The best, and undrafted, NFL QBs that won a NC in college?

[racepug]

Heisman Trophy winners who played QB in college:

Davey O'Brien (TCU - 1938)
Angelo Bertelli (Notre Dame - 1943)
Johnny Lujack (Notre Dame - 1947)
Paul Hornung (Notre Dame - 1956)
Terry Baker (Oregon State - 1962)
Roger Staubach (Navy - 1963)
John Huarte (Notre Dame - 1964)
Steve Spurrier (Florida - 1966)
Gary Beban (UCLA - 1967)
Jim Plunkett (Stanford - 1970)
Pat Sullivan (Auburn - 1971)

{RBs won every Heisman Trophy from 1973 through 1983}

Doug Flutie (Boston College - 1984)
Vinny Testaverde (Miami [FL] - 1986)
Andre Ware (Houston - 1989)
Ty Detmer (BYU - 1990)
Gino Torretta (Miami [FL] - 1992)
Charlie Ward (Florida St. - 1993)
Danny Wuerffel (Florida - 1996)

{since 2000 only four times has the Heisman Trophy not gone to a QB, and one of those was "vacated"}

Chris Weinke (Florida St. - 2000)
Eric Crouch (Nebraska - 2001)
Carson Palmer (USC - 2002)
Jason White (Oklahoma - 2003)
Matt Leinart (USC - 2004)
Troy Smith (Ohio State - 2006)
Tim Tebow (Florida - 2007)
Sam Bradford (Oklahoma - 2008)
Cam Newton (Auburn - 2010)
Robert Griffin III (Baylor - 2011)
Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M - 2012)
Jameis Winston (Florida St. - 2013)
Marcus Mariota (Oregon - 2014)
Lamar Jackson (Louisville - 2016)
Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma - 2017)
Kyler Murray (Oklahoma - 2018)
Joe Burrow (LSU - 2019)
Bryce Young (Alabama - 2021)

That's a pretty long list of QBs! My memory of Heisman Trophy-winning QBs goes back only as far as Doug Flutie. I don't need to say much about any of them. You know how most of them turned out (in the NFL). A LOT of them I had a feeling weren't really all that good even when they were putting up their big numbers in college (Ty Detmer and Gino Torretta being examples). I do, however, have high hopes for Joe Burrow, and not just because he got his otherwise unremarkable Bengals to the S.B. this last season. I could tell from watching him in college that he has "it" (however you want to define just what "it" is). I can't honestly say that about any of the other QBs on that list (starting, as previously noted, with Doug Flutie).

[racepug]

As far as national championship-winning QBs go (I'm starting, rather arbitrarily, with 1960):

* - won the Heisman Trophy
# - won the Heisman Trophy (in a different season)

