Big 10 Recruiting: Analyzing the QB commits

The quarterback is the most important position not just in football, but maybe in sports. With that, college football fans are naturally enamored with the recruiting of the position.

As fall camp starts around the country and the season nears closer, let’s see where teams stand in the recruiting department of the position.

Here is a look at all the quarterbacks commits of each of the 18 Big 10 programs.

Boyd had a big junior campaign at Cardinal Ritter and rose to the top of the Illini’s recruiting board at the quarterback position, committing early this offseason.

He helped lead Cardinal Ritter to a 14-0 record and a state championship this past season. Boyd completed 128 of 161 passes for 2,224 yards, 29 touchdowns and one interception and rushed for 576 yards and and additional six TD’s. The Illini landed Boyd over a list that included Missouri, Cincinnati, and Iowa State, and Purdue. Other offers were from Texas A&M, UCF, UNLV, and West Virginia.

Sullivan is looking to change the narrative of the offense and quarterback position at Iowa in the future. He certainly has shown the potential with 3,798 career passing yards along with 45 touchdowns to 18 interceptions. “After seeing him live, I think his best attribute is throwing the ball on the run. That’ll be helpful knowing he’ll likely have a strong run game behind him. His development under new offensive coordinator Tim Lester will be something to keep an eye on,” National Recruiting Analyst Greg Smith said this offseason.

The signal caller out of Carroll High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana chose the Hawkeyes over offers from programs including Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan State.

It is not too often these days that a program lands two quarterbacks in a class, much less do what Maryland did, and that’s land two of them within one week. The first of the pair was Rivals250 prospect Malik Washington, who was an Elite 11 Finalist. Washington, 6-foot-5, 200 pounds has accounted for just over 5,000 yards and exactly 50 touchdowns. While he is not a running quarterback, he has added 10 rushing touchdowns to the stat sheet.

Right after him Manvel (Texas) three-star Jackson Hamilton pledged. Hamilton played in just two games as a junior last season before missing the remainder of the year due to a torn ACL. He threw for 1,413 yards and 17 touchdowns and seven picks on as a sophomore at Pearland High School in 2022. He also ran for 225 yards and three touchdowns.

A very intriguing prospect, Smith has a baseball background, which adds an element of athleticism to his game. Smith is asked to run quite a bit for his high school team so he does bring a dual threat element to the position.

Smith has started three years at the varsity level and is a career 60 percent passer. In 34 games he has racked up 6,969 yards, 69 touchdowns and thrown 10 interceptions. He’s been dangerous on the ground racking up 1,878 yards and 41 scores so far. He has accounted for 110 total touchdowns before his senior year.

Hannan has a bit of a claim at getting Michigan State’s 2025 class kicked off as he was the first commitment of the class back just in April. The class now holds 16 commitments and ranks No. 53 in the country. Hannan has not necessarily lit up the stat sheet to this point in his career, but there are aspects in his game that highlight his potential.

The 6-foot-4, 205 pound arm talent threw for 2,429 yards and 14 touchdowns to nine interceptions in his junior season.

A big bodied and big arm prospect out of California, Minnesota has a quarterback familiar with big numbers headed their way. In 20 career games, Kollock has racked up 5,376 passing yards and 73 touchdowns to just eight interceptions. He is also more than capable with his legs with 418 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns to this point.

A one time Washington pledge, he opened his recruitment after the staff left for Alabama. Oregon State, Minnesota, Colorado, Colorado State and others got involved, the Golden Gophers taking the reigns in his recruitment.

The four-star emerged as a top target for offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield and quarterbacks coach Glenn Thomas in January, after a junior season in which he threw for 2,446 yards and 18 touchdowns against seven interceptions, completing 63% of his passes.

“What makes Nebraska a good fit for Lateef is that he has always been the underdog, always competed and battled and new Raiola was the man before he picked Nebraska – and Lateef still did it,” said National Recruiting Director Adam Gorney.

Romain is a bit of an interesting prospect as he has surpassed 1,000 passing yards just one time in his career despite three seasons of eight or more starts. The Northwestern commit is in a run heavy offense and provides some rushing himself. He has 1,279 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground on 171 career attempts.

