Most of the time the true abilities of a quarterback are solely based around tape study. How hard can he throw? Is he accurate? Can he move at all? How do his teammates respond to him? Does he perform under pressure? Stats aren’t taken into account too often unless they’re egregious in either the positive or negative directions.
One sometimes overlooked factor that isn’t brought up much is school history. It may seem unusual, but trends are a thing even in the football world. Players at certain positions are expected to be successful coming from certain schools. Running backs have always been good out of USC. Louisiana State has done really well with wide receivers. Tennessee has aced the pass rushers.
So what about quarterbacks? Looking at the current crop of top QBs in the 2017 draft class, which one comes from the richest legacy?
#1: Notre Dame (Deshone Kizer)
- 22 drafted
- 6 Pro Bowlers
#2: Ole Miss (Chad Kelly)
- 10 drafted
- 3 Pro Bowlers
#3: California (Davis Webb)
- 14 drafted
- 3 Pro Bowlers
#4: Virginia Tech (Jerod Evans)
- 7 drafted
- 2 Pro Bowlers
#5: Miami Fl. (Brad Kaaya)
- 9 drafted
- 2 Pro Bowlers
#6: Clemson (Deshaun Watson)
- 5 drafted
- 0 Pro Bowlers
#7-t: North Carolina (Mitch Trubisky)
- 6 drafted
- 0 Pro Bowlers
#7-t: Texas Tech (Patrick Mahomes)
- 6 drafted
- 0 Pro Bowlers
The picture is painted pretty clear. Notre Dame had both the most quarterbacks drafted and by far the most Pro Bowlers. The program that had the best hit rate though, surprisingly, is Virginia Tech at 42.8%. Two of the seven QBs taken turned into top tier players. Meanwhile the likes of Watson, Trubisky and Mahomes are battling against history. A total of 17 quarterbacks combined between their three schools failed to produce a single Pro Bowler.
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