1960: Minnesota - Sandy Stephens; Ole Miss - Jake Gibbs; Washington - Bob Schloredt
1961: Alabama - Pat Trammel; Ohio State - John Mummey
1962: USC - Pete Beatherd
1963: Texas - Duke Carlisle (also Tommy Wade)
1964: Arkansas - Fred Marshall; Alabama - Joe Namath; Notre Dame - John Huarte*
1965: Alabama - Steve Sloan (also Ken Stabler); Michigan State - Steve Juday
1966: Notre Dame - Terry Hanratty; Michigan State - Jimmy Raye
1967: USC - Steve Sogge
1968: Ohio State - Rex Kern
1969: Texas - James Street
1970: Nebraska - Jerry Tagge; Texas - Eddie Phillips; Ohio State - Rex Kern
1971: Nebraska - Jerry Tagge
1972: USC - Mike Rae
1973: Notre Dame - Tom Clements; Alabama - Gary Rutledge (also Richard Todd)
1974: USC - Pat Haden (also Vince Evans); Oklahoma - Steve Davis
1975: Oklahoma - Steve Davis
1976: Pittsburgh - Matt Cavanaugh
1977: Notre Dame - Joe Montana
1978: Alabama - Jeff Rutledge; USC - Paul McDonald
1979: Alabama - Steadman Sheely (sp?)
1980: Georgia - Buck Belue
1981: Clemson - Homer Jordan
1982: Penn State - Todd Blackledge
1983: Miami (FL) - Bernie Kosar
1984: BYU - Robbie Bosco
1985: Oklahoma - Jamelle Holieway (also Troy Aikman)
1986: Penn State - John Shaffer
1987: Miami (FL) - Steve Walsh
1988: Notre Dame - Tony Rice
1989: Miami (FL) - Craig Erickson
1990: Georgia Tech - Shawn Jones; Colorado - Darian Hagan (also Charles S. Johnson and Vance Joseph)
1991: Miami (FL) - Gino Torretta; Washington - Billy Joe Hobert (also Mark Brunell)
1992: Alabama - Jay Barker
1993: Florida State - Charlie Ward*
1994: Nebraska - Brook Berringer (also Tommy Frazier)
1995: Nebraska - Tommy Frazier
1996: Florida - Danny Wuerffel*
1997: Michigan - Brian Griese (also some guy named "Tom Brady"); Nebraska - Scott Frost
1998: Tennessee - Tee Martin
1999: Florida St. - Chris Weinke#
2000: Oklahoma - Josh Heupel
2001: Miami (FL) - Ken Dorsey
2002: Ohio State - Craig Krenzel
2003: LSU - Matt Mauck; USC - Matt Leinart#
2004: USC - Matt Leinart*
2005: Texas - Vince Young
2006: Florida - Chris Leak
2007: LSU - Matt Flynn
2008: Florida - Tim Tebow#
2009: Alabama - Greg McElroy
2010: Auburn - Cam Newton*
2011: Alabama - A.J. McCarron
2012: Alabama - A.J. McCarron
2013: Florida State - Jameis Winston*
2014: Ohio State - J.T. Barrett (also Cardale Jones)
2015: Alabama - Jake Coker
2016: Clemson - Deshaun Watson
2017: Alabama - Jalen Hurts (also Tua Tagovailoa)
2018: Clemson - Trevor Lawrence
2019: LSU - Joe Burrow*
2020: Alabama - Mac Jones
2021: Georgia - Stetson Bennett

Obviously it's too soon for true evaluations on the most recent ones but for the rest: draw your own conclusion(s)

[Brian wolf]

Both posted listing of players shows how national championships and heisman success, have no correlation to NFL success ... Lots of busts and misevaluations at the pro level.

[racepug]

Getting back to the original question (or part of the original question, anyway), what about Warren Moon? The N.F.L. wasn't interested in him in the least (at least not at the quarterback position) until he "showed what he can do" in the C.F.L. {Just realized the "won a NC in college" part of the original post. Well, I don't think it would have made any difference had Warren Moon won a national title. Back in 1977 the N.F.L., on the whole, still didn't take black players seriously at QB}

[JuggernautJ]

I saw Ken Dorsey play in the East-West Shrine Bowl (Jan 2003).
Watching from the stands in (then) Pac Bell Park I remember one astonishing fact: the West team aligned differently when facing Dorsey than any other QB in the game (on either side). For every other QB both defenses played with all their DBs inside the hash marks. It was only for Dorsey that the DBs even bothered lining up outside the hashes... I assume this is because he was the only QB in the game who could make the throws outside the hash marks...
Because of this I was surprised when he didn't have more success at the pro level (and was pretty happy to see him on the Niners).

I am glad to see he is having more success as a coach nowadays.

[racepug]

Both posted listing of players shows how national championships and heisman success, have no correlation to NFL success ... Lots of busts and misevaluations at the pro level.

This requires deeper study. Many of those N.C.-winning QBs (from the option/wishbone offense era, for example) never had the skills that were going to translate well to the pro level. At least not at quarterback.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks @racepug - really enjoyed both of those lists especially from the '80s which brought back some memories.

