• Arch Manning’s lack of experience continues to be his main criticism: It’s hard to judge Manning too harshly due to his small sample of snaps. We should learn more about his weaknesses — and strengths — in 2025.

• Cade Klubnik shined last season but needs to better overcome his measurables: At 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, he would rank in the 32nd and 7th percentiles in the NFL, respectively. Because of his height, he sometimes throws on his toes, which causes inconsistent accuracy.

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Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

As we continue to preview the 2025 college football season and the 2026 NFL Draft class, the quarterback position remains the center of attention.

These are my early top five quarterback prospects and some areas of their game where I’d like to see improvement before they declare for the draft.

ARCH MANNING, TEXAS

Manning comes into the season as my No. 1 overall quarterback for the 2026 NFL Draft. It’s a big projection, as Manning hasn’t even started for a full season yet after redshirting in 2024 and serving as Quinn Ewers‘ backup in 2024. Last season, he threw just 94 passes, but earned an 81.1 PFF passing grade while doing so. In his only SEC game where he recorded more than 30 dropbacks, versus Mississippi State in Week 5, he garnered an elite 91.7 PFF passing grade with three big-time throws and zero turnover-worthy plays.

The areas where Manning needs to improve stem from his lack of experience. His footwork and throwing motion are fundamentally sound, but they look robotic at times. More dropbacks should also help him better manipulate deep defenders with his eyes, or just become less locked onto certain targets, giving away where he is going with the ball before he starts his motion.

It’s hard to judge too much else in Manning’s game (play under pressure, throws over the middle, passing grade on third-and-long situations, etc.) because of the small sample size.

Several quarterbacks in the expected 2026 NFL Draft class beg the question: Do they have an NFL-caliber arm? Allar is not among them.

The 6-foot-5, 240-pound redshirt junior quarterback earned a 79.1 PFF passing grade in 2024, his second season as a full-time starter. His NFL-caliber arm yielded a 91.7 PFF passing grade on throws of 40 yards or more, which ranked tied for seventh among qualifying FBS quarterbacks. His PFF passing grade dropped from 81.9 when kept clean to 65.9 when under pressure in 2024 — but that’s not as steep of a drop-off as it may seem. All quarterbacks’ grades fall when pressured, and anything above 65.0 is solid. Plus, Allar made only one turnover-worthy play when pressured this past season.

Allar’s biggest issues seem to be rooted in a lack of consistent throwing fundamentals, specifically his footwork. On some throws, he positions his front foot in an open stance, which creates ball placement inconsistency. He also struggled more with zone defenses, logging six turnover-worthy plays on such plays compared to just three against single coverage. We’re looking for him to make better decisions against zone in 2025.

Nussmeier is a gunslinger through and through. That will make some NFL teams nervous, as he is just 6-foot-2 and 203 pounds, ranking in the 32nd and 5th percentiles for the position in the NFL. He’s of a Baker Mayfield mold, and while there are questions about whether his arm is as good as Mayfield’s, it doesn’t appear to be lacking by NFL standards.

Nussmeier loves to give his receivers a chance, both with his mentality to attempt passes and his ball placement in tight coverage. Against single coverage in 2024, he racked up 16 big-time throws compared to just four turnover-worthy plays. But against zone coverage, he made 10 big-time throws to an equal 10 turnover-worthy plays. He was also a bit reckless on third-and-long, recording three big-time throws and five turnover-worthy plays.

For Nussmeier, it is all about the delicate balance of playing fearlessly but not putting the ball in harm’s way. If he can improve that ratio, especially in third-and-long situations, he’ll be considered as one of the top quarterbacks in this draft.

Garrett Nussmeier’s Career PFF Grades

Leavitt is another big projection. The redshirt sophomore’s measurables — 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds — leave a lot to be desired for the NFL. But once he loads up to throw the ball, his arm talent is apparent. Leavitt, like Garrett Nussmeier, has a much better arm than one would expect. He can hit short and intermediate throws with good velocity. His passing production was low, with only 13 big-time throws and five turnover-worthy plays in 2024, but that translated into an impressive 1.1% turnover-worthy play rate — tied for the third-best mark among 156 qualifying FBS quarterbacks.

To start, Leavitt needs to just throw more, which will naturally happen after running back Cam Skattebo, the focal point of Arizona State’s offense in 2024, departed for the NFL. Beyond that, Leavitt needs to speed up his process. His average time to throw in 2024 was 3.10 seconds, while a good number for the NFL is somewhere between 2.7-2.9 seconds, depending on the offense.

Leavitt is too comfortable retreating deep into a pocket rather than stepping up and getting the ball out quickly. He throws off his back foot far too much, as well. He could be more fundamentally sound on a throw-by-throw basis. There is a lot of talent in Leavitt, but some fine-tuning is needed.

Klubnik posted some great numbers last season. His 87.7 PFF passing grade was the highest mark among the top draft-eligible quarterbacks, and his 77.8 PFF passing grade under pressure ranked first among qualifying FBS quarterbacks. His 91.5 passing grade on intermediate passes, whether over the middle or outside the numbers, is also ideal for a projection to the NFL.

At 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, he would rank in the 32nd and 7th percentiles, respectively. Height appears to be an issue for him, as he sometimes throws on his toes to see over the line of scrimmage and aid the ball’s flight path. That causes some inconsistencies with accuracy. His accuracy also dips when his footwork isn’t reset on on-the-run throws. Cleaning up his fundamentals to make sure he is getting the most out of his arm strength in all situations would round out an otherwise very impressive initial scouting report.