The 2025 college football season is a little less than two months away, and there’s some exciting quarterback play to look forward to in the Big 12. Even with Shedeur Sanders gone to the NFL, there’s lots of returning talent elsewhere with several starters for contending teams back.
The Sporting News helped build the anticipation by releasing its rankings of every QB in the conference from top to bottom. Unsurprisingly, Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt topped the list after leading the Sun Devils to to the College Football Playoff in 2024.
However, there’s plenty of other players ranked below him who also have a case, and no one knows what things will look like once the season plays out. You can view the full list from The Sporting News below.
Leavitt set the bar high for himself in his redshirt freshman season with the Sun Devils after transferring from Michigan State. He led ASU to a Big 12 Championship, throwing for 2,885 yards and 24 touchdowns to six interceptions while adding 443 yards and five scores on the ground.
He’ll be without running back Cam Skattebo this year, who provided him a safety net as a target in the backfield and also kept defenses honest. But Leavitt has potential to take an even bigger leap forward as the focal point of the offense as the Sun Devils chase another conference title.
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Hoover is one of the more experienced quarterbacks in the Big 12, getting ready to enter his third year as the Horned Frogs starter. He threw for 3,949 yards and 27 touchdowns to 11 touchdowns this past season as TCU went 9-4.
That makes him the leading returning passer in the Big 12, and he’ll hope to get TCU back to the conference championship for the first time since 2022. He’ll lose three of his top four receivers from 2024 but gets a pair of transfers to work with in Joseph Manjack IV and Jordan Dwyer.
Like, Hoover, Becht is a third-year starter coing off of a career season. He threw for 3,505 yards and 25 touchdowns to nine interceptions a year ago as Iowa State reached a program-record 11 wins.
Becht fits brings the experience after leading the Cyclones to a runner up finish in the Big 12 a year ago. He loses his top two receivers in Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins, so he’ll have to make connections with transfers such as Xavier Townsend.
Retzlaff helped lead BYU to an 11-2 record a year ago in his first season as a starter. He was named Big 12 Honorable Mention after throwing for 2,947 yards and 20 touchdowns to 12 interceptions.
Retzlaff also proved to be a threat on the ground, rushing for 417 yards and six scores. He’ll aim to carry that momentum over into 2025 and keep the Cougars contending for a conference championship.
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Robertson ranked second in the Big 12 this past season with a passer rating of 153.1. He threw for 3,071 passing yards and 28 touchdowns against eight interceptions as Baylor won six straight games to close the regular season.
The Bears are now four years removed from winning the Big 12 Championship in 2021 and Robertson is entering Year 2 as the starter. That in mind, he has a chance to deliver big results in what is a decisive season for sixth-year coach Dave Aranda.
Johnson is one of the more interesting players on this list due to his dynamic ability as a rusher. He ran for 905 yards and 14 touchdowns across his first two seasons at K-State.
Last year was his first as the full-time starter, however, and he showed his passing ability with 2,712 yards and 25 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. If he can take a step forward as a passer in 2025, he’ll be an even more dangerous matchup for opposing defenses.
Morton is back for his third season as a starter with many believing he has what it takes to make Texas Tech a darkhorse conference title contender. He ranked third in the Big 12 this past season with 277.9 passing yards per game to go along with 27 touchdowns to eight interceptions.
Morton gets back two of his top three receivers from last season with Caleb Douglas and Coy Eakin both returning. He’ll look to continue building with them as the Red Raiders look to finally make a push forward to the top of the conference standings.
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Dampier comes to Utah after flashing his athleticism the past couple of seasons at New Mexico. He rushed for 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns with the Lobos in 2024 as well as throwing for 2,768 yards and 12 touchdowns to 12 interceptions.
He’ll have to work on some of those turnover issues, but there is a lot of hope for what he can be in the Utes offense. He represents a new start for the team and will hope to help them regain the success they saw under longtime starter Cam Rising, another mobile QB.
Daniels is coming off of the first healthy season of his career, playing in double digit games for the first time. He finished with 2,454 yards passing and 14 touchdowns to 12 interceptions as well as 439 yards rushing and six scores.
Those are pretty underwhelming numbers considering the flashes that we saw out of Daniels at times over the years. We’ve yet to see him do it consistently due to injuries and last year’s surprising performance, so he enters his sixth college season hoping to prove he is still one of the Big 12’s top quarterbacks.
Salter is tasked with replacing Shedeur Sanders as the starter after transferring in from Liberty this offseason. His best season with the Flames came in 2023 when he threw for 2,876 yards, rushed for more than 1,000 and accounted for 44 total touchdowns.
The Buffaloes will hope for a similar year out of him in 2025 to make up for the production Sanders left behind after leading the Big 12 in passing. He’ll bring the experience but takes over a team with a lot of new faces, so it remains to be seen how it will all come togther.
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Fifita is coming off of a somewhat disappointing season in 2024 after many preseason predictions tabbed him as a top quarterback in the conference. He put up solid numbers with 2,958 yards and 18 touchdowns, but his 12 interceptions stood out as the Wildcats finished 4-8.
Fifita loses his top target in Tetairoa McMillan, who moves on to the NFL after being selected in the first round of the draft this offseason. That plus a new offensive coordinator provide even more questions coming off of a down year for the QB.
Sorsby returns for Year 2 with the Bearcats after transferring in from Indiana. He put up decent numbers to throw for 2,813 yards and 18 touchdowns to seven interceptions, but Cincinnati finished just 5-7 to miss out on bowl eligibility.
Despite being an experienced player with 19 starts across his career, Sorsby has just a 6-13 record in those games. The Bearcats brought in a handful of transfer players at receiver and Sorsby will hope some new weapons can be the difference to propel him up this list.
Weigman transfers in from Texas A&M to take over the Cougars offense in the second season under coach Willie Fritz. A new face is certainly refreshing for a team that finished last in the Big 12 in passing yards per game a year ago.
Weigman could also use a bit of a restart to his career after losing the Aggies starting job midway through the 2024 season. He brings experience with 13 career starts in his three years at College Station, though he never appeared in more than six games in a single season.
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UCF is still undecided on a starter with transfers Jackson and Fancher in an ongoing competition for the job. They’ll have to win over coach Scott Frost, who returns to take over the Knights after leading them to an undefeated finish in the 2017 season.
Fancher brings the most experience of the pair, having started 26 games between his previous two stops at Florida Atlantic and Marshall. Jackson is a former three-star recruit who started five games for Indiana as a redshirt freshman in 2023, throwing for 914 yards and two touchdowns with five interceptions.
The Mountaineers are also currently in a quarterback battle as, like UCF, they bring back a former coach in Rich Rodriguez. Marchiol is a returning player who has seen action in 20 games with the WVU, while Henderson is a transfer from Texas A&M.
Marchiol started two games last season and led the Mountaineers to wins in both, throwing for 434 yards and five touchdowns in eight total appearances. Henderson did not play at all in the 2024 season due to injury but started the final for games for Texas A&M in 2023, finishing that year with 715 yards passing and sixt touchdowns along with 104 yards rushing and two scores on the ground.
The Cowboys are the only team in the Big 12 that does not have a quarterback with any starting experience in college. Flores is entering his third year in Stillwater but has not played in a single game during that time, while Hejny is a TCU transfer and former four-star recruit in the 2024 class.
Hejny appeared in four games for the Horned Frogs last year and ended with 65 yards rushing, but did not attempt any passes. That in mind, it’s truly a mystery who will emerge to win this battle for an Oklahoma State team coming off the worst season of the Mike Gundy era.