ACC QB Rankings 2026

Summary

College Football Bros Podcast – ACC QB Rankings 2026

Podcast: College Football Bros (PodcastOne)
Episode: ACC QB Rankings 2026
Date: July 10, 2026
Hosts: Michael, Ryan, & Trey Newman

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Episode Overview

The Newman brothers deliver their annual, highly anticipated ACC quarterback rankings for the 2026 season. Michael leads the comprehensive, power-ranked breakdown of the league’s starting quarterbacks, dissecting both returning stars and new faces. With trademark wit and sibling banter, Michael and Ryan debate strengths, red flags, and upside for every QB in the newly expanded, 17-team ACC.

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Key Discussion Points & Rankings Breakdown

1. Framework & Philosophy

• Michael takes the lead providing his personal QB rankings for the ACC.
• Rankings are based on a mix of past production, potential, and team context for 2026.
• The brothers recognize the inherent uncertainty: “…it’s a lot of unproven at their current schools here. I mean, outside of the top, like, six…” (Ryan – 25:05)
• Lots of transfer activity—five QBs are on their third FBS school, a symbol of the portal era (“…that doesn’t really mean much these days. It’s just kind of what happens.” – Michael 27:54)

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2. Complete QB Rankings with Commentary

17. Davis Warren (Stanford)

• “He’s the big favorite…but he was terrible at Michigan…Just a horrible season. Tore his ACL in Michigan’s bowl game that year. Sat out all of 2025. Now here he is showing back up at Stanford. He’s 24 years old.” — Michael (02:16)
• Experience counts, but expectations are extremely low.

16. Mason MacKenzie (Boston College)

• “He’s making the jump from Division 2 Saginaw Valley State…a playmaker…but that’s a big jump.” — Michael (03:28)
• Exciting upside but risky as a D2 transfer.

15. Billy Edwards (North Carolina)

• “All we have to go off of is 2024…he was just fine. He just kind of mediocre that year…he’s going to be playing under Bobby Petrino and he can run a little bit.” — Michael (04:28)

14. Ashton Daniels (Florida State)

• “The only consistent part of his game is his running ability…as a passer: 6.6 yards per pass attempt, 24 touchdowns, 22 picks. Just not good.” — Michael (05:30)
• “If you’re Florida State, that is not the guy that you want. There’s just no way to slice it.” — Ryan (06:56)

13. Alberto Mendoza (Georgia Tech)

• Unproven, quick to earn job in spring but mainly known as an Indiana backup. Not much else to go off.

12. Gio Lopez (Wake Forest)

• “He was in a very bad situation last year at North Carolina…Did not play well…But the year before at South Alabama…efficient dual threat.” — Michael (08:59)
• Reunion with former OC could help.

11. Walker Eget (Duke)

• “He was pretty good at San Jose State. He threw the deep ball very well there…Big step up in class.” — Michael (10:13)
• “It’s a good get for Colorado.” — Ryan (11:05, referencing a former WR target)

10. Christopher Vezina (Clemson)

• “Potential is there for him to be…I mean, he could be very good. We just don’t know enough yet.” — Michael (11:15)
• High ceiling, but little evidence; Clemson brand still carries some weight.

9. Beau Prabula (Virginia)

• “He had a better spring than Eli Holstein…very good athlete…was okay [at Missouri] but against SEC defenses.” — Michael (12:37)
• Schedule gets easier in ACC.

8. Ethan Grunkemeier (Virginia Tech)

• “Struggled at first…kind of crushed it, of course…” — Michael (15:37)
• QB/OC pairing moves from Penn State to VT; late 2025 surge.

7. Lincoln Kienholz (Louisville)

• “Barely played in three years at Ohio State, but that’s obviously not a huge knock…All of that is enough for me to bet on him.” — Michael (16:40)
• Trusted by Jeff Brohm.

