After a wild weekend of games, college football's contenders and pretenders have become clearer. What hasn't cleared up? How to stack the quarterbacks atop the 2022 NFL draft.
As I wrote last week when I updated my Big Board and position rankings, this has really been a tough quarterback class to evaluate. Each of the top guys have shown flaws. Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler and North Carolina's Sam Howell have been extremely inconsistent. Liberty's Malik Willis is lighting up defenses, but he's not playing elite opponents every week. Ole Miss and Matt Corral just got overwhelmed at Alabama. And Cincinnati's Desmond Ridder has struggled with up-and-down accuracy.
Still, there were things I liked from all five of my top-ranked quarterbacks this weekend. Let's get into those specifics, starting with Willis, who has emerged as the new favorite to be QB1, and ending with Ridder, whose Bearcats won at Notre Dame. I also picked a prospect who is rising after Saturday's games -- hint: it's a playmaker who really helped Ridder -- plus an under-the-radar prospect to keep an eye on throughout the rest of the season:
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Draft riser | Under-the-radar prospect
1. Malik Willis, Liberty
Week 5 outcome: 36-12 win over UAB
Stat line: 13-of-19, 287 yards (68.4%), 1 TD, 0 INTs; 15 rushes, 144 yards, 2 TDs