All-Time College Football Team: Quarterback

When you think of football, you think of the quarterback.  In the college game, the good ones such as Tim Tebow, Cullen Harper, or Chase Daniel stand out above the rest.

Thinking back over the history of the game and trying to pick the best quarterback of all-time could be downright mind-boggling.

Well, get ready for your minds to be boggled, as I present the next article in line in the All-Time College Football Team series.  This time the focus is on the quarterback position.

Perhaps you consider Matt Leinart of USC to be the best college quarterback of all time.  After all, he did throw for over 10,000 yards in his career, which led to 99 touchdowns.  The guy was so good that his first pass ever went for a touchdown

On top of all of that, he ended his career with only 23 interceptions and compiled a record of 37-2 as a starter.  He won the Heisman and a national championship to top it off.

Or perhaps you go old school in your consideration of the best quarterback of all time, picking Stanford’s Jim Plunkett.  This guy not only set numerous conference records for his time, but he beat out Joe Theismann and Archie Manning for the Heisman Trophy in 1970.

Many may have forgotten, but Plunkett was a revolutionist in changing the way Pac-10 and college football operated on offense.  His play under a new wide-open passing offense helped blaze the trail towards a different kind of college football.

Another great is BYU’s Ty Detmer, who had unbelievable numbers during his college career.  He finished his career holding 59 NCAA records and tied for three others.  There’s no doubt he was deserving of Heisman status in 1990.

Detmer passed for over 15,000 yards during his college career, recorded 121 touchdowns, and had a career quarterback rating of 162.7.

Perhaps you may rank the greatest quarterbacks on their ability to lead their teams to wins, rather than individual statistics.  In that case, you may have someone such as Ken Dorsey at the top of your list.  He led the ‘Canes to a 38-2 record and a national championship during his college tenure.

A personal favorite, one who probably gets overlooked by most because he didn’t have all the big numbers, is Alabama’s Joe Namath.

Namath led the Crimson Tide to a 29-4 record and a national title as quarterback under Bear Bryant.  Those were some pretty good numbers in an era that had fewer games throughout the course of each season.  In fact, Bryant is quoted as stating that Namath was the best player he had ever coached.

Now the list could go on and on, but I want to hear from you!

Who do you consider the best college quarterback of all-time?

Cast your vote now to fill the last remaining spot on the All-Time College Football Team.

* All votes will be tallied with the other position votes from my previous articles in this series to compile the entire team in next week’s article: All-Time College Football Team.