Todd McShay didn’t waste time sugarcoating his reaction to Josh Pate’s preseason Big Ten quarterback rankings. The former ESPN NFL draft analyst zeroed in on one part of the list in particular: UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava at No. 10 and Michigan’s Bryce Underwood at No. 5.
“With all due respect, Nico at 10 with Bryce at five is bordering on criminal,” McShay wrote. “But to each their own. And FYI, I'm out west, so this isn't some weird 1:42 a.m. post.”
Pate’s list was built with a different goal in mind. He put Ohio State’s Julian Sayin at No.
1, Oregon’s Dante Moore at No. 2 and USC’s Jayden Maiava at No. 3, then leaned into what he expects to happen in 2026 rather than simply rewarding the strongest résumé right now. That’s the heart of the disagreement.
McShay’s response made that clear, and Pate answered by drawing a line between present production and future projection.
“Based on resume thus far, true,” Pate replied. “This is what I expect this year. As we all know, there's no crime in expectation.”
That’s why the ranking is so easy to understand and so easy to argue with. Underwood at No. 5 is a bet on a big sophomore jump. Iamaleava at No. 10 is a statement that his recent slide matters more than his best moments.
There’s also a noticeable drop after the top three. Sayin, Moore and Maiava form the top tier, and the next group can be arranged in a few different ways. Pate slotted Indiana’s Josh Hoover, Underwood, Penn State’s Rocco Becht and Washington’s Demond Williams into the next four spots.
Iamaleava’s placement is tied to everything that followed his 2024 season. He helped Tennessee go 10-3 and reach the College Football Playoff, throwing for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns. After that came the split with the Vols during reported NIL negotiations.
Iamaleava later said returning home to California was the driving factor and called other accounts “false reports.”
His first season at UCLA didn’t lift his stock. The Bruins opened 0-3, fired coach DeShaun Foster and finished 3-9. In 11 games, Iamaleava threw for 1,928 yards with 13 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
Even so, there were flashes that explained why some evaluators still see more upside. He completed 64.4% of his passes, led UCLA with 505 rushing yards and four rushing scores, and accounted for five touchdowns in a 42-37 upset of No. 7 Penn State.
UCLA has made changes around him, too. The Bruins hired Bob Chesney away from James Madison this offseason, and former NFL quarterback Derek Carr joined the staff as a special advisor. Carr, like Iamaleava, grew up in California.
Underwood has his own case. As a true freshman, he started all 13 games for Michigan, passed for 2,428 yards and added 392 rushing yards and six touchdowns. He finished with 11 touchdown passes and nine interceptions, which shows how much polish he still needs, but simply handling that workload at Michigan mattered.
That’s where the split really lives. McShay seems to be weighing the broader body of work and the cleaner quarterback case. Pate is making a preseason call on who will be better this year and who he expects to be the stronger bet in 2026.
And for all the noise around the order, both quarterbacks still sit in the same conversation: big arms, dual-threat ability and plenty of room to climb. Underwood may be the better pick for 2026. Iamaleava, though, still has the kind of ceiling that could let him pass him anyway, even if UCLA is the lesser team.
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The next step in that pursuit will come with a game-day visit, as Michigan plans to bring Mark in for a closer look in an atmosphere that should give him a feel for the programs pitch and development track. For a staff that has already shown a willingness to chase raw, toolsy defensive linemen early, the visit is another chance to make an impression before the recruiting battle gets even busier. Mark is also making the rounds at several major conference schools, so Michigan will need that visit to land well if it wants to stay in the mix. [Read more 🡒]