QB fallout from Tide-Dawgs thriller

October 2, 2024

QB fallout from Tide-Dawgs thriller … We have had more than a few readers asked who we think is the better QB prospect for 2025, Carson Beck of Georgia or Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, in the wake of Saturday’s thrilling SEC battle between the Tide and Bulldogs. In fact, we don’t like to make such evaluations based on one game, but what one did see on Saturday were two very different QB styles. On the one hand, Georgia’s Beck is a classic drop-back passer who stands tall in the pocket, has a textbook set-up and release, and throws a beautiful ball. He’s also very accurate, but also was clearly frustrated by the Alabama pressure early in the game and appeared to throw a number of passes without really being aware of what kind of coverage he was throwing into. And while Beck throws a perfect spiral, we were also left wondering on occasion whether the ball was actually getting to the target as quickly as needed. Milroe, on the other hand, is much more of a dual-threat type along the lines of the NFL’s Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts; he’s an excellent athlete with an explosive first step, an extra gear and the agility to change direction on the fly. As a passer, though, Milroe is still a little rough around the edges. He has a bit of a wonky release, although he still gets the ball off in a hurry and throws darts, but his ball placement isn’t always as precise as one would like; we also didn’t see much off-script stuff from him, at least in this particular game.

We also like to make the point in these matters that it really doesn’t matter what folks like ourselves think about different players. What matters is what the NFL thinks and our best reading at this time is still that most teams would take Beck over Milroe if given the choice, but what was once something of a no-brainer would currently be a much tougher decision as Milroe has clearly closed the gap between the two. Beck, for example, is still generally considered to be one of the top 3 QBs in this year’s draft class along with Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Quinn Ewers of Texas, but he clearly is not having the same kind of dominant season that he had last fall; indeed, his completion percentage (63%) is down ten points from 2023, while his interception rate is almost double that of last year. In contrast, Milroe is the guy with the plus 70% (72.9%) completion rate and the 10:1 TD to pick ratio so far this year.

Of course, Milroe isn’t the only second-tier to QB to make a move this year as Miami’s Cam Ward is also following a similar trajectory. And the guy who’s actually leading college football in passing – with almost 360 yards per game – is Jaxson Dart of Mississippi who is quietly putting together the same kind of year Jayden Daniels produced at LSU last fall, although Dart is coming off a disappointing game this past Saturday when Ole Miss was upset by Kentucky. We should also note that there is a bit of a buzz that the Big 6 QBs could actually be 7 as Penn State’s Drew Allar, who may have the best pure arm talent of anyone in the 2025 draft class, but who had not been able to really put together prior to this season, is in fact doing just that this fall. In the end, how this year’s QB class ultimately grades out may come down to what happens post-season in the pre-draft testing more so than in past years. Stay tuned.