We’re back with another thrilling episode. Which of these three contestants will advance to the final Round of 5?
The Steelers are in desperate need of a new franchise quarterback. In the weeks leading up to the 2025 college football season, we’ll be examining some of the top college quarterbacks eligible for the 2026 draft. However, we’re going to have some fun along the way. All responses from the “players” in this article are fictitious and stem from my own analysis, which is why some of the answers will offer analysis you would never hear a media-trained quarterback say. If you complain about this feature in the comments, just know that you’re a lint-licker.
If you’re looking for further explanation/context for this series, read our past entries, including:
“Welcome to the Steelers QB Dating Game! Anddddd here’s your host, Steely McBeam!”
Steely McBeam: Welcome back for another episode of the Steelers QB Dating Game! Last week, we saw Mr. Lonestar, Cade Klubnik, advance to the final round with 66% of the vote. Who will advance to the final round this week? Let’s meet our contestants!
Superman
Steely McBeam: If our first contestant decides to declare after this season, he would undoubtedly be the talk of the
NFL Combine. Standing at 6’3 and weighing 242 pounds, this Clark Kent grew up in the backyard of the Gamecocks instead of the Jayhawks. Like his namesake, he struck a relatively low profile, despite leading his team to a state title during his senior season and attending high-profile quarterback camps. 247Sports only had him as the 34th-ranked quarterback in his class, a three-star recruit. After redshirting in 2023, he was named the starter as a 19-year-old in 2024. Let’s give it up for Superman!
Mr. Cool
Steely McBeam: A smooth operator that would be any Shanahan-tree coach’s dream, our next contestant hails from West Linn, a suburb of Portland, Oregon. A dual-threat listed at 6’2 and 200 pounds, he too led his team to a state title in his senior season. Ranked the 18th-best quarterback nationally, he transferred following a freshman season where he played sparingly. After winning a quarterback competition at his new school, he and the offense continued to improve as the season went along, flipping a program that went 3-9 in 2023 into a competitive 11-3 playoff participant. A round of applause, please, for Mr. Cool!
The Untamed
Steely McBeam: Our final contestant gets his name from
a famed rollercoaster, and for good reason. His 2024 was a wild ride to watch, filled with dazzling throws and stupefying lows in equal measure. Some of the lows can be attributed to playing behind PFF’s 120th-ranked pass blocking unit, but our contestant’s story is much like a rollercoaster. A linebacker and wide receiver during his youth football years, he transitioned to quarterback in high school and bounced between schools in Hawaii and the Las Vegas area, becoming a three-star recruit and 247Sports 64th-ranked quarterback.
Despite offers from bigger schools, the 6’4 and 220-pound signal caller committed to a
Mountain West school and threw for over 3,000 yards and 17 touchdowns as a freshman in 2023. He entered the transfer portal after the season and ended up with his new team, but did not begin the year as the starter. His college coach has a reputation as a QB guru and has helped multiple quarterbacks achieve decorated seasons and be drafted highly. With a full offseason and hopefully better line play, we’ll finally see if he can reach new heights or if his draft stock will plummet back to earth. Ladies and gentlemen, the Untamed!
Steely McBeam: We like to start each episode off by turning things over to these young men to help you get to know them a little better. So, what do you say, fellas? Tell us a bit about your 2024 season.
Superman: My season was a bit of a whirlwind, honestly. Stepping onto the field as a 19-year-old with little previous fanfare was a big moment for me.
Needing to weather a bumpy start was not how I envisioned things going, however. I received a lot of early criticism, especially when we lost three games in a row to drop to 2-3 start, and I only cracked 200 yards passing once in our first six games.
My coaching staff showed a lot of faith in me, and I was able to pay that off. My yardage totals started to grow each week, and I got red hot, completing over 70% of my passes in four of our last five games. We reeled off six straight wins to end the regular season, then lost a close bowl game matchup to finish 8-4. I’d also like to note that one of my best games of the season came in a victory against the contestant that won in last week’s episode