6. Steve Angeli (Syracuse)

• “Led Syracuse to a road win at Clemson. Things were looking good and when he got hurt…the quarterback play just completely cratered.” — Michael (17:43)
• “That Notre Dame drive, that was awesome. What a big time off.” — Ryan (18:32)

5. Mason Heinzschul (Pitt)

• “Played very well for a true freshman last year…didn’t get to play in their G6 games…His biggest issue was he took too many sacks. A little too much hero ball at times.” — Michael (18:53)

4. Jaron Kiave Sanga Pulatelle (Cal)

• “All the talent in the world…but, like, wasn’t very good last year…The highs were very high, especially late in the season…just showed so many flashes.” — Michael (19:53)

3. Kevin Jennings (SMU)

• “He’s been good in two years as a starter. Over eight yards per pass attempt…The negative is the interception rate is higher than you’d like, but overall he’s good.” — Michael (21:18)
• “He had a couple of big time drives at the end of games that were pretty impressive…He’s got some it factor.” — Ryan (21:56)

2. C.J. Bailey (NC State)

• “Efficient passer, can run, 6’6”, took a nice step forward last year…was second in the ACC in QBR, third in pass efficiency rating. The one thing…lost his top five pass catchers…” — Michael (22:32)
• “And his best offensive lineman to transfer.” — Ryan (23:02)

1. Darian Mensah (Miami)

• “Last year at Duke, put up almost 4,000 yards, 34 touchdowns, just six interceptions…He’s got one of the best receiving cores in the country. He’s got a talented offensive line. He’s going to be in the Heisman race.” — Michael (23:28)
• “What a, you know, bold move for Diaz and Duke to go get Mensa in the first place and pay as much as they did…They won the ACC, so…it paid off for him.” — Ryan (24:05)

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3. Notable Quotes & Highlights

• “Everybody’s got hope and then we’ll all slowly die as the season goes along.” – Ryan (01:42)
• “I mean, really…you could only just point to even just the top three. Like, those guys are solid, entrenched, proven quarterbacks…But after that…just, but again it’s, this is the first list we’re getting to so it’s kind of hard to know how it’s going to compare.” – Michael (25:05)
• “Five of the 17 are multi transfer guys…Just a sign of the times.” – Michael (27:18)

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4. Segment Timestamps

• Start/QB Rankings Week Intro – 01:33
• ACC Overview, Start with #17 – 02:16
• Discussion: Davis Warren to Mendoza (#17-13) – 02:16–08:00
• Gio Lopez to Vezina (#12–10) – 08:36–12:28
• Beau Prabula and Grunkemeier (#9–8) – 12:37–16:28
• Kienholz/Angeli/Heinschul (#7–5) – 16:40–19:53
• JKS, Jennings, Bailey, Mensah (#4–1) – 19:53–23:28
• Diaz & Mensah Reflection – 24:05
• Macro ACC QB Analysis – 25:05
• Portal/Transfer Trends – 27:18

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Overall Takeaways

• Strength at the Top: The only "entrenched, proven" commodities are Mensah, Bailey, and Jennings. "After that, it’s a lot of unproven at their current schools."
• Transfer Era: Heavy movement—nearly a third of the starters are third-stop QBs.
• Many Wild Cards: Half the list is either unproven, coming from lower levels, or have struggled in the past. Uncertainty reigns.
• Best Bets: Miami’s Darian Mensah is the clear #1 (Heisman buzz), while NC State and SMU are stable.
• Wait and See: The ACC’s QB strength will depend on developmental leaps from former blue chips and last year’s freshmen.

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Closing Thoughts

While the bottom of the league is shaky and several teams are depending on reclamation projects or D2 risers, the top delivers true star power in Mensah, Bailey, and Jennings. The brothers agree: if Cal's Sanga Pulatelle and Pitt’s Heinzschul take the next step, the league’s QB profile could look much stronger a few months from now.

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This summary covers the full football content of the episode, omitting commercials and sponsor sections.

