Best NFL quarterback prospects in college football for the 2027 draft start getting argued about long before the combine invites go out. They get argued about in quiet offices while the playoff games run on mute. They get argued about in practice bubbles where a coach keeps clapping to fix a footwork issue that will get a quarterback killed on Sundays. They get argued about the moment someone hears the words transfer portal and realizes the depth chart is a rumor now.
As of late December 2025, the names that keep surfacing sit in different zip codes and different systems. Julian Sayin at Ohio State, playing like the position is a science. Dylan Raiola at Nebraska, trying to drag a proud program into a modern passing league. DJ Lagway, a high ceiling talent in a chaotic season. Nico Iamaleava, now at UCLA after starting his college career at Tennessee.
Projecting to April 2027 means you are not just projecting throws. You are projecting survival. Two more off seasons of schemes, coordinators, roster churn, and the kind of noise that used to ruin quarterbacks before they ever made a bad decision. Now it just follows them on their phones.
Why projecting the 2027 quarterback class feels different
This is not a list of the prettiest spirals. It cannot be, not two seasons out.
Quarterbacks now live inside two markets at once. One is football. The other is leverage. NIL money moves. Coaching staffs change. A quarterback can look settled in October and have his future negotiated in December.
That is why the evaluation keeps circling back to three things.
You want the signature moment. The drive, the game, the stretch where the quarterback had to solve a problem without a clean pocket and without a clean mood in the stadium.
You want a hard number that forces you to stop guessing. Efficiency. Touchdown to interception ratio. Completion percentage. Or even a simple truth like “he has started 25 college games,” which matters more than it sounds when you are talking about a player who will eventually have to win in January.
Then you want the reputation. Not the branding. The reputation. What his program asks him to represent. What the fan base wants him to fix. Quarterbacks do not just play the position. They absorb it.
Now the board.
The 2027 board, from 10 to 1
10. Air Noland, South Carolina
Noland’s most important “moment” so far does not live on a highlight reel. It lives in the decision to move. A quarterback does not leave a room like Ohio State’s unless he believes he needs snaps more than he needs comfort. That is a real tell. It is the type scouts talk about when they say a kid wants the job, not the title.
The number attached to Noland right now is basic, but it matters: South Carolina lists him at 6 foot 3 and 225 pounds, a redshirt freshman, with Ohio State as his previous school. That is not a stat line. It is a profile. Big enough to see over the middle. Thick enough to take hits. Young enough that the story can still swing hard.
The legacy part is South Carolina’s constant hunger for a quarterback who becomes the face of a real era, not a temporary fix. If Noland grows into that, he changes the way the program sells itself. If he does not, he becomes another name in a long line of hopefuls.
He sits this low because the proof has not arrived yet. Transfers can be brave. They can also be premature. Until Noland stacks meaningful Saturdays, he stays a projection.
9. Sam Leavitt, Arizona State
Leavitt’s signature is restraint. You can feel it in the way his season reads. He does not play like a kid trying to win the internet every series. He plays like someone who wants a punt to count as a win when the game demands it.
The number that sticks is the ratio: ESPN lists him in 2025 with 1,628 passing yards, 10 touchdowns, and three interceptions, with a QBR that landed in the mid 60s range. The volume is not huge. The care with the ball is.
The legacy note is Arizona State trying to find its modern identity again, trying to convince quarterbacks that development and opportunity can coexist there. If Leavitt turns into a real pro prospect, the program stops feeling like a stopover and starts feeling like a pipeline.
He is not higher because the ceiling still feels like a question. Clean football matters. So does the ability to take over games when the defense knows what is coming.
8. Josh Hoover, TCU
Hoover has already done the thing that earns quarterbacks respect in scouting rooms: he has carried volume. He has thrown into tight windows in a league that forces you to score. He has played enough meaningful snaps that you are not guessing about how he reacts to pressure. You have the tape.
The number is big and clear. ESPN lists Hoover’s 2025 season at 3,472 passing yards with 29 touchdowns. That is not an empty line. That is a quarterback running a real offense and living in real third downs.