[Bryan]

Heisman Trophy winners who played QB in college:

Davey O'Brien (TCU - 1938)
Angelo Bertelli (Notre Dame - 1943)
Johnny Lujack (Notre Dame - 1947)
Paul Hornung (Notre Dame - 1956)
Terry Baker (Oregon State - 1962)
Roger Staubach (Navy - 1963)
John Huarte (Notre Dame - 1964)
Steve Spurrier (Florida - 1966)
Gary Beban (UCLA - 1967)
Jim Plunkett (Stanford - 1970)
Pat Sullivan (Auburn - 1971)

{RBs won every Heisman Trophy from 1973 through 1983}

Doug Flutie (Boston College - 1984)
Vinny Testaverde (Miami [FL] - 1986)
Andre Ware (Houston - 1989)
Ty Detmer (BYU - 1990)
Gino Torretta (Miami [FL] - 1992)
Charlie Ward (Florida St. - 1993)
Danny Wuerffel (Florida - 1996)

{since 2000 only four times has the Heisman Trophy not gone to a QB, and one of those was "vacated"}

Chris Weinke (Florida St. - 2000)
Eric Crouch (Nebraska - 2001)
Carson Palmer (USC - 2002)
Jason White (Oklahoma - 2003)
Matt Leinart (USC - 2004)
Troy Smith (Ohio State - 2006)
Tim Tebow (Florida - 2007)
Sam Bradford (Oklahoma - 2008)
Cam Newton (Auburn - 2010)
Robert Griffin III (Baylor - 2011)
Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M - 2012)
Jameis Winston (Florida St. - 2013)
Marcus Mariota (Oregon - 2014)
Lamar Jackson (Louisville - 2016)
Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma - 2017)
Kyler Murray (Oklahoma - 2018)
Joe Burrow (LSU - 2019)
Bryce Young (Alabama - 2021)

That's a pretty long list of QBs! My memory of Heisman Trophy-winning QBs goes back only as far as Doug Flutie. I don't need to say much about any of them. You know how most of them turned out (in the NFL). A LOT of them I had a feeling weren't really all that good even when they were putting up their big numbers in college (Ty Detmer and Gino Torretta being examples). I do, however, have high hopes for Joe Burrow, and not just because he got his otherwise unremarkable Bengals to the S.B. this last season. I could tell from watching him in college that he has "it" (however you want to define just what "it" is). I can't honestly say that about any of the other QBs on that list (starting, as previously noted, with Doug Flutie).

I agree with the "Feeling" aspect. It seems like Heisman QBs either have 'numbers' or some type of hype/story, and sometimes that isn't really relevant to their skills. In the 60's, if you played well against USC then you could win the Heisman based on that fact (Baker & Beban). It seemed like in the 80's until 2010, you could put up "numbers" and be an outlier (as opposed to now, where every QB puts up numbers). Andre Ware won a Heisman and no one ever saw him play. Detmer had good numbers at BYU and beat Miami. Jason White was like Lynn Dickey with his knees in college, yet he put up big stats, won the Heisman, got destroyed in the bowl game, then put up even bigger numbers the next year but the voters took a pass. But you can pretty much tell which Heisman QB will be good in the NFL and which ones won't. I thought Leinart would be better, but I guess he was more interested in banging college chicks. I thought Lamar Jackson would be broke in half and Kyler Murray would be bad, but those guys have surprised me.

