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Nov 9, 2024; Denton, Texas, USA; North Texas Mean Green quarterback Chandler Morris (4) throws a pass against the Army Black Knights during the second half at DATCU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images Danny Wild-Imagn Images

ESPN Ranks Every College Football QB Room Into Tiers; Where is Virginia Football?

Originally posted on Virginia Cavaliers on SI
By Jackson Caudell | Last updated May 19, 2025 2:36 PM ET

Virginia has one of the largest transfer classes in the country this offseason and the Cavaliers are making a push to make sure their roster is good enough to make a bowl game and one of the big changes is new quarterback Chandler Morris, who is the presumed starter after spring practice. Morris is coming to Virginia to replace Anthony Colandrea and Tony Muskett and he is coming off of a solid season at North Texas but has struggled at both TCU and Oklahoma, his only power four stops. Will Morris be an upgrade? Last season would suggest the answer to that is yes, but he has to prove it on the field.

In a new tier-system ranking of each FBS team's quarterback situation, ESPN's David Hale had UVA's situation in tier seven, a tier labeled "consistently consistent". The other teams in that tier included Boise State, BYU, Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan State, and USC:

"The term "game manager" gets thrown around a lot in QB analysis, and it's often used in place of the term "average." That's an unfair descriptor for these players, who are game managers more in a sense of doing all the little things it takes to give their teams a chance to win without often hogging much of the spotlight in the process. They're very good -- they're just probably not going to emerge as superstars.

QB comparison

QB A: 74.9 QBR, 62% completions, 7.1 yards per dropback, 20 TD passes and 6 interceptions
QB B: 74.7 QBR, 62% completions, 7.4 yards per dropback, 19 TD passes and 6 interceptions

Pretty close, right? QB A is Boise State's Madsen. QB B is former Louisville QB Tyler Shough, who was the third quarterback selected in last month's NFL draft.

Fun facts:

Two QBs return for 2025 after having thrown for 3,500 yards and 35 touchdowns last year: Klubnik and Virginia's Morris.

Last season, 67.6% of Retzlaff's completions went for a first down or TD, tops among all Power 4 QBs.

Retzlaff's production:
vs. top-40 defenses: 50.0 QBR, 55% completions, 4 touchdowns, 6 picks, 7.0 yards per dropback.
vs. all others: 74.2 QBR, 60.1% completions, 16 touchdowns, 6 picks, 8.0 yards per dropback.

Altmyer finished last season with 22 passing touchdowns (most by an Illinois QB since 2008) and 2,717 passing yards (most since 2015).

In four wins vs. FBS opponents last season, Sorsby threw four touchdowns and three interceptions. In seven losses, he threw 12 touchdowns and four picks.

Michigan State has not thrown more touchdowns than its opponents in any full season since 2017.

USC had a 48.2% successful play rate on offense with Maiava at QB last year and a 48.1% rate with Moss, but the Trojans averaged more yards per play (6.41 to 6.16) and a better EPA per play (0.16 to 0.05) with Moss than Maiava."

This seems like a fair tier for Morris to be in, but there is upside with this season. He was finally healthy for a full year and turned in his best season yet, but Virginia is going to have to replace their top receiver from last season Malachi Fields. They are looking to the portal to do that as well.

Not everyone is optimistic about the quarterback situation in Charlottesville this season.

CBS Sports Will Backus is not buying that Morris will be solid, as he named Virginia's quarterback room one of the bleakest in the country in a recent column:

Quarterbacks: Chandler Morris (Gr.); Gavin Frakes (Sr.); Grady Brosterhous (Sr.); Daniel Kaelin (So.); Cole Geer (Fr.); Bjorn Jurgensen (Fr.)

"A program could certainly do worse than Morris (as evidenced by this very list), who was a 2024 All-AAC second team selection after throwing for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns in his one year at North Texas. While those are great numbers, he didn't get anywhere near that in his previous stint at the power conference level — even though he spent a combined four years at Oklahoma and TCU. All that to say, this writer is skeptical Morris can replicate his North Texas production at Virginia. Kaelin's the one to watch behind Morris, but he has yet to take a snap in a real college football game."

There is a chance that Morris could in fact be a huge upgrade at the position, but he only has one real season to show for it. Morris only played in five total games during his lone season with Oklahoma and then transferred to TCU. He played in four games for the Horned Frogs in 2021, including a standout performance in an upset win over No. 12 Baylor. Morris was 29-41 for 461 yards and two touchdowns in that game.

He would battle an injury that would limit his playing time in both 2022 (when the Horner Frogs made an appearance in the national championship game) and then in 2023, when he only played in seven games. Morris threw for 1,532 yards, 12 touchdowns, and five interceptions while completing 66% of his passes. He would then transfer to North Texas, where he would have the most productive season of his collegiate career.

For the Mean Green last season, Morris threw for 3,774 yards, 31 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions while completing 63.1% of his passes. He also had 242 yards rushing and four touchdowns. According to PFF, Morris finished as the highest-grade player on the North Texas offense with 78.9 grade in 887 total snaps at quarterback.

It comes down to if 1) Morris can stay healthy and 2) Was his production a product of the kind of teams he was facing on the field last season? I would argue that when he was healthy at TCU, he did have games where he put up big numbers, so last season might not have just been a product of facing weak defenses. Morris has more experience and has been more productive than either Colandrea or Muskett.

This article first appeared on Virginia Cavaliers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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