Transcript

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[Michael Newman]

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[Ryan Newman]

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[Ryan Newman]

Welcome to the College football Bros. I am Ryan Newman.

[Michael Newman]

And I'm Michael Newman.

[Ryan Newman]

All right Michael, guess what time it is.

[Michael Newman]

I think quarterback rankings week.

[Ryan Newman]

QE ranking time. It's that time of year. Here we go. Lists. The lists are coming out. Preseason top 25s. Everybody's got their own opinions. It's a fun time. It's a fun time. Everybody's got hope and then we'll all slowly die as the season goes along.

[Michael Newman]

Of course Nebraska fans at least and probably USC too.

[Ryan Newman]

Just hopefully not week one. We'll get past that. But we are starting off with the acc. We'll go all all the conferences push do one at a time. Michael's got the lead on this one so let's just hop right into it. Accs, we'll start from the bottom. So who is our seller? Dweller QB in the in the acc. Mike.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, so this is like you said, this is just my list. I'm covering the ACC. And number 17 we have Stanford quarterback Davis Warren. He's the big favorite to be the starter, but he was terrible at Michigan. I think we all remember started there in 2024. Seven touchdowns, nine picks, 5.7 yards per pass attempt. Just a horrible season. Tore his ACL in Michigan's bowl game that year. Sat out all of 2025. Now here he is showing back up at Stanford. He's 24 years old. We'll see if Tavita Pritchard can work some magic, but it's hard to imagine him being any good.

[Ryan Newman]

I mean, he is 24 years old. He's got that going for him. He's old and he was at Michigan, this guy.

[Michael Newman]

He's got life experience, that's for sure.

[Ryan Newman]

There's, there's. There's something to build on there, at least. All right. That's hard to argue against that. I'm prior, by the way, before we move on. I didn't. If you asked me how many teams were in the ACC, I would not have said 17. So hard to keep track

[Sponsor Voice 1]

of.

[Ryan Newman]

Okay, moving on to number 16 from Boston College, Mason MacKenzie. Connor McCann reminds me of MacKenzie Milton. Mason McKenzie. McKenzie. Does he play like a. Hopefully, yeah.

[Michael Newman]

Hopefully he can play. I mean, stylistically I've never watched him play, but it kind of seems like he might be that style of player. He's making the jump from Division 2 Saginaw Valley State. So some people are making comparisons to Trinidad Chambliss. They're both dual threat quarterbacks, Both coming from D2 schools in the state of Michigan. They also both won the same conference player of the year in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate athletic conference. But McKinsey's numbers were significantly worse than Trinidad's, particularly through the air. So I think he'll be exciting to watch. Sounds like he's a. He's kind of a playmaker and hopefully Bill o' Brien really lets him loose on the ground, but that's a big jump. Just because Trinidad Chambliss was successful, we can't go assuming that Division 2 quarterbacks are going to be any good.

[Ryan Newman]

No, that's a big jump, but. All right. Moving on to one that I'm kind of intrigued by just based off of what happened last year or almost what didn't happen for him. Billy Edwards, North Carolina.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, so he's, of course, the transfer from Wisconsin seems to be the favorite at North Carolina. He's coming off of knee injury, of course, that I think it was like the beginning of game two last year. It was very early in the season. So we really. All we have to go off of is 2024, where he was the starter at Maryland and he was just. He was fine. He just kind of mediocre that year. That's. That's all we really know. For whatever reason, he was kind of a highly thought of transfer that offseason. I don't know if he's as highly thought of this offseason, but what I do like is that he's going to be playing under Bobby Petrino and he can run a little bit. So I don't know. Not expecting much, but that's why he's 15th.

