By Jack Dusek
Sports Editor
The number one QB recruit in every year since 2010: Where are they now
2010: Phillip Sims
Coming out of Oscar F. Smith High School in Virgina, Sims committed to play for Nick Saban at Alabama. He was redshirted in his first year and backed up AJ McCarron in the 2011 season where he played in eight games, and the team won the National Championship. Sims transferred to Virginia for the 2012 season where he split QB duties with Michael Rocco and the team went 4-8 and he was declared academically ineligible for the next season. After his fallout with Virginia, Sims once again transferred to Winston-Salem State, a division two school. Sims played well in his one year at WSSU, throwing 15 touchdowns.
He went undrafted in the 2015 NFL draft and signed for both the Cardinals and Seahawks practice squads in the following years but never broke through to the active roster. His final season of football was with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. Sims was last the Head Coach of Princess Anne HS in Virginia, but resigned after two seasons in 2024 after going 0-20.
2011: Jeff Driskel
Driskel committed to stay in his home state of Florida, playing five games for the Gators as a freshman. He earned the starting role in his sophomore season, leading Florida to a 11-2 record and a Sugar Bowl Appearance. Unfortunately, Driskel broke his fibula in his 3rd game of the following year and lost his starting role to Treon Harris the next year. With one year left of eligibility, Driskel transferred to Louisiana Tech, where he put on a clinic throwing for over 4,000 yards and 27 touchdowns. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2016 draft by the 49ers. Since being in the NFL, Driskel has been a backup on 10 different teams and is currently a free agent last being with the Commanders in 2025
2012: Gunner Kiel
Gunner Kiel won the Indiana Mr. Football award in his senior year of high school and signed with Notre Dame. He was redshirted in his freshman year, and after he was 4th on the depth chart. Kiel saw the writing on the wall, so he decided to transfer to Cincinnati, where he was forced to sit out the 2013 season due to the old transfer rules. He played well in his first year with Cincinnati, leading the team to a 9-4 record and throwing 31 touchdowns. His second year was plagued by injuries, especially a major head injury he suffered against Memphis that caused him to miss the final 2 games of the season. Entering his final season of eligibility, he was made the third string QB, only playing in five games. He went undrafted in 2017 and never got a chance to play professional football.
2013: Christian Hackenberg
Hackenberg was offered by many major programs coming out of high school, but ultimately chose Penn State over schools like Alabama and Florida. Hackenberg was named the starter in his true freshman season, and played well throwing 20 touchdowns. His sophomore season he struggled with interceptions, throwing 15 compared to just 12 touchdowns, but his junior he was right back on track having comparable numbers to his freshman year. After just three years of college, Hackenberg declared for the 2016 Draft. He was drafted in the second round by the New York Jets, but did not play at all with the Jets. He went on to play for the Raiders, Eagles, and Bengals but never recorded an NFL snap. His final pro season was with the Memphis Express of the AAF. Hackenburg is currently the QB Coach at Winslow Township HS in New Jersey.
2014: Kyle Allen
Kyle Allen committed to play for the Texas A&M Aggies out of high school. He played in a few games as a freshman but didn’t fully win the starting job until his sophomore year. He played well in the first half of the season, but a shoulder injury derailed the rest; he didn’t play well when he returned. Allen transferred to Houston the following season and sat out his first year for the transfer rules at the time. When he returned the following season, he played in the first three games, performing mediocre and was benched for the remainder of the season. He decided to forgo his final year of eligibility. Allen went undrafted and was signed to the Panthers practice squad. After the starter and backup went down, he got his chance and took it, earning the team a win and performing well. Allen has had a successful NFL career, as the backup for many teams, and is currently on the Bills.
2015: Jarrett Stidham
Stidham graduated from Stephenville High School in Texas, and chose to stay in state, playing at Baylor. Stidham started his true freshman season as the backup but got some playing time in a few blowouts. In Week 7, Seth Russel got injured and Stidham took over, playing well in three games before suffering an ankle injury that sidelined him for the season. Entering the 2016 season, a harassment scandal within the Bears football program led to the firing of most of the coaching staff, and Stidham left in July, too late for any school to sign him, and he ended up not playing football that year.
Stidham committed to play for Auburn, and was named the starter. He played well for the Tigers in two seasons, earning big wins over teams like Alabama and Georgia and leading Auburn to an Orange Bowl appearance in 2017. Stidham declared for the draft following his redshirt junior season, and was taken in the fourth round by the New England Patriots. He made his debut in 2019 against the Jets, where he threw a pick six, and got his first valuable playing time in 2020, when he threw his first touchdown against the Chiefs. Stidham was injured in 2021, and was the backup on the Raiders in 2022 before signing with the Broncos.
Stidham started a few games for Denver in 2023, but the arrival of Bo Nix meant Stidham spent 2024 and 2025 on the bench without attempting a pass. However, before the 2025 AFC Championship game, Bo Nix suffered a broken ankle, and Jarrett Stidham would take over with a trip to the super bowl on the line. In a downpour of snow, he was able to complete a touchdown pass to Marvin Mims, but the Broncos would ultimately lose 10-7 in a defensive game. Stidham is going into the 2026 season as the Broncos backup.
2016: Shea Patterson
Coming out of division one feeder school IMG Academy, Patterson committed to Ole Miss to play his collegiate ball. Patterson was supposed to redshirt his senior year, but starter Chad Kelly tore his ACL, meaning Patterson had to jump in a November game against Texas A&M, taking over the starting role. He would finish his freshman season with over 800 yards and six touchdowns.
