College Football Power Rankings: The 10 Most Overrated Quarterbacks In 2010
The quarterback position is the most important in football.
When the team succeeds, the quarterback is often given the credit. When the team fails, the quarterback is often given the blame.
But often times, quarterbacks build up reputations that are undeserving. Be that because of their past performances, media expectations or potential, among other reasons.
Here are the 10 most overrated quarterbacks for the 2010 season.
10. T.J. Yates, North Carolina
1 of 10
Yates has had some monster games this season, including 400-yard, three-touchdown performances against LSU and FSU.
But he's been equally bad against Miami and Virginia Tech.
UNC is in a unique situation in that the Tar Heels were hit hard by suspensions. Still, Yates was expected to take the next step in his development.
While at times he's shown flashes, it just hasn't been enough.
He threw two interceptions 33-10 loss to Miami, then had four interceptions in a 26-10 loss to Virginia Tech. In a year many predicted North Carolina to be a darkhorse in the ACC, Yates has done little to help that become a reality.
9. Geno Smith, West Virginia
2 of 10
Geno Smith was having one of the most efficient seasons of any quarterback in the nation through the first six weeks of the season.
That had people talking.
That talk is turning out to be very premature though. Smith has been picked off four times in his last three games and has shown a propensity to play poorly in losses.
In West Virginia's loss to LSU, Smith completed under 50 percent of his passes with an interception. Against Syracuse, he was picked off three times.
And against UConn, he failed to get on the scoreboard in the overtime loss.
8. Stephen Garcia, South Carolina
3 of 10
Stephen Garcia has always been a player with a ton of potential.
He just hasn't been able to realize it on the field.
Steve Spurrier has been riding him for years trying to get his game to the next level, and it just hasn't happened yet.
Sure, there was the Alabama game that had us thinking Garcia was finally becoming a star. But then he puts up a clunker against Arkansas a couple weeks later.
At the end of the day, Garcia is a good quarterback. He just isn't the great quarterback fans are hoping for him to be.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
7. Zach Collaros, Cincinnati
4 of 10
Collaros took over at Cincinnati this season in a year observers expected the Bearcats to struggle after coach Brian Kelly left for Notre Dame and the team lost a lot of key personnel.
Collaros, statistically, has been impressive, and is on track to finish the year with close to 3,000 yards passing and 30 touchdowns.
But the issue is not his numbers. It's Cincinnati's 3-6 record and the fact that most of Collaros' numbers can be attributed to situations in which the Bearcats are playing from behind and forced to throw the ball as they play catch-up.
6. Josh Nesbitt, Georgia Tech
5 of 10
Before the season began, Georgia Tech launched a Josh Nesbitt Heisman campaign site to promote its star quarterback heading into his senior season.
Now 10 weeks into the 2010 season, not only is Nesbitt far removed from Heisman talk, we don't even consider him to be amongst the top 25 quarterbacks in the nation.
After throwing for 1,701 yards, rushing for 1,037 and scoring 28 total touchdowns in 2009, Nesbitt is on pace to finish this season with under 1,500 total yards and close to half of his touchdown total from a year ago.
The fact that suffered a fracture to his forearm against VT doesn't help matters, either.
5. Garrett Gilbert, Texas
6 of 10
When Colt McCoy left for the NFL after an illustrious career at Texas, we expected a drop-off at the quarterback position.
However, many felt that Garrett Gilbert was a star in the making who would do well filling in as the new starter.
Gilbert was one of the top quarterbacks of the 2009 recruiting class and a national sensation at Lake Travis high school in Austin. But at UT, he's been under center for six losses in seven games.
Texas has had the most disappointing season of any team in the country. The fact that Gilbert has thrown twice as many interceptions as touchdowns has us questioning how he's even remained the starter for so long.
4. John Brantley, Florida
7 of 10
Florida has lost four of its last six games, and you have to wonder if change is needed.
Of course, we all expected a drop-off from the Tim Tebow era. But the Gators are still one of the most talented teams in the country and should be playing better than they have so far.
Naturally, the first place you're going to toss blame is on Urban Meyer. But after him, the next place to look is John Brantley.
Other than the Vanderbilt game, he hasn't thrown a touchdown since September and has six interceptions in his last six games. With 5-star quarterback Jeff Driskel coming on board next year, it makes us wonder if the Brantley era will be a short one rather than him being the next Gators great.
3. Christian Ponder, Florida State
8 of 10
Ponder ranks out as one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2011 NFL draft.
But the fact is the former Heisman hopeful just hasn't been very good this season.
He's passed for over 200 yards just twice this season. Ponder has seen a significant drop-off in his production running the ball as well.
After rushing for 423 yards last season, Ponder has just 179 yards this season. Half of that total came in the first three weeks of the season.
Ponder was terrible against Oklahoma, unimpressive against NC State, and fumbled the ball against UNC in the closing seconds of what would become a 37-35 loss that might have cost Florida State first place in the ACC Atlantic.
2. Jacory Harris, Miami
9 of 10
Harris suffered a concussion in Miami's loss to Virginia that's kept him out of the last couple of games.
But even before then, he'd been one of the league leaders in interceptions.
After coming into the year expected to be one of the nation's top quarterbacks, Harris threw four picks in Miami's loss to Ohio State in Week 2. He then threw five interceptions in his next three games.
In the loss to FSU, Harris did almost nothing to help his team win. Coach Randy Shannon has stressed that Harris is still the team's starter when he returns.
But logic points toward sticking it out with Stephen Morris, instead.
1. Jake Locker, Washington
10 of 10
Locker came into the season as one of the frontrunners for the Heisman, and was expected to compete with Andrew Luck to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft.
Now we're wondering if Locker regrets not heading to the draft last year, instead.
His numbers are down in nearly every category from a year ago from passing yards, rushing yards and touchdowns to completion percentage, yards per carry and passer efficiency. With Washington at 3-6, Locker might not even be a first-round pick if he doesn't finish the season strong.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