[Ryan Newman]

I do like Petrino, you know, usually Petrino gets usually pretty good QB production, but I mean he's got, you know, he's kind of got measurables, which is why I think a lot of people like Edwards. But I'm kind of with you. I'm not. He hasn't done a whole lot in his career yet, so we'll see. All right. Not a good spot here for this next team. Ashton Daniels, Florida State at 14 yeah,

[Michael Newman]

when it's your well, we thought last year was a do or die season for Mike Norvell and they died, but he somehow survived. But this year, for real, this year, it's very much do or die and you just would want to get someone more dependable with a better track record than Ashton Daniels to be your quarterback. So he's played at Stanford and Auburn. The only consistent part of his game is his running ability. You know he's going to add value on the ground, which is nice, but as a passer in his career, 6.6 yards per pass attempt, 24 touchdowns, 22 picks. Just not good. I know he's been in bad situations. No one was going to succeed at Stanford. No one did succeed last year at Auburn, but it's not like this. Florida State offense is incredible. They've got a lot of turnover on the offensive line. Sure they do have Deuce Robinson, but just overall, I'm not expecting big things. It's. I think this will probably be the best year he's had yet, but that's maybe not saying much.

[Ryan Newman]

It's not saying much. He's had terrible years so far up to this point. So I know it should be his best year. I mean he's got the team he's had.

[Michael Newman]

But I want to give deference to Norvell. Like they hand picked him. Not that they had their pick of the litter, but I don't know that's. He did. He also handpicked dju. That wasn't the greatest last year. Castellanos was fine about what you thought. So Ashton Daniels needs to be better than you think Started hot.

[Ryan Newman]

Started, huh?

[Michael Newman]

Yeah.

[Ryan Newman]

No, I mean, come on, that's. If you're Florida State, that is not the guy that you want. There's just, there's no way to slice it. You can't be look at it and be like, oh, yeah, we're, we're in for playoff. I mean, this guy, no way. No way. So it's disappointing for them. All right, number 13, another Mendoza on the lists of college football, I guess.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah. Georgia Tech. Alberto Mendoza. He was coached by Signetti, of course, for two years. So that development, I think has to help. And I like that he was able to pretty quickly earn the job at Georgia Tech. They named him the starter in the spring, but still he's completely unproven. He really only played in garbage time against bad teams last year at Indiana. Wasn't a big recruit out of high school. So there's not a lot to go off of other than the last name and the fact that he played for Signetti, which I don't think the last name should really have much if any bearing here.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah.

[Michael Newman]

So I don't know, maybe I'm.

[Ryan Newman]

He.

[Michael Newman]

He could be a slot or two lower, but I'm kind of just willing to roll the dice on a. Rather than what I've seen from the guys behind him.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, it's. That's always hard to judge. It's always hard to rank that because there's never a sure fire.

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What do you think?

[Michael Newman]

It's like a first year coach? It's like a first year coordinator coach, like.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah. Trying to project and it's, it's unlikely that he's going to be the worst, you know, and you can't just assume he's going to be the worst. But yeah, it's just based on your like replacement level type quarterback. I mean, those other quarterbacks below him have not done much for me. Like Daniels has been terrible, so.

[Michael Newman]

Right.

[Ryan Newman]

I think Mendoza could have also been equally terrible in those opportunities. So, yeah, I probably would put Mendoza maybe one or two lower, but it's okay.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, you know, that's like, I guess Billy Edwards was. Now I think about it like you have one good, pretty good year at Maryland, so yeah, maybe he should, should have been ahead, but I'm committed to the list, Ryan.

[Ryan Newman]

I mean, we'll see what happens on the season, but. All right, Moving on. Number 12. Interesting transfer here. Gio Lopez. Going to wake now.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, he was in a very bad situation last year at North Carolina. Did not play well. We all remember that opening game against TCU was Just horrendous. Rest of the season wasn't quite that bad, but wasn't great. But the year before at South Alabama, he was an efficient dual threat quarterback. Had a great year. That still holds some weight for me. And he's reuniting with his offensive coordinator from South Alabama, so that's a good thing. Granted, the offense around him at Wake Forest might also stink. Wake's offense was bad last year. There's a ton of turnover. Maybe that's a good thing. But. But yeah. So I think there some guys below him might put up better numbers just in better situations. But if I'm just looking just ranking the quarterbacks, I would take him over, over any of them because at least we've seen a really good year from him.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, no, I think that's a fair spot for Lopez. Really got to try to do your best to wash away last year's just and North Carolina.

