Oct 25, 2025; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt (10) against the Houston Cougars at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

As teams progress throughout the season, depth plays a major role in ensuring the sustained success of a positional group, whether that be through the rotation of players to keep guys fresh or to back others up due to injury.

While quarterbacks are often dealing with the latter, which everyone hopes will never happen, it’s still very important to keep depth at the position, because even if the second-string guy isn’t seeing the field now, he likely will in future seasons.

No. 1 LSU

As soon as former Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin arrived in Baton Rouge, he turned to the transfer portal to secure top talent across the field. If one thing is certain, it’s that LSU is set at quarterback this season, and for the future.

The Tigers landed three quarterbacks during the transfer portal cycle, headlined by the commitment from star Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt. Joining him are Elon transfer Landen Clark and USC’s former five-star in Husan Longstreet.

Leavitt suffered a foot injury that required surgery last year, cutting his season short, but he still managed to record over 1,600 passing yards in seven games, the season after leading the Sun Devils to the College Football Playoffs.

Clark had an outstanding year with Elon last season, throwing for over 2,300 yards and 18 touchdowns, while also recording 614 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground, which almost won him the award for best freshman in the FCS.

No. 2 Georgia

Georgia sits at No. 2 primarily because of the success it has seen with Gunner Stockton at quarterback. Though his raw talent may not be quite as clear-cut as some of his fellow SEC quarterbacks, his grit sets him apart.

Alongside Stockton, who threw for almost 2,900 yards last season, the Bulldogs will also have Oregon transfer Bryson Beaver, four-star Ryan Puglisi and three-star Hezekiah Millender. This will give Georgia some decent depth behind Stockton.

Should Stockton be required to exit a game, there would surely be some uncertainty surrounding whichever player gets thrown in to take his place, but Stockton’s experience and toughness alone give Georgia the overall advantage.

No. 3 Texas A&M

Similar to Georgia, Texas A&M’s depth is a bit questionable, but even more so with the Aggies’ backups consisting of three true freshmen, one of whom was a former three-star and the other two being former four-stars.

However, the headliner for Texas A&M is Marcell Reed, who led the Aggies to quite an impressive season last year and an appearance in the college football playoffs after throwing for over 3,000 yards and rushing for almost 500.

Reed led a 27-point comeback against South Carolina last season and will definitely be the driving force for the Aggies next season, but should the 185-pound quarterback suffer an injury, Texas A&M should be in a decent position.

HM. Mississippi State

Mississippi State’s quarterback depth is not represented by proven capabilities; instead, it’s centered around the amount of potential that the room holds between Kamario Taylor, Jaden Rashada and AJ Swann.

Taylor had many flashes of his dual-threat capabilities last season, often scrambling to create plays, finding success often, even though he only finished the season with 629 passing yards and five touchdowns.

Rashada emerged as a top-10 quarterback out of the class of 2023 high school class, ultimately ending up at Arizona State after originally committing to Miami. However, his stint there didn’t last long, and he quickly found himself at Georgia.

After another short stay, he transferred across the country again and committed to Sacramento State, where he recorded just 264 passing yards in his six appearances last season. He’s looking to restart now in Starkville.

Swann has been many places as well, spending two seasons with Vanderbilt before transferring to LSU and eventually transferring to Appalachian State, where he recorded almost 1,500 passing yards last season.