“Romain just clocked an 11.13 100-meter dash time at 200 pounds, the type of wheels that had him average seven yards per carry as a junior. Romain has passing potential to his name, too, with a relatively quick release and plenty of comfort pushing the ball vertically while on the move,” said National Recruiting Analyst John Garcia.

Among the highest ranked prospects of the bunch and of course one of the highest ranked prospects in the country, Tavien St. Clair has made a case to be the top overall prospect in the 2025 class. An Ohio native headed to the Buckeyes, he knows exactly what to expect in the Big 10 and is looking to carry on the prominence of the Buckeyes on the national scale.

With an NFL ready body 6-foot-4, 228 pound with his level of arm talent, he is the definition of a five star prospect.

The legacy Ducks commit has had two of the better sophomore and junior seasons of anyone on this list. In 23 games, he has combined for 4,863 passing yards and 54 touchdowns to nine interceptions. He is big bodied prospect at 6-foot-5, 204 pounds.

“Smith showed he could layer the ball well during 7-on-7 play and did a nice job throwing to all levels as well. He could still tighten up some things but the Oregon legacy has had some quality showings as well and with his size and pedigree there is a lot to like,” National Recruiting Director Adam Gorney

Kritza has moved a few times through his high school career but has not budged on his commitment to Penn State. The 6-foot-4, 194 pounder played in just 17 quarters as a junior but threw for 1,747 yards and 20 touchdowns to three interceptions. He also added two touchdowns on the ground.

As his profile has risen, and he’s moved back to South Florida, Kritza admits other programs have begun to circle back around and inquire about the strength of his commitment at a higher frequency.

Anderson was the first commitment in the 2025 class for the Boilermakers, giving Ryan Walters and company their quarterback for the cycle. He is certainly one of the most productive quarterbacks in the country, accounting for 9,540 career passing yards and 109 touchdowns to just 16 interceptions.

The Parish Episcopal quarterback is preparing for his senior season in 2024, where he will look to secure a fourth straight state championship

Ashenfelder is bringing a dual threat ability to Rutgers, accounting for 2,697 passing yards and 22 touchdowns along with 945 rushing yards and 10 more touchdowns. A longtime commitment, the Creekside (Fla.) St. Johns arm talent chose Rutgers over the likes of Cincinnati, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, UCF, and others.

UCLA picked up two quarterback commitments within four weeks of each other. The higher ranked of the duo is top-100 prospect Madden Iamaleava, the other being three-star Colton Gumino out of Illinois.

Iamaleava broke out on his junior season with 3,636 passing yards with 43 touchdowns to four interceptions.

“Iamaleava has the modern quarterback frame, fairly filled out at this stage, combined with a live arm that makes execution as smooth as any of the big-name passers in the class,” said National Recruiting Analyst John Garcia.

A month after Iamaleava pledged, Colton Gumino did the same. As a junior, Gumino passed for 2,172 passing yards and 27 touchdowns to four interceptions.

Lewis was once ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2026 and has been ranked as such since his reclassification to the 2025 cycle. Lewis is one of the smoothest and most consistent quarterbacks in the country, rarely making mistakes and routinely performing at a high level on the national stage.

There will certainly be a discussion of who the No. 1 prospect in the country is, but Lewis will be in prime contention to stay there through the future.

One of three schools in the Big 10 this year to hold multiple commitments at quarterbacks, Washington has stayed on the west coast for their two arm talents.

The first commit of the duo is Dash Beielry, who pledge in January. In his junior season, Beierly completed more than 62 percent of his passes for 1,966 yards with 17 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also rushed for 554 yards and 12 touchdowns on 103 carries. Beierly. 6-foot, 209 pounds is a one time Arizona commit.

Next up is arguably the most electric player in Hawaii, Treston McMillan. The 6-foot, 180 pound prospect threw for 3,521 passing yards and 575 rushing yards with 53 touchdowns. He was named Hawaii Gatorade Player Of The Year as well as many other state awards.

Locke is the younger brother of current Badger quarterback Braedyn Locke. Wisconsin offered the younger Locke, 6-foot-4 and 185 pounds, in May of 2023. The junior from Texas visited Madison for a week last June and announced his commitment shortly after. Miami, SMU, Tulsa and Western Kentucky also extended scholarships during the course of his recruitment.

As a junior, Locke passed for over 1,700 yards with 19 touchdowns and just four interceptions