[Michael Newman]

I'm giving him a little bit of

[Ryan Newman]

a mulligan and he's a lefty, which I like lefties.

[Michael Newman]

There you go.

[Ryan Newman]

All right.

[Michael Newman]

I'm a lefty. So you like me.

[Ryan Newman]

Well, athletic ones. All right. Number 11 on the list at Duke, Walker Eget.

[Michael Newman]

That's right. Yeah, he is, I think the favorite that the transfer from San Jose State. They also have a redshirt freshman, Dan Mahan, in the competition, but I'm going with Eget. He was pretty good at San Jose State. He threw the deep ball very well there over a pretty large sample. They were consistently near the top of the country in percentage of pass attempts over 20 yards. Just had a solid couple years starting there. Big step up in class, of course, from the Mountain west to the accident. But I think given how late in the process Mensah left them, getting Eget was a pretty decent guy to get.

[Ryan Newman]

I liked him. You know, I had their receiver on my, like, fantasy football team and they were putting up numbers every week. Man, it was awesome. Yeah, they were. They were fun to watch.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, he transferred to Colorado. I think that receiver.

[Ryan Newman]

Scudero. Yeah, Scudero.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah.

[Ryan Newman]

Yep. Yeah, it's a good get for Colorado. All right. Ooh, not good here. For number 10, Clemson, you got. That's. That's pretty darn low here. Christopher Vezina.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, he. He started against SMU last season and played pretty well in that game, but that's kind of all we have to go off of. He hasn't played that much in three seasons there. He was a top 100 recruit a few years ago, and he can run a little Bit So the potential is there for him to be. I mean it's just he could be very good. We just don't know enough yet. And I know we're ranking the quarterbacks themselves and not the overall offenses, but he's going to have a pretty inexperienced offensive line in front of him. I'm not a big believer in Chad Morris coming in, so I can't imagine that it's the best situation. So we'll see. But there is still some deference to the Clemson quarterback. Like how bad could he be if they're committing to him? I mean that's. We're phrasing it like that is too harsh. Like you know, he's been in the system or not. It's a different system now, but he's been in the program for a few years. He was a good recruit. He was behind a very good quarterback in K club. Nick. Like there's, there's no reason he couldn't be good and like I said, look good against smu.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, I maybe just could be a little higher. Who knows, maybe.

[Michael Newman]

But I like, I'm comfortable with he could be. I think I would put him right now for me at most like one or maybe two slots higher.

[Ryan Newman]

But yeah, yeah, that's fair. All right. Another transfer here at number nine for Virginia, Beau Praboula.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, of course the transfer from Missouri. He looks to have the edge over pit transfer Eli Holstein. He apparently had a better spring than him but that's a pretty good duo to have especially if whatever, if Prabula falters or gets hurt or something. But, but yeah, so he's a very good athlete. Of course his. We know his running ability is going to add value as a passer at Missouri.

[Ryan Newman]

Just.

[Michael Newman]

Okay. But he was going up against an SEC schedule. Now he's going to have a much easier schedule because Virginia, not only is it just they're in the acc, they avoid Clemson, Louisville and Miami. So the slate of defenses he's going to face is not good at all. And I just put some value on the fact that he appears to. Well, it looks like he's going to beat out a pretty good quarterback in Eli Holstein. So I just think, hey, he might be pretty good and he was fine last year.

