The college football offseason is largely about looking ahead, to both the near and the distant future. The future power rankings cover both.
Everyone’s favorite ESPN+ offseason franchise is back, beginning with the quarterback position. In the coming weeks and months, I’ll examine offenses, defenses and overall team projections for the next three seasons. The rankings cover the 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons and consider current players, incoming recruits (both signed and committed) and the likelihood of underclassmen entering the NFL draft.
The top-25 breakdowns are primarily personnel-based, but they also factor in coaching and its impact on certain positions and units. For example, since Ryan Day joined the Ohio State staff, he has mentored three record-setting quarterbacks — J.T. Barrett, Dwayne Haskins and Justin Fields — and a future Heisman Trophy winner at another program (Joe Burrow). Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley has produced two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks (Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray) and a Heisman runner-up (Jalen Hurts) in the past three seasons. The trend lines there are impossible to ignore, especially when projecting the quarterback outlook.
Let’s get started with the first top-25 rundown.