Ranking the 10 best small school college football QBs of all time

A lot of talented quarterbacks have played for smaller college football programs over the years. Which 10 have been the best of the bunch?

The beauty of college football is that systems can be designed around the skill set of a much wider range of quarterbacks. Some of the most innovative offenses and most prolific passers have come from smaller schools. Unlike running backs, though, which can excel in any era, we have seen a gradual progression of skill among college quarterbacks.

For the purposes of this exercise, we must first define what constitutes a “small school” player. For players from recent years, small schools are defined as those outside of the Power Five structure. During the BCS era, the delineation was marked by the Big Six which also included the Big East. Thus we can say that the Group of Five (and before that the BCS Buster leagues) are small schools.

Before that, things are a bit less clear. The current power conferences (and their antecedents, such as the Big 8 and SWC for the Big 12) are all considered large schools for the purposes of this exercise. Independent programs that are now in major conferences are also included as major schools. Notre Dame will also never be confused for a small school.

Because college football quarterbacks have naturally improved over time, I limited my focus initially to players from the 1960s onward that garnered Heisman consideration. It soon proved that, even breaking down statistics and success rates, modern players were more often than not the superior quarterbacks. Click ahead to see who we rated as the 10 best quarterbacks from small schools.