to-interception ratio and 61% completion rate, but the yardage numbers from last year (3,460 through the air) would be more than serviceable if he can replicate them in 2024.

Former intra-conference transfer Donovan Smith has long been a respectable dual-threat weapon in the Big 12 and found a good fit last season at Houston, where he started all 12 games for the Cougars and cashed in with his best year of college football. Smith ranked in the top four of the conference in completion rate (64.5%), completions per game (21.3) and passing touchdowns (22) while adding 428 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. He underwent offseason shoulder surgery but will be ready to roll for his senior campaign.

The 2023 MAC Player of the Year earned a promotion to the power conference level as Dequan Finn capitalized on a stellar final year at Toledo with an invitation to become the starter at Baylor. He closed the spring transfer cycle as the nation's No. 11 quarterback prospect. Finn accounted for at least 2,000 passing yards and 500 rushing yards in each of his first three years as a starter and therefore brings consistency and a veteran presence to a Baylor team in desperate need of a rebound season.

Rumblings during spring camp pointed to Iowa State as a possible breakthrough program in 2024, due in large part to one of college football's youngest rosters gaining a key year of experience. Offseason development from Rocco Becht is a critical part of that maturation process, and so long as he builds on a stellar debut season as the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, the Cyclones will be in great shape on his side of the ball. Becht re-wrote the program's history books last season with freshman records for completions (231), passing yards (3,120) and passing touchdowns (23).

Kansas State's status as a Big 12 title contender largely hinges on Avery Johnsonand his ability to thrive as a first-year starter. The passing numbers during his true freshman season left plenty to be desired, but Johnson is an electric athlete and former top-10 quarterback recruit who should make the Wildcats offense a fun watch in 2024. He received the keys to the offense when Will Howard departed for Ohio State, and given that he rushed for an eye-popping five touchdowns in one game last year against Texas Tech and accounted for three more scores in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, he appears up to the task.

KJ Jefferson is a transfer portal sleeper who could shine with his fresh start at UCF. His dual-threat ability is a perfect match for the Knights' offensive system, which prominently featured running quarterbacks in recent years. Jefferson, like the entire Arkansas team, took a step backward last season in a disappointing campaign, but he is ultra-experienced as a sixth-year player and has two good years on his résumé. He was one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC at his peak. The bounce-back potential is real.

Pro Football Focus tabbed Garrett Greene as "the most underrated quarterback in college football entering next year." Perhaps, then, he will climb the Big 12 quarterback ladder and finish his senior year as one of the league's elite signal-callers. The longtime backup took on his biggest role to date during a breakout 2023 season in which he passed for 2,406 yards and 16 touchdowns and racked up 772 more yards and an additional 13 scores on the ground. Greene is a textbook gunslinger as he ranked second nationally last season in yards per completion but managed just a 53% completion rate.

Everything comes back to health for Jalon Daniels. If he stays at full strength, he can be a top-tier quarterback in this league and perhaps even lead Kansas to a Big 12 title. Daniels has yet to play more than nine games in a season since he emerged in 2020 as a dual-threat weapon but is a game changer when he is on the field. The 2022 campaign was his best, as he racked up 2,014 passing yards and 18 touchdowns through the air along with 425 rushing yards and an additional seven scores. Daniels was on pace for by far his best season to date last year but ultimately played in just three games.

A pair of seventh-year players at Utah could determine the Big 12 title race as quarterback Cameron Rising and tight end Brant Kuithe reunite once again as a formidable duo through the air. Rising did not play last season amid recovery from the brutal knee injury he sustained the year prior, and his top target is in the same boat after missing all of the 2023 season. How Rising looks after that extended layoff will determine Utah's ceiling, but if he reaches the same heights to which he ascended before the injury, he will be one of the more reliable offensive leaders in the nation.

Arizona's coaching change could have spelled trouble from a roster perspective, but the star quarterback-receiver tandem that led the Wildcats to a breakthrough 2023 season remained intact throughout the turnover in leadership. Noah Fifita shined in his rise to the starting lineup last season. He was sensational over the second half of the season, completing passes at a blistering 72.4% clip and essentially forcing Arizona to keep him in the lineup even after ex-starter Jayden de Laura recovered from injury. Teaming up again with his top target in Tetairoa McMillan gives Fifita the chance to thrive over a full season.

While his outward response to Colorado's transfer portal situation raised more than a few eyebrows this offseason, there is little to nitpick about Shedeur Sanders' on-field production. He should instantly be the Big 12's best quarterback when his team joins the league this season, and with an improved offensive line protecting him from the onslaught of pass rushers that wreaked havoc on his pocket last year, Sanders may be in for the best season of his college career. Even with the deficiencies across the Buffaloes' roster, Sanders finished his debut FBS season as the nation's No. 10 passer and boasted a sparkling 27-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio.