College Football: 25 Greatest Quarterbacks of the 21st century

Timmy Chang is the ideal candidate to begin the list of the 25 best quarterbacks of the 21st century. The Waipahu, Hawaii native began his career as a Rainbow Warrior in 2000, and he has several NCAA career passing records to his name.

He is the second-leading passer in FBS on the all-time passing yards list (17,072 yards), trailing only Houston’s Case Keenum. Chang also logged the most plays in NCAA history (2,587) and is tied for the most seasons with more than 4,000 passing yards (three) with several other quarterbacks.

Sure, Chang owns the all ignominious distinction of being the NCAA all-time career leader in interceptions, having been picked off 80 times. In another fascinating tidbit, no other players in the Top 10 of most career interceptions have played in the last two decades — Jordan Palmer, having played until 2006 for UTEP, is tied for 11th place with 64 interceptions.

But we can credit Chang’s 117 passing touchdowns as one of his saving graces, and we can give him credit for having thick enough skin to get back on the field during his four-and-a-half seasons with Hawaii (his sophomore year was cut short in 2001).

Chang also led the Hawaii program to one of the NCAA’s laughingstocks into a high-powered offensively minded team that recorded double-digit wins. In 1998, two seasons before Chang’s arrival, Hawaii finished 0-12.

In Chang’s freshman season, the Rainbow Warriors went 3-9. In Chang’s final three seasons at the helm in head coach June Jones’ spread offense predecessor, Hawaii won 27 games and won two of its three postseason appearances.

Sure, he played against WAC competition and nearly threw more career interceptions than Tua Tagovailoa had interceptions in 2018, but Chang modeled a fun n’ gun quarterback in an era that preceded today’s up-tempo offenses.