PJ’s Rankings Review Part One – Five Quarterbacks I Have Ranked Lower Than Consensus

The spring is always the toughest time to rank. The succession plans of a few seasons ago are a thing of the past. Coaching changes and portal movement have made it harder than ever to predict some of these quarterback battles. Outside of the top twelve quarterbacks, I think any of these guys could end up drastically moving up or down my rankings before the season kicks off, but as it stands right now, here are five of the guys I have ranked lower than the other rankers at the site, and my reasoning for being down on their value this season.

Raiola struggled as he was thrown to the wolves in his freshman season, but was starting to rebound in his sophomore campaign before a broken fibula prematurely ended his 2025 season. I am lower on him than the consensus for two main reasons.

Firstly, he offers absolutely nothing in the run game. Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel, and Dante Moore are not dual-threat quarterbacks by any stretch of the imagination, but they at least consistently finished the season with 150-250 rushing yards. Raiola, to this point in his career, has amassed -152 rushing yards. If he is going to offer nothing in the rushing game, then he is not going to be a player I am going to want to start most weeks on the college side, and given the NFL is trending more towards preferring mobile quarterbacks, I am not confident that even if he finds success at Oregon, he will be a high draft pick.

The other issue I have is that he has a 31.3-star index rating per the site’s Athletic Comparison Tool, and it has proven very difficult to find a starting quarterback in the NFL who scores below 80. I think, given all of these factors, he is definitely someone I would sell, and this is the reason I have elite CFF options like Kamario Taylor and Brad Jackson over him, while others don’t.

Heintschel came out of nowhere last season to unseat Eli Holstein as the starting quarterback for the Pitt Panthers, and many, including some at this site, fell in love with him for some reason. Holstein is gone, but the fact remains that Holstein’s stats in 2024 (180/291, 2,225 yards, a 17-TD to 7 INT ratio, and 81-328-3 rushing) were arguably better than what Heintschel put up last season (201/316, 2354, 16 TD, 8 INT, and 86-88-2 rushing).

There doesn’t seem to be a backup that would push Heintschel for playing time if he falters this season – outside of maybe Holden Gernier – but the fact remains that they were quick to give Holstein the hook last year, so it wouldn’t surprise me if something similar happened this season. Additionally, Heintschel is only 6’1.5” and, in my opinion, has little to no NFL upside, so I would much rather rank high-end CFF players I’d rather start on the college side, like Devon Dampier and Avery Johnson, over him and let someone else take him in drafts.

Mensah is a guy I’ve just always seemed to be lower on than the consensus has been over his whole career. Even last season, when he threw for just under 4,000 yards with 34 touchdowns, he finished QB43 in points per game in four-point passing touchdown leagues, behind QBs such as Kyron Drones, Jaylen Raynor, and Robby Ashford.

The lack of any rushing upside whatsoever means that I am likely not going to want to start him most weeks, and given that he has a star rating of 50.5 on the site and only has a 53 MPH throwing velocity, I think any illusions of NFL upside are greatly exaggerated. I’d rather rank rushing threats like Brendan Sorsby and Bear Bachmeier over him, as I think they will average more points per game this season and have the same questionable NFL upside as Mensah.

Demond is a guy that I loved coming in as a freshman and added a lot of shares in supplemental drafts, but given his height, I am under no delusions that he is going to be a thing in the NFL. I was scooping him up because of his electric rushing upside in an exciting offense, but Williams loses three of his top four receiving options to graduation and the portal, leaving Dezmen Roebuck and not much else for Demond at wide receiver.

Add to that an attempted departure via the transfer portal that was executed horribly, which likely left a bad taste in his teammates’ mouths, and I think I am out on Williams moving forward. He will still be a guy you can start most weeks, but given the alarming home/road splits he had last season – 1,936 passing yards and a 16 TD/2 INT ratio at home and 1,129 passing yards with a 9 TD/6 INT ratio on the road – and I think there are better options, like Brad Jackson and Devon Dampier, that I would rather rely on this season and hence have them ranked higher.

Maiava is another player I just seem to always be more skeptical of than others. Ever since his arrival at USC, I have held firm in thinking he was more of a system quarterback at UNLV and expected him to fail at USC. Last year, he seemed to prove me wrong.

However, he loses three of his top four receiving options from last season, including Makai Lemon, who is a likely top-15 NFL draft pick, and is left with Tanook Hines and a bevy of younger players he will be throwing to this season. After all of this uncertainty, it seems his ranking on the site has gone up. This makes little sense to me.

Sure, I think Tanook is a solid wide receiver prospect, but is he a WR1 for a team? Terrell Anderson is a solid contributor, but can he fill the shoes of the production they lost? Given USC plays in one of the toughest conferences in the nation and will have a lot of unproven talent catching passes, I think there is a strong possibility Maiava regresses this season. Couple that with the fact that I think he has little to no NFL upside, and I’d rather rank some of the other options I’ve mentioned above over him, knowing I can start them on the college side week in and week out.

Hopefully, walking you through my thought process has helped give some insight into my ranking system. Could I be wrong about some of these players? Of course, but given that there are maybe two to three valuable quarterbacks who enter the NFL draft each season, I like to pivot to more high-end college producers sooner than others in my rankings, and this has served me well in the past. Hopefully, it can help you as well.