The Sun Belt feels like a much older conference than it is in 2024. As it remains the lone conference in college football to hold divisions, the Sun Belt also saw no expansion and no college football realignment from a year ago, furthering it’s case for the top G5 conference this fall.
However, the Sun Belt QB Rankings are so heavy at the top that it’s seemingly just a two-horse race for elite play at the QB position this season.
2024 Sun Belt QB Rankings
As with all of our conference rankings and our national quarterback evaluations, the Sun Belt QB rankings below consider everything involved with quarterbacking at the major college football level.
While statistics are listed, they were not the lone deciding factor in ranking the athletes. The list below prefers programs with a solidified quarterback situation and one signal-caller who plays significant snaps against top-tier competition. Two-quarterback systems will always be looked down upon, especially in those cases where an answer has not yet been provided for the long term.
Other factors in these rankings include but are not limited to game film, injury history, play-calling, offensive system knowledge and continuity, general quarterbacking mechanics, level of competition, the elevation of supporting casts, and several other influential factors.
All Other QB Rankings
National 1-134 | ACC | B1G | Big 12 | SEC | Pac-12 | AAC | CUSA | MAC | MWC | Independent
Tier 1: The Elite Sun Belt QBs
1) Jordan McCloud | Texas State
Preseason Rank: 1 (no change)
Two games into Jordan McCloud’s Texas State tenure and the Bobcats are flying high at 2-0 and a big in-state win over UTSA in Week 2 capping it off. McCloud has thrown five touchdowns against two interceptions, and is nearly averaging 9.6 yards per attempt.
He’s been decisive and sharp at every level of the field and, surprisingly, hasn’t been asked to do much. When he has force the issue downfield, McCloud has once again been able to display the accuracy we’ve come to expect the past 13 months.
In the Texas State offense, pushing the ball to the boundary will be key and that’s where McCloud has shown to make great strides. So far, so good and McCloud looks ripe to make a run as one of the top G5 quarterbacks in 2024.
Tier 2: Well-Above-Average Sun Belt QBs
2) Ben Wooldridge | Louisiana
Preseason Rank: 7 (ranking was for Chandler Fields)
What a start for Louisiana’s offense and for Ben Wooldridge. He’s played mistake-free football and looks more like the quarterback that played incredibly well for Louisiana back in 2022 than every before.
It feels like a college football forever ago that Wooldridge was seen as the future at Fresno State, but now he’s the present in Lafayette. And what a start it’s been.
With five touchdowns and nearly 500 yards to his credit through two weeks, Wooldridge and this new-look Louisiana offense is seemingly firing on all cylinders. He’s been solid throwing to every level of the field, lulling defenses to sleep with the run game and short passing attack before dishing accurate deep shots at will.
Wooldridge isn’t quite the athlete at the quarterback position, but his creation capacity is certainly an underrated aspect of his game.
Tier 3: Above-Average Sun Belt QBs
3) Joey Aguilar | App State
Preseason Rank: 2 (-1)
What a difference a week makes as Joey Aguilar and App State ran over East Tennessee State before getting put through the wringer against Clemson. Scratch that Clemson performance from the record at this point, that’s not who App is and that’s clearly not who Aguilar is.
In their Week 1 opener against ETSU, Aguilar threw for two scores and displayed his usual power, accuracy, and ability to layer shots over every wave of the defense.
The defenses get a bit easier than going against Clemson, and we’d be remiss to mention that even against the Tigers, Aguilar’s garbage-time touchdown and work over the middle of the field gave us great pause for more highs to come.
4) Jaylen Raynor | Arkansas State
Preseason Rank: 3 (-1)
It took everything in them to get out of Week 2 with a victory against Tulsa and Jaylen Raynor is both the reason for that and the culprit. Throwing a costly interception (and getting away with two other errant throws), Raynor put the Red Wolves in a position to have to come back to knock off the AAC foe who clearly outplayed by Arkansas State the whole way through.