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[Ryan Newman]

Okay, yeah, I like Prabula. I think he's at a fair spot. Top half of the league there. Moving on to top eight. Here you got Virginia Tech's quarterback, Ethan Grunkemeier.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, struggled at first when he came in against Iowa and Ohio State after taking over for Drew Aller, but that's to be expected to great defenses after that kind of crushed it, of course. Nearly led them to a win over Indiana and led them to a win over Nebraska. Ryan among several other teams. Sorry to say, but but yeah, he was. He was very good. His offensive coordinator, Ty Howell is coming along with him and based on what they did with Drew Aller, a super talent in Drew Aller, I'm not fully convinced that they can get the most out of a talented quarterback. So I think the Reason he's this low despite a good kind of back half of the season last year as a freshman is I just. The guys ahead of him either have more of a track record or even if they have less of one, I trust their coaching staffs more.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, well, let's take a look at those then. I'm not sure. He's kind of like Runkemeyer. All right, well, number seven is hard to argue here. From Louisville, Lincoln, Kyle Holes.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, barely played in three years at Ohio State, but that's obviously not a huge knock. He's behind Kyle McCord, I think, and, and of course Julian say and Julian Sayan. So no shame in that. He was a four star recruit with good athleticism learned for three years under Ryan Day, identified by Jeff Braum as having great potential. So all of that is enough for me to bet on him. I don't think just because Miller Moss was underwhelming last year that Braum has suddenly forgotten how to develop quarterbacks. I'm. I feel pretty good that Keen Holes will be very solid.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, yeah, I'm with you. I think he's going to do pretty darn well there for, for Braum.

[Michael Newman]

Certainly got a lot more upside than, than Miller Moss.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, that was always the issue with Moss coming in. It's just, he's just. He didn't have.

[Michael Newman]

I mean, if you don't produce under Lincoln Riley, then. Yeah, who are you going to produce under?

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, he, he wasn't bad but you know, he was limited. All right, number six, good spot for this school, Syracuse. Steve Angeli.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, there are some guys on the list below him that I'm confident will have better stat lines because they have better supporting casts. But I think Steve Angeli is pretty good. Of course, you always got to start the conversation with him. The greatest field goal drive in the history of college football a couple of years ago in the playoff against Penn State at the end of the first half. But last year had a solid start to the season before getting hurt. Led Syracuse to a road win at Clemson. Things were looking good and when he got hurt, the quarterback play just completely cratered. So his value over replacement was huge, which I think means he was probably making the most of not the best supporting cast and granted they got picked off a little bit from some other schools so it's. We'll see if, if he has a decent cast this year. But I like him. I do too.

[Ryan Newman]

That Notre Dame drive, that was awesome. What a big time off.

[Michael Newman]

Unbelievable.

[Ryan Newman]

Unbelievable. They couldn't get anything going. They had Nothing.

[Michael Newman]

And then he comes out there.

[Ryan Newman]

Then he comes in.

[Michael Newman]

Field goal. My God.

[Ryan Newman]

Mop. Okay, top five, top five ACC quarterbacks. Mason Henschel from Pitt is in the top five, you say?

[Michael Newman]

Yeah. Played very well for a true freshman last year. Sixteen touchdowns, eight picks, 7.4 yards per pass attempt. And those stats. He didn't get to play in their G6 games at the beginning of the year, their FCS games. He didn't play against Duquesne and Central Michigan, where you can really kind of juice those numbers just because he wasn't starting yet. But his biggest issue was he took too many sacks. A little too much hero ball at times. But this year the offensive line should be better and just getting a year older, maybe that's. He can pick his spots better, but you don't want to totally get rid of that because he, he makes plays, he extends plays and that's part of his value. But. But yeah, just the normal jump, sophomore jump would have him, I think, comfortably in the top five.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, I like him. Pushed out Eli Holstein pretty quick. So yeah, he's. He's not a bad player. All right, I do think there's. We're starting to get some good quarterbacks here. Definitely a jump number four from California. Go ahead, you take it.

