Top college QB prospects 2026 | How Nussmeier, Manning, NFL draft prospects are faring

[ASFN Admin]

It's always draft season in some ways. That's especially true when it's talking about the next crop of potential quarterbacks coming up from college.

There's a number of big-name quarterbacks who already have many NFL teams intrigued for the 2026 draft. Whether or not those quarterbacks enter that draft — specifically looking at Arch Manning — remains to be seen.

The Browns own two picks in the first round of that draft. Quarterback is still not a position where they know exactly what they have for the future despite having drafted one in the third round (Dillon Gabriel) and fifth round (Shedeur Sanders) of the 2025 draft.

What follows is a weekly look at some of those top quarterbacks in college and how they performed in their most recent game. It'll look at stats from those games beyond just their base stat line.

Week 2 in college football was, shall we say, not the week of massive games between two heavyweights. Most of the top quarterbacks took a significant step backwards in terms of quality of competition.

Still, the stats count and not every game can be against Ohio State or some SEC power. Here's a look at their performances, thanks to stats from Pro Football Focus:

4 Arch Manning stats after Texas football beats San Jose State 38-7​

• Overall vs. San Jose State: 19-of-30, 295 yards, four touchdowns, one interception
• Manning was pressued on 14 dropbacks against the Spartans, going 4-of-10 for 107 yards with a touchdown and an interceptions. Compare that to the previous week against Ohio State, where he was pressured on 15 dropbacks and completed 5-of-10 for 60 yards and an interception.
• Manning was 8-of-16 for 259 yards with three touchdowns and one interception on passes that traveled at 10 or more yards through the air against San Jose State. The previous week against the Buckeyes, he was 4-of-11 for 105 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
• Manning had three passes dropped by receivers against San Jose State.

4 LaNorris Sellers stats after South Carolina football beats South Carolina State 38-10​

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• Overall vs. South Carolina State: 11-of-19, 128 yards, one touchdown
• Sellers was 8-of-10 for 54 yards on passes that traveled less than 10 yards, with none thrown behind the line of scrimmage. He was 8-of-11 for 89 yards on those throws against Virginia Tech in the opener, including 2-of-2 for 23 yards on throws behind the line.
• Seller was kept clean on 73.9% of his dropbacks, completing 10-of-15 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown.
• Sellers had 17 yards on four designed runs, compared to 11 on two scrambles.

4 Drew Allar stats after Penn State football beats Florida International 34-0​

• Overall vs. Florida International: 19-of-33, 200 yards, two touchdowns
• Allar was 5-of-11 for 107 yards and two touchdowns on passes that traveled at least 10 yards.
• Allar was kept clean on 85.7% of his dropbacks, completing 18-of-30 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns.
• Of Allar's dropbacks, 74.3% did not have any play action attached to them. He was 14-of-24 for 133 yards.

4 Cade Klubnik stats after Clemson football beats Troy 27-16​

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• Overall vs. Troy: 18-of-24, 196 yards, two touchdowns one interception
• Klubnik avoided getting pressure for much of the game, only facing it on 33.3% of his dropbacks. He was 4-of-6 for 80 yards and a touchdown on those plays.
• Klubnik was 5-of-8 for 117 yards with a touchdown on throws that traveled at least 10 yards in the air.
• Klubnik was 8-of-10 for 118 yards with two touchdowns and an interception on throws beyond the line of scrimmage that were between the numbers.

4 Garrett Nussmeier stats after LSU football beats Louisiana Tech 23-7​

• Overall vs. Louisiana Tech: 26-of-41, 237 yards, one touchdown, one interception
• Nussmeier was kept clean on 79.5% of his dropbacks, completing 22-of-34 for 182 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Compare that to the previous week against Clemson, when those numbers were: 82.1% of dropbacks, 25-of-32, 190 yards and a touchdown
• Nussmeier was 13-of-18 for 93 yards on throws that went beyond the line of scrimmage, but traveled less than 10 yards in the air.
• Nussmeier was sacked three times by Louisiana Tech. He was only sacked once by Clemson.

4 John Mateer stats after Oklahoma football beats Michigan 24-13​

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• Overall vs. Michigan: 21-of-34, 270 yards, one touchdown, one interception
• Oklahoma's offensive line did a good job of keeping Mateer clean, doing so on 71.4% of his dropbacks. He completed 17-of-25 passes for 170 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
• Michigan blitzed Mateer 54.3% of the time. He was 10-of-18 for 156 yards and a touchdown with a sack on those plays.
• Play action and screens were relatively non-existent. Mateer was a combined 8-of-9 for 52 yards and a touchdown on either of those types of plays, including 5-of-5 for 27 yards and a touchdown on screen passes.

Chris Easterling can be reached at [email protected]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: NFL draft QB prospects 2026: How college quarterbacks are performing

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