Patterson had the starting job entering 2017. He played well in the non-conference schedule but lost four of five in SEC play before suffering a season-ending knee injury. After the 2017 season, it was announced Ole Miss would be banned from postseason competitions in 2018 for violating NCAA rules, so Patterson jumped ship and left for Michigan. Patterson started off slow at Michigan, but eventually got the offense clicking with a big win over Penn State, leading the Wolverines to the Peach Bowl against Florida where they got blown out, 41-15.
2019 was a rough year for Patterson. He had some highs like a 52-point win over Rutgers, but struggles with interceptions led to a loss against Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Alabama. After losing the Citrus Bowl, Patterson declared for the draft but was not selected. He got a camp invite from the Chiefs but failed to make the team in 2020. Since then, he spent time in the CFL and USFL, last playing in 2025 for the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League.
2017: Davis Mills
Mills committed to play for Stanford out of high school, a rather unexpected choice for a top recruit, especially since he would not get playing time with the Cardinal in his first two seasons. He did play six games for Stanford in 2019 after the starter was hurt, and set a school record in a game against Washington State by throwing for 504 yards. His 2020 season was shortened by covid, but Mills played well in the small sample size. After declaring for the draft, he was selected in the third round by the Houston Texans.
In his rookie year, Mills was named the backup to Tyrod Taylor. Taylor got hurt in week 2, where Mills took over to throw his first touchdown in a loss. Mills would struggle in his first year, losing all of his games until Taylor returned in week 9. Once the Texans were eliminated from playoff contention, Mills was put back in and won his first career game in week 15 against the Jaguars. Mills got his chance as the starter in 2022, but struggled throughout the year, getting benched at times and CJ Stroud was drafted to take over as the starter in the 2023 draft.
Mills has just 173 passing yards in 2023 as the backup, and 212 in 2024. But in 2025, in his fifth year with the team he got a chance as the backup after Stroud suffered a concussion, Mills led the Texans to a comeback victory against the Jaguars, and beat the Titans and Bills to keep the Texans playoff hopes alive, and the team ended up making the playoffs due to Mills’ contributions as the backup. Davis signed a one-year, seven-million-dollar contract to stay as the Texans backup in 2026
2018: Trevor Lawrence
Coming out of Cartersville High School in Georgia, Lawrence was the most highly touted QB recruit since Vince Young in 2002. He had major pressure entering as the possible Clemson starter. He competed with veteran Kelly Bryant through the first four games, eventually winning the job. He would go on to lead Clemson to an undefeated season, ACC Championship, and a National Championship in just his freshman season.
He would continue his collegiate dominance, going undefeated throughout the 2019 year, finally losing in the National Championship to LSU, who was considered the best college team of all-time. In the 2020 season, Lawrence contracted Covid and missed a pair of games, with Clemson losing one. With that, the Tigers barely snuck into the playoffs and lost to Ohio State in the semifinal. But due to his great success throughout college, Lawrence was selected first overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It was a rough first season as a pro for Lawrence, as he threw just 12 touchdowns as compared to 17 interceptions, but many wrote off his rookie year due to the overall dysfunction of the coaching room. Bringing in Super Bowl Champion coach Doug Pederson to replace Urban Meyer brought renewed hope for Lawrence to reach his potential. The impact showed, as Trevor threw for over 4,000 yards, 25 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions being selected to his first pro-bowl and a Jags playoff appearance. In the game, he was horrific; at least for the first half. Four interceptions led to Jacksonville trailing by 27. But he switched back into gear, fighting all the way back to a 31-30 victory. They would go on to lose to the eventual champ Chiefs in the next round.
2023 looked like it was building off the last years success, but after starting 9-3 the Jags lost their last five games and missed the playoffs, with Lawrence struggling with interceptions. However, his success in 2022 alongside with the potential he still had led to the Jags extending Lawrence on a five-year, 275 million-dollar-deal, tying Joe Burrow’s deal as the largest in NFL history at the time. Unfortunately he dealt with injuries in 2024, only playing in ten games as the Jaguars went 4-13 and Doug Pederson was fired.
Liam Coen was brought in as head coach for the 2025 season, and the impact was immediate. Lawrence was able to lead the Jaguars to their first division title since 2017, and a home playoff game. They did lose to the Bills in a close game, but showed promise as a team and Lawrence established himself as the Jaguars franchise QB going forward.
2019: Spencer Rattler
After committing to play his college ball at Oklahoma, Rattler redshirted his opening year, but got action in the Sooners blowout playoff loss to LSU. In 2020, Rattler won the starting role but had a rough first few games, as the ranked Sooner lost to Kansas State and Iowa State. But he bounced back, leading Oklahoma to a Big 12 championship and was ranked as the favorite for the number one pick in the next year’s draft.
Unfortunately, the 2021 season did not go as planned. Rattler played poorly, and struggled with turnovers and was benched against Texas for future Heisman winner Caleb Williams, and didn’t play for the rest of the year. Rattler announced he would enter the transfer portal, and committed to play for South Carolina. Rattler led the Gamecocks to an 8-5 record, beating number eight Clemson for the first time since 2013, and giving South Carolina it’s highest finish since 2014.
While South Carolina went 5-7 in 2023, it was not all on Rattler’s shoulders. He threw for a career high 3,186 yards and was named 2024 Senior Bowl MVP, raising his draft stock. He was selected in the fifth round of the draft by the New Orleans Saints to be the backup to Derek Carr. However, Carr went down with an injury and Rattler got a chance. But in two games, he couldn’t hold on to the football with four turnovers in those games, the Saints lost both, and he got hurt in the fourth quarter.
Derek Carr made a surprise retirement announcement before 2025, so the starting role was down to Rattler and second-round rookie Tyler Shough. Although Rattler won the starting spot, he was quickly benched in favor of Shough after a 0-4 start. Entering 2026, Rattler is still the backup QB for the Saints.