[Bryan]

As far as national championship-winning QBs go (I'm starting, rather arbitrarily, with 1960):

* - won the Heisman Trophy
# - won the Heisman Trophy (in a different season)

1960: Minnesota - Sandy Stephens; Ole Miss - Jake Gibbs; Washington - Bob Schloredt
1961: Alabama - Pat Trammel; Ohio State - John Mummey
1962: USC - Pete Beatherd
1963: Texas - Duke Carlisle (also Tommy Wade)
1964: Arkansas - Fred Marshall; Alabama - Joe Namath; Notre Dame - John Huarte*
1965: Alabama - Steve Sloan (also Ken Stabler); Michigan State - Steve Juday
1966: Notre Dame - Terry Hanratty; Michigan State - Jimmy Raye
1967: USC - Steve Sogge
1968: Ohio State - Rex Kern
1969: Texas - James Street
1970: Nebraska - Jerry Tagge; Texas - Eddie Phillips; Ohio State - Rex Kern
1971: Nebraska - Jerry Tagge
1972: USC - Mike Rae
1973: Notre Dame - Tom Clements; Alabama - Gary Rutledge (also Richard Todd)
1974: USC - Pat Haden (also Vince Evans); Oklahoma - Steve Davis
1975: Oklahoma - Steve Davis
1976: Pittsburgh - Matt Cavanaugh
1977: Notre Dame - Joe Montana
1978: Alabama - Jeff Rutledge; USC - Paul McDonald
1979: Alabama - Steadman Sheely (sp?)
1980: Georgia - Buck Belue
1981: Clemson - Homer Jordan
1982: Penn State - Todd Blackledge
1983: Miami (FL) - Bernie Kosar
1984: BYU - Robbie Bosco
1985: Oklahoma - Jamelle Holieway (also Troy Aikman)
1986: Penn State - John Shaffer
1987: Miami (FL) - Steve Walsh
1988: Notre Dame - Tony Rice
1989: Miami (FL) - Craig Erickson
1990: Georgia Tech - Shawn Jones; Colorado - Darian Hagan (also Charles S. Johnson and Vance Joseph)
1991: Miami (FL) - Gino Torretta; Washington - Billy Joe Hobert (also Mark Brunell)
1992: Alabama - Jay Barker
1993: Florida State - Charlie Ward*
1994: Nebraska - Brook Berringer (also Tommy Frazier)
1995: Nebraska - Tommy Frazier
1996: Florida - Danny Wuerffel*
1997: Michigan - Brian Griese (also some guy named "Tom Brady"); Nebraska - Scott Frost
1998: Tennessee - Tee Martin
1999: Florida St. - Chris Weinke#
2000: Oklahoma - Josh Heupel
2001: Miami (FL) - Ken Dorsey
2002: Ohio State - Craig Krenzel
2003: LSU - Matt Mauck; USC - Matt Leinart#
2004: USC - Matt Leinart*
2005: Texas - Vince Young
2006: Florida - Chris Leak
2007: LSU - Matt Flynn
2008: Florida - Tim Tebow#
2009: Alabama - Greg McElroy
2010: Auburn - Cam Newton*
2011: Alabama - A.J. McCarron
2012: Alabama - A.J. McCarron
2013: Florida State - Jameis Winston*
2014: Ohio State - J.T. Barrett (also Cardale Jones)
2015: Alabama - Jake Coker
2016: Clemson - Deshaun Watson
2017: Alabama - Jalen Hurts (also Tua Tagovailoa)
2018: Clemson - Trevor Lawrence
2019: LSU - Joe Burrow*
2020: Alabama - Mac Jones
2021: Georgia - Stetson Bennett

Obviously it's too soon for true evaluations on the most recent ones but for the rest: draw your own conclusion(s)

I guess its interesting to me how many of these guys ended up in the NFL in some capacity, and a lot of them ended up being on Super Bowl teams. Beathard, Hanratty, Rae, Haden, Namath, Montana, Cavanaugh, Rutledge, Kosar, (Aikman), Brunell, Brady.

[racepug]

In the 60's, if you played well against USC then you could win the Heisman based on that fact (Baker & Beban).

Funny you should mention that. I recall "Beano" Cook (he's not still around, is he?) once commenting on ESPN (about 20 years ago, now, I think): "In order to win a Heisman you either have to play for Notre Dame or beat Notre Dame!" (that comment seems to have had some merit to it at some point. I'm not sure that it does anymore)