Still, two games into his second season, Raynor has displayed his usual dynamic self on multiple occasions and has already rushed for over 130 yards in the process. Decision-making and honing in on his accuracy to the short and intermediate levels will be integral going forward if the Red Wolves want to compete in the Sun Belt.
5) Alonza Barnett III | JMU
Preseason Rank: 6 (ranking was for Dylan Morris)
Someone thankfully woke up the JMU offense at halftime in Week 2 against Gardner-Webb, and even then, it was almost too little too late. Alonza Barnett III’s first three starts of his career have come as a mixed bag.
Flash back to Week 1 of last season before he was benched for Jordan McCloud and now to this year where he played very well against Charlotte and then limped to the finish line against an FCS foe.
What do we make of the uber-talented Barnett after three starts and two in 2024? His legs can carry him to success, but he’s provided a limited sample size of solid play from within the structure of the Dukes offense.
Perhaps head coach Bob Chesney can pit to his strengths and get Barnett moving out of the pocket and able to find some clear throwing lanes in the weeks to come.
6) JC French | Georgia Southern
Preseason Rank: 12 (ranking was for Dexter Williams)
Georgia Southern’s JC French has put on a show through two weeks leading the conference in passing yards after two games. French has thrown four touchdowns and for over 550 yards in these two games, falling to Boise State in Week 1 in a thriller and knocking off Nevada in Week 2.
He’s proven to be able to dish the ball to every level of the field and doesn’t lose any accuracy when he goes downfield. French can read the field well over the middle and shown promise with his ability to process.
Keeping the ball out of harm’s way as he tests the deep waters will be crucial, but this Southern offense is exciting and entertaining with an ability to knock off most of the remaining games on the schedule in the process.
Tier 4: Average Sun Belt QBs
7) Ethan Vasko | Coastal Carolina
Preseason Rank: 14 (+7)
Well, what a strange game it was for Coastal Carolina vs. Jacksonville State. The Chanticleers ran away with it in the end, thanks largely to their defense, but also because of Ethan Vasko’s ability to see blown coverages and spot receivers open quickly in this one.
Both long touchdowns certainly came at the expense of the defense, but credit to Vasko for spotting the one-on-one matchups or blown assignments that led to big-time scoring plays that pushed this game out of reach.
In the end, Vasko completed just 12 passes but almost eclipsed 250 yards in the process. He also showcased his athleticism on the ground by rushing for another in what was an unexpectedly solid start to the year for Vasko.
Week 2 followed up that performance with more of what we’d thought we’d see from Vasko with sub-50% completion percentage against an FCS secondary from William & Mary. So, which QB is he?
Tier 5: Work-To-Be-Done Sun Belt QBs
8) Stone Earle | Marshall
Preseason Rank: 4 (ranking was for Braylon Braxton)
If you have two quarterbacks in college football, you have no quarterbacks. You’re in serious trouble if you’re trying to play three quarterbacks at any sort of regular cadence.
Sure, Stone Earle appears to be the man to hold the job, as he played all the snaps against Virginia Tech in Week 2, but his performance was lackluster and left much to be desired.
Braylon Braxton and Cole Pennington each played meaningful snaps in Week 1, and each likely outplayed Earle. If there’s a quarterback controversy brewing in Huntington, expect this team to fall out of our rankings and our grace quickly.
9) Goose Crowder | Troy
Preseason Rank: 8 (-1)
A new era of Troy football has unfolded in front of our eyes with Goose Crowder as the season-opening starting quarterback. He orchestrated a disastrous performance in a loss to Nevada that wasn’t quite his fault, but he’ll ultimately take blame for.
And then Crowder exited the game against Memphis with a shoulder injury in Week 2, pushing Matthew Caldwell into action.
The big quarterback who’s jumped around from Gardner-Webb by way of Jacksonville State in his career performance admirably in relief of Crowder. Caldwell didn’t do much to scare the Tigers or put any fear into their unblemished record as they head to Tallahassee in Week 3, but he certainly played on-schedule football that may give Troy an advantage going forward.