The cultural piece is the part that gets messy, because it is the sport now. Hoover has entered the transfer portal, and the conversation around him immediately turned into market talk, not just football talk. That matters for his future too. The NFL will ask what he wanted, what he was promised, and how he handled being treated like an asset.
He lands at eight because the downside shows up in the same place it always does for high volume passers. Turnovers. The league will not forgive them, and scouts will keep digging until they understand why the ball got loose.
7. Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati
Sorsby feels like the type of quarterback who wins games before you notice he is doing it. Then you look up in the fourth quarter, see the scoreboard, and realize he has been making the right decision all night.
The numbers back that feeling. ESPN lists him in 2025 with 2,800 passing yards, 27 touchdown passes, and five interceptions, along with a QBR north of 80. Efficient, productive, clean.
The legacy angle for Cincinnati is familiar by now. The program has built a reputation for punching harder than people expect, then sending players into bigger conversations. A quarterback who plays this controlled can become the face of that whole identity. Not flash. Function. Wins.
He is not higher because scouts will keep asking the same blunt question: what happens when the game turns chaotic and the quarterback has to create outside structure? The answer will decide whether he stays a very good college quarterback or turns into something more.
6. DJ Lagway, Florida
Lagway has the kind of arm that changes what an offense can call. He can make throws that feel unfair, the ones that arrive too fast and too far for the coverage to matter.
The number that defines his 2025 season is also the warning label. ESPN lists him with 2,264 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions, and a QBR just under 60. That is talent colliding with risk, week after week.
The cultural part is Gainesville, which is its own pressure cooker. Florida quarterbacks do not get to develop quietly. Every snap becomes a referendum. Add in the volatility of modern roster building and you get a situation where the quarterback’s story can swing from savior to scapegoat in a month.
He sits at six because the ceiling is real, but the decision making has to tighten. The NFL can coach footwork. It cannot coach a quarterback into respecting the ball if he never learned to.
5. Nico Iamaleava, UCLA
Iamaleava’s defining moment is not a single throw. It is the way his career already carries two chapters. Tennessee first, then UCLA. That kind of move forces a quarterback to rebuild trust, learn new language, and still perform while everyone watches for cracks.
The number that matters is experience. UCLA’s roster bio notes he has played in 29 games with 25 starts, completing 449 of 702 passes across his time at Tennessee and UCLA. In a world full of hypothetical quarterbacks, that is rare. He has already lived the grind.
The legacy note is UCLA trying to matter nationally in a new conference life and a new era of West Coast football relevance. A quarterback with real name recognition can pull a program into the spotlight. A quarterback with real wins can keep it there.
He is fifth because scouts still want to see the cleanest version of him more often. The tools and the experience both check out. The question is consistency when the structure breaks and the crowd gets impatient.
4. Darian Mensah, Duke
Mensah’s season has the shape scouts love. It looks like control. It looks like growth. It looks like a player who can run an offense without needing everything to be perfect.
The number is the argument. ESPN lists Mensah’s 2025 season at 3,646 passing yards and 30 touchdown passes, with five interceptions and a QBR in the high 70s range. That is production with discipline.
The cultural legacy piece is Duke football trying to build something that lasts longer than a good month. A quarterback like Mensah gives the program a backbone. He also changes the way opponents prepare. Duke stops feeling like a game on the schedule and starts feeling like a real problem.
He stays outside the top three because the next step is always the hardest one. Defenses adjust. Expectations rise. The league starts hunting your weaknesses. If Mensah stays efficient when the film on him gets thick, he climbs fast.
3. CJ Carr, Notre Dame
Carr plays under a different type of spotlight. Notre Dame does not let quarterbacks simply exist. It turns them into symbols. Some players shrink under that. Others start throwing like they own the place.
The number that matters is that he already looks like a quarterback who can carry a season. ESPN lists him in 2025 with 2,741 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, and six interceptions, along with a QBR in the low 80s range. That is not survival. That is control.
The legacy note is Notre Dame quarterback history, which comes with its own gravity. The NFL also watches Notre Dame quarterbacks in a specific way, partly because the program’s visibility makes every mistake feel louder. If Carr keeps stacking efficient seasons, he stops being “the next one” and becomes a real evaluation, the kind that draws first round language.
