Ranking the 10 best small school college football QBs of all time
By Zach Bigalke
Daunte Culpepper was certainly talented enough to play for a powerhouse school. But while teams like the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Gators were interested in his skills, they were apprehensive about his grades. When UCF helped Culpepper get his SAT scores up through tutoring, bigger schools that needed quarterbacks came calling. Culpepper stayed loyal to the small school that invested its time and faith in him rather than jumping ship.
During Culpepper’s freshman year, UCF played its last FCS season before moving up to the FBS ranks in 1996. The Knights remained independent during Culpepper’s time at the school, making it impossible for UCF to win a title. Yet Culpepper still showed consistent improvement over his years with the Knights. From 1996 to 1998, Culpepper increased his passing yardage, touchdowns, and completion percentage. He also showed consistent reduction of his interceptions.
As a senior, Culpepper broke the single-season completion percentage mark set a decade and a half earlier by Steve Young at BYU. He threw for nearly 3,700 yards and 28 touchdowns while running for nearly 500 more yards and 12 more scores. Drafted by the Minnesota Vikings with the 11th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, Culpepper went on play 11 seasons in the NFL. He retired having thrown for nearly 25,000 yards over his career.