It’s a new era, as we stated, but it’s the same kind of middling quarterback play when anyone other than Gunnar Watson is playing quarterback for the Trojans.
10) Christian Veilleux | Georgia State
Preseason Rank: 9 (ranking was for Zach Gibson)
After two starts in a Georgia State uniform, former all-Pennsylvania quarterback Christian Veilleux has given us a big enough sample size to indicate what he’ll bring to the table in 2024.
After transferring in from Pittsburgh via two years at Penn State, Veilleux has thrown for three scores and over 450 yards, finding a lot of success in the short passing attack offered by the Panthers.
The Georgia State offensive line has been a revelation in 2024, and Veilleux has played his best football when he’s been able to stand tall in the pocket and deliver accurate passes. That’s a good thing, because Veilleux’s creation capacity is clearly limited at this point of his career.
11) Grant Wilson | ODU
Preseason Rank: 5 (-6)
The ODU Monarchs had the Carolinas on the brink through two weeks of the season. First, they were a bad decision away from knocking off South Carolina. And then they were practically given the game against ECU but couldn’t capitalize on the numerous mistakes by the Pirates to win.
Grant Wilson has gotten away with some poor decisions in 2024 already, throwing just three interceptions when it felt like it could’ve been far more. The big-armed signal-caller can play great complimentary football to ODU’s stout defense, but can he take the next step that sees him throw receivers open and elevate the talent around him?
We saw it happen against Virginia Tech last year. Maybe the Hokies are the recipe for success in Week 3 of 2024 again?
12) Gio Lopez, Bishop Davenport | South Alabama
Preseason Rank: 11 (-1)
We’ll say it until we’re blue in the face: if you have two quarterbacks starting for your program, you actually have no quarterbacks. It doesn’t work. It won’t work. And for South Alabama, Gio Lopez or Bishop Davenport, it’s not working.
Now for the Jaguars, it appears their leading man should be Gio Lopez moving forward as he actually helped push North Texas in Week 1 to a close game before Davenport’s start in Week 2 limped to a bruising defeat against Ohio.
For these rankings, we’re sticking with Lopez as the quarterback, but given his injury already this year, have to take into account Davenport as the backup. Lopez is the better passer with plenty of arm talent and accuracy, while Davenport lacks the latter in a big way.
A healthy Lopez gives South Alabama a chance to at least be entertaining on offense this season.
13) General Booty | UL-Monroe
Preseason Rank: 13 (ranking was for Hunter Herring)
The General Booty era in Monroe began with a bang, tossing his first touchdown pass of his career after a lengthy journey to this point. It was an easy score for Booty, but it was a touchdown nonetheless, and the WarHawks got on the winning end of a season-opener for the second straight season.
Booty completed passes at a high clip but rarely went downfield with his shots. He tested the short area of the field with precision, but left some reads on the table without testing the waters past the sticks.
Overall, it was a solid performance against a decent FCS secondary from Jackson State.
And then, somehow, the ULM offense ran over UAB in Week 2 and Booty needed to do all of nothing to get the victory. He’s 2-0 to start his career, yet threw for 87 yards in one of those games and has just one touchdown to his credit.
If he plays complimentary football to what appears to be a stout defense, this team could make some serious upsets in 2024.
14) Tate Rodemaker | Southern Miss
Preseason Rank: 10 (-4)
It’s a two-game sample size for Tate Rodemaker’s career as a starter for Southern Miss, and the results have been .. OK. Rodemaker threw two picks against Kentucky and followed that up with two touchdowns against SE Louisiana.
The offensive game plan is very underwhelming with Rodemaker at the helm and he’s failed to elevate any of the talent around him. There has been very little excitement with Rodemaker at quarterback and that likely stems from what appears to be a short leash on play-calling with him in the lineup.
More passes downfield or even to the sidelines to get his receivers in space could do this offense wonders.
STICK AROUND: Take the College Football Network Playoff Predictor for a spin!