He sits at three because the projection still requires one more step in difficulty. One more season of defenses treating him like the threat. One more season of carrying expectation without letting it harden him.
2. Dylan Raiola, Nebraska
Raiola’s signature moment, so far, is that Nebraska trusted him early and lived with the consequences, good and bad. That matters. Some programs claim they will build around a young quarterback. Nebraska actually did it.
The number that defines his 2025 season comes from Nebraska’s own recap: Raiola completed 181 of 250 passes for 2,000 yards and 18 touchdowns in nine games before a season ending injury, and the program notes he sat near the top nationally in completion percentage at the time.
The cultural legacy part is Nebraska itself. The program has been searching for modern stability for so long that the fan base can feel the desperation in the air. A quarterback like Raiola is not just a player there. He is the argument that Nebraska can live in the present tense again.
He is second because the film still shows the growing pains. The QBR and efficiency numbers sit in a more human range on ESPN. The NFL will want more consistent answers, especially on third down, especially when the pocket turns into a mess.
1. Julian Sayin, Ohio State
Sayin’s defining moment is not a single throw either. It is the way he makes everything look repeatable. The footwork lines up with the read. The ball arrives on time. The offense stays on schedule. That is the closest thing college football has to professional quarterbacking.
The number is the reason he sits at one. ESPN lists Sayin’s 2025 season at 3,323 passing yards with 31 touchdown passes, six interceptions, and a QBR pushing 90. That is not just production. That is dominance with restraint.
The legacy note is Ohio State’s long, complicated relationship with quarterbacks and NFL translation. For years, the program produced stars who became debates. Sayin has a chance to become the first of a new type there: a player who looks built for Sundays while he is still playing Saturdays.
He is first because he combines three rare things: efficiency, aggression that stays controlled, and a temperament that does not change when the stadium gets loud. The rest of the board can climb. But right now, Sayin sets the pace.
What the 2026 season will actually decide
The 2027 conversation will tighten over the next twelve months, because the sport forces it to.
Some of these quarterbacks will change coordinators. Some will change programs. Some will change the way they play because a coach asked them to, or because a hit taught them to. A couple will get labeled unfairly. A couple will earn labels they cannot carry.
That is why the best NFL quarterback prospects in college football for the 2027 draft still feel like a moving target, even when the numbers look clean. Quarterback projection is not just arm talent and accuracy. It is how a player handles being treated like property, then being asked to lead like a person. It is how he answers after a bad interception, and how he answers when a booster group wants a new shiny thing.
Sayin has the cleanest profile right now. Raiola has the heaviest cultural weight. Lagway has the highest volatility. Iamaleava has already proved he can restart his story and keep throwing. Mensah and Carr look like they could climb into the top tier if they stack another season of proof.
And the question that will not go away, the one scouts keep coming back to late at night when the tape blurs a little: when the first read dies, when the protection leaks, when the crowd starts bargaining with itself, who still plays quarterback like the next snap is the only one that matters.
Read more: https://sportsorca.com/college-sports/ncaaf/senior-bowl-watch-list-2027-seniors-draft-stock/
FAQs
Q1: Who is the top quarterback prospect for the 2027 NFL Draft right now?
Julian Sayin leads the board right now because he pairs big production with clean decision making. pasted
Q2: Why does the transfer portal matter when projecting the 2027 quarterback class?
The portal can change a quarterback’s system, coaches, and timeline fast. That can raise a prospect or bury him. pasted
Q3: Which 2027 QB prospect has the most pressure on him?
DJ Lagway may carry the most week to week pressure because Florida turns every snap into a loud verdict. pasted
Q4: What is the biggest question scouts still have about this class?
They want to know who still plays clean when the pocket breaks and the first read dies. pasted
Q5: When will the 2027 QB rankings change the most?
The 2026 season will force the shakeup, because coaching changes, transfers, and real adversity will finally stack enough tape.
I’m a sports and pop culture junkie who loves the buzz of a big match and the comfort of a great story on screen. When I’m not chasing highlights and hot takes, I’m planning the next trip, hunting for underrated films or debating the best clutch moments with anyone who will listen.