[Michael Newman]

Jaron Kiave, Sanga Pulatelle had an up and down year last season, but I, I mean we've talked about him a bunch on this off season. I thought he had a pretty below average supporting cast and he was a true freshman. So I can excuse a lot of the lows and the highs were very high, especially Leighton last season, upset wins at Louisville and against smu. He just showed so many flashes, so many games and throws that were NFL type type plays. So I think with another year of experience, a great transfer haul of skill talent coming in. I love the receivers and tight end and running back they brought in, so I think that he could just take a huge leap forward.

[Ryan Newman]

That would be fun. Another lefty, athletic. That'd be cool. Hopefully that'd be good to see Cal good again. It's exciting that they kept him, right?

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, that was huge. That was. I mean, Tash Lapoi already is just that alone. If when they were making the hire, you would have told me this guy will keep jks and this guy won't. I'd be like, all right, I'll take the guy that keeps him.

[Ryan Newman]

I mean, absolutely. Yeah, that's a huge one. I mean he's like landing a five star qb, so. All right, top three deservingly so I think for these three I might disagree with you right here. Although number three is Kevin Jennings you have from smu.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah. You could, you could swap three and two, but I'm, I'm comfortable where I have them. So Kevin Jennings, he was, he's been good in two years as a starter. Over eight yards per pass attempt. A ton of volume. Had 3, 600 yards last year. Just very solid. Doesn't take very many sacks. Didn't use his legs as much in 2025 as he did in 24. So hopefully you can get back to that because that's. He's a pretty good runner and the negative on him, I guess what puts him below our next guy is the interception rate is higher than you would like but overall he's good. There's not. Yeah, not many knocks I've just seen.

[Ryan Newman]

You know, he had a couple of big time drives at the end of games that were pretty impressive. So I don't know to me I was watch him and I think he's kind of a gamer.

[Michael Newman]

Well, I watched the first half against Penn State.

[Ryan Newman]

Penn State, yeah, forget about that one.

[Michael Newman]

That was one game.

[Ryan Newman]

Just you know, go back to like the ACC title game against Clemson a couple years back where he really was awesome. I mean that was. He led an amazing. Right. He's, he's got some ability, he's got some it factor. I like his game. I mean I like this guy too. But I'd put him at three. We got at number two for you NC State quarterback CJ Bailey.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah. Entering year three as the starter just like Jennings and he's been very good. Efficient passer, he can run, he's 6 foot 6, took a nice step forward last year, was second in the ACC and QBR third in pass efficiency rating. The one thing about him like I kind of would bet on maybe see Kevin Jennings to put up better numbers this year because first of all I just like Rhett Lashley's system better. But also C.J. bailey lost his top five pass catchers, three of them to USC, Alabama and Texas, so.

[Ryan Newman]

And his best offensive lineman to transfer.

[Michael Newman]

There you go. So yeah, if, if he can keep up the same productivity as last year, that means he probably played a lot better because I don't think that the

[Ryan Newman]

cast, multiple guys on, you know, quarterbacks out there like that. So yeah, I agree with you. I don't think a stats could be as good.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

It's.

[Ryan Newman]

It's a harder supporting cast. But we do agree on number one, best quarterback in the ACC is Darian Mensah of Miami.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, there's just no reason for him not to have a massive year. Last year at Duke, put up almost 4,000 yards, 34 touchdowns, just six interceptions, and that's six interceptions with a ton of volume. Like, he threw, I think he might have thrown, had 500 pass attempts, something like that. 7.9 yards per pass attempt. Very solid. And that was in an offense that we didn't think was going to be very good around him. It ended up being that, but I think that was maybe partially him kind of willing that to happen. Now. He's got one of the best receiving cores in the country. He's got a talented offensive line in front of him. Like he's. He's going to be in the Heisman race.

[Ryan Newman]

I mean, what a, you know, bold move for Diaz and Duke to go get Mensa in the first place and pay as much as they did. I remember when it happened, we were all pretty surprised at the dollar figure member. And I mean, paid off. They won the acc, so it, you know, it paid off for him. And now, I mean, he goes on to greener pastures, but that's just a sign that it worked. So, yeah, that was a good, good move for Diaz, who's kind of proven himself to be, you know, a steady coach nowadays. He's done a good job.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, I'm. Trey's high on him. I'm still. We'll see. We'll see.

