Athlon ACC Quarterback Rankings Put Cal Near the Bottom

The Athletic this week posted a ranking of ACC starting quarterbacks as determined by Steve Lassan of Athlon Sports, and Cal’s quarterback landed near the bottom of the rankings.

These rankings determined that Ohio State transfer Devin Brown is likely to be the Golden Bears starting quarterback and placed him 15th among the 17 projected ACC starting quarterbacks. It’s about the same place that USA Today and The Sporting News placed Brown in their ACC quarterback rankings, with USA Today ranking Brown 16th and The Sporting News putting him 15th.

Cal fans should not be too discouraged. Last season Fernando Mendoza was ranked last among ACC quarterbacks before the season began, and he was certainly not the worst ACC quarterback during the 2024 season.

Here is what the Athlon Sports/The Athletic ACC quarterbacks rankings said about Cal for 2025:

15. Devin Brown, California

Change is the biggest storyline for California’s offense in ‘25. Not only do the Golden Bears have a new play-caller (Bryan Harsin), but there’s an ongoing quarterback battle between Brown and touted freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, along with major turnover at the skill positions. Brown played in 15 games at Ohio State over the last two seasons, completing 27 of 48 throws for 331 yards and three scores and rushing for 37 yards and a touchdown. The Arizona native ranked as a four-star prospect out of high school, and after having playing time blocked behind talented signal-callers at Ohio State, he now has a path to the starting job – if he can hold off Sagapolutele.

(Brown played 17 games at Ohio State, including two games as a freshman before he redshirted that season, but you get the point.)

Two things are interesting about these quarterback rankings:

No. 1 – This season Cal will not face the top two ranked ACC quarterbacks (Clemson’s Cade Klubnik and Miami’s Carson Beck) or the No. 4-ranked quarterback (Georgia Tech’s Haynes King). That's a blessing for the Golden Bears.

No. 2 – It’s no coincidence that the ranking of each ACC quarterback closely parallels where his team is picked to finish in the preseason ACC media poll. It demonstrates how important quarterback play is to a team’s success.

With that in mind, here are the Athlon Sports/The Athletic ACC quarterback rankings followed by where his team was picked to finish in the preseason ACC media poll.

--- 1. Cade Klubnik, Clemson – Clemson picked to finish first

--- 2. Carson Beck, Miami – Miami picked to finish second

--- 3. Kevin Jennings, SMU – SMU picked to finish third

--- 4. Haynes King, Georgia Tech – Georgia Tech picked to finish fourth

--- 5. Darian Mensah, Duke – Duke picked to finish sixth

--- 6. Miller Moss Louisville – Louisville picked to finish fifth

--- 7. Eli Holstein, Pitt – Pitt picked to finish ninth

--- 8. CJ Bailey, NC State – NC State picked to finish 10th

--- 9. Kyron Jones, Virginia Tech – Virginia Tech picked to finish 11th

--- 10. Thomas Castellanos, Florida State – Florida State picked to finish seventh

--- 11. Gio Lopez, North Carolina – North Carolina picked to finish eighth

--- 12. Chandler Morris, Virginia – Virginia picked to finish 14th

--- 13. Steve Angeli, Syracuse – Syracuse picked to finish 12th

--- 14. Dylan Longergan, Boston College – Boston College picked to finish 13th

--- 15. Devin Brown, California – Cal picked to finish 15th

--- 16. Elijah Brown, Stanford – Stanford picked to finish 17th

--- 17. Robby Ashford, Wake Forest – Wake Forest picked to finish 16th

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