Every summer, quarterback rooms get inflated by optimism. The depth chart looks cleaner, the backup looks more polished, and suddenly everybody is talking like the whole operation is bulletproof.
But the rooms that really matter are the ones that can handle a bad break without falling apart. That’s the standard here: not just who has the star at the top, but who has the kind of insurance that keeps the season on track.
Oregon sits at the top of that conversation because Dante Moore made the kind of decision that changes the entire picture. He passed on an estimated $50 million in guaranteed money by skipping the 2026 NFL Draft and returning to Eugene, where he threw for 3,565 yards and 30 touchdowns at a 71.8% clip last season. “I feel I can still learn so much more,” Moore told ESPN when he announced his decision on SportsCenter.
And the Ducks didn’t stop there. Dylan Raiola is waiting behind him after starting 22 games at Nebraska over two seasons and completing 72.4% of his passes in 2025 before a broken fibula ended his year.
Raiola is fully healthy and expected to redshirt in 2026 while learning behind Moore, a path that mirrors the one Moore followed behind Dillon Gabriel in 2024. Dan Lanning called Raiola “a cerebral player that can make the throws” this spring.
No other program can match that combination of a projected top-two NFL Draft pick at QB1 and a former five-star, 22-game starter as the backup.
Ohio State has its own loaded setup, led by Julian Sayin. He put together a huge 2025 season as a redshirt freshman, leading the nation in completion percentage at 77% and finishing second in passer rating at 177.46.
Sayin threw for 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns, earned a Heisman Trophy finalist nod, and helped guide the Buckeyes to a 12-0 regular season. Behind him, Tavien St.
Clair made a strong impression in the 2026 spring game, throwing for 166 yards and hitting five-star freshman Chris Henry Jr. on a 40-yard touchdown.
“I had meetings with (quarterbacks coach Billy) Fessler and (head coach Ryan) Day prior to this spring,” St. Clair said. “That was something they wanted to see from me and that was something I wanted for myself as well, just to be more confident.”
Texas also brings real stability, starting with Arch Manning. He finished 2025 with 3,163 yards, 26 touchdowns and seven interceptions, and he closed strong after a rough start.
Over his final stretch, he went 114 of 176 with nine total touchdowns and only two interceptions. Behind him, KJ Lacey came out of spring practice as the clear No. 2, not MJ Morris.
Steve Sarkisian said, “That's what you hope for in a developmental year from a quarterback perspective.” Morris, who has stops at Coastal Carolina, Maryland and NC State, is third, while five-star freshman Dia Bell is expected to redshirt.
Houston’s room has a veteran starter and a premium future answer. Conner Weigman completed 204 of 319 passes for 2,475 yards and 21 touchdowns in his first full healthy season since leaving Texas A&M, then finished by winning Texas Bowl MVP after throwing for 236 yards and a rushing score in a win over LSU.
He comes back in 2026 instead of entering the NFL, and the Cougars also have Keisean Henderson, the top overall recruit in the 2026 class. Henderson is expected to redshirt and learn, while Weigman has already taken him under his wing.
“He's a special player,” Weigman said. “He can literally do whatever he wants on a football field.”
LSU rounds out the group with Sam Leavitt at the top. He threw for 4,513 yards and 34 touchdowns over two seasons at Arizona State before a Lisfranc foot injury ended his 2025 season in October.
Lane Kiffin still made him the No. 1 target in the transfer portal, and Leavitt is now fully cleared and up to 216 pounds heading into fall camp. Kiffin called him an “NFL mindset quarterback from a preparation standpoint” during a summer appearance on Tyrann Mathieu’s show.
Husan Longstreet, a former USC five-star, is the backup after completing 13 of 15 passes for 103 yards and running for two touchdowns on just 44 career snaps. That gives LSU a healthy starter and a developmental option with real efficiency already on the board.
The list of top quarterback rooms is about more than the name at the top. It’s about whether the second and third options can actually survive the season if the job changes hands. These five rooms have that kind of answer.
In Other News...
Has Willie Fritz Really Brought Houston Into The Big 12 Top Tier
Willie Fritz has Houston moving in the right direction fast. In his second season, he guided the Cougars to a 10-3 record and a Texas Bowl win, a sharp turnaround that put them fourth in the Big 12 and made them look, at least on the field, like a program capable of hanging with the leagues best. The progress has not stopped at the scoreboard, either. Houstons recruiting has picked up, highlighted by the addition of freshman quarterback Keisean Henderson, a sign that the Cougars are starting to sell a more convincing long-term pitch.
The harder part is closing the gap with the leagues top tier, and that is where the next test comes in. Texas Tech and BYU finished ahead of Houston, and the Cougars still have work to do to match the financial and roster-building advantages those programs bring to the table. The schedule offers an immediate measuring stick, too, with Houston set to face Texas Tech on Sept. 18, a matchup that should say plenty about how far Fritzs program has come and how far it still has to go. [Read more 🡒]
Houston Fans Will Want To See Which Safety Just Chose The Coogs
Houstons 2027 recruiting class picked up another piece this week with the commitment of three-star safety Gabe Brooks, a Baton Rouge Central standout whose name has been on the radar in Louisiana. Brooks is rated by 247Sports as the No. 79 safety nationally and the No. 27 player in the state, giving the Cougars another defensive addition with some regional credibility as they keep building out that class.
Brooks becomes the 14th pledge in a Houston group that currently sits 61st nationally, and his decision adds more weight to what the staff is trying to assemble on that side of the ball. He also brings a winning background from Centrals run to a Louisiana Division I Non-Select state championship as a sophomore, which only adds to the appeal as the Cougars continue stacking commitments for 2027. [Read more 🡒]
Willie Fritz Has Houston Fans Wondering If This Is The Year
Willie Fritz has spent three years steadily reshaping Houston, and the result is a roster that looks far more complete heading into the 2026 season than the one he inherited. The Cougars have a balanced offense, a conservative defense and enough veteran structure to make people around the program think this is not just a nice step forward, but the kind of team that can make noise in the Big 12.
Conner Weigman gives Houston the kind of senior presence Fritz wants at quarterback, someone who can guide the offense without forcing the issue. On the other side of the ball, recent transfers have added needed depth and talent, giving the defense a sturdier look than it had before. The question now is whether all of that adds up to a real run when the games start to matter most. [Read more 🡒]