[Ryan Newman]

I mean, yeah, it's not like he's Saban or anything where it's. For sure he's awesome, like, every year, but it's, you know, I was much lower on him like, a few years ago than I am now.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah, no, he's off to a good start there.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, definitely is. All right, well, overall here, Mike, do you have any kind of things, thoughts that kind of. About this list? I mean, just for me, it's a lot of unproven at their current schools here. I mean, outside of the top, like, six, it's.

[Michael Newman]

I mean, really, you. You could kind of only just point to even just the top three. Like, those guys are solid, entrenched, proven quarterbacks. Mensah, Bailey and Jennings. But after that, like, Sanga Pulutelle, all the talent in the world. But it, like, wasn't very good last year. There's excuses for it, but still, Mason Heinzschul, like, okay, he didn't even start the whole year and he was good. True freshman. Again, there's reasons to think that he could be even better, but I don't know. And Angeli, other than the amazing field goal drive, he's only got a few games as a starter under his belt. So I don't know, it's just, but again it's, this is the first list we're getting to so it's kind of hard to know how it's going to compare. We haven't gone through the.

[Ryan Newman]

You can assume, you can assume it's, it's a weak list.

[Michael Newman]

It seems fairly weak. So like that top three is good. They, they really need those two guys who started as true freshmen last year, jks and Mason Heinshult, to, to improve. If those guys do, then the list starts to look better. And then there's three former four stars who are in their first full year as a starter. They need those guys to pan out. That's Christopher Vezina at Clemson, Ethan Grunkemeier, Virginia Tech and Lincoln King Holtz at Louisville. But, but yeah, I agree with you. I mean, yeah, it's not maybe not the best list here.

[Ryan Newman]

There's just especially.

[Michael Newman]

I mean there's not even guy usually at the bottom of the list. I feel like there are guys that are just unknown. Right. Like we haven't seen them. Maybe they'll be good Alberto Mendoza type guys.

[Ryan Newman]

Right.

[Michael Newman]

Like you can't knock him. You just haven't really seen much. But here there are guys that we have seen and not. Not liked it like Davis Warren and Ashton Daniels and to some extent Billy Edwards.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah.

[Michael Newman]

So even Gio Lopez like last year was pretty bad. So.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, it was. Yeah. It's hard to say that this conference has got an elite set of quarterbacks but it's.

[Michael Newman]

I don't know Ryan, we're about to get to. I'm looking at the Big 12 list. I don't think it's cut and dry that the Big 12 is any better. Maybe.

[Ryan Newman]

But well, losing soar speed doesn't help the list. But you know. Yeah, I'm not going to say it's. I don't think the Big 12 runs away with it against the ACC, but I do think, well obviously the other conferences will but that's to be expected.

[Michael Newman]

Well, another interesting thing about this list was and I don't know how this will compare to the other conferences but there are five. Five of the 17 are multi transfer guys, guys that are on their third school. So Darian Mensah, you got Talane and Duke, now Miami, Bo Prabula, Penn State, Missouri, now Virginia, Geo Lopez, South Alabama, North Carolina, now Wake, Ashton Daniels, Stanford, Auburn, now fsu, and then Billy Edwards, Maryland, Wisconsin and North Carolina. So just a sign of the times.

[Ryan Newman]

Yeah, it really is. That doesn't really mean much these days. It's just kind of what happens.

[Michael Newman]

Yeah. Okay, well, there you have it, I guess. Fran, you're the host of this episode, so I'll let you close it out.

[Ryan Newman]

Alright, well, if you liked the ACC episode here, we got the Big 12. My rankings, the better ones are coming out next week, so stay tuned for that and for more. Subscribe and give us five stars, please. Appreciate y'.

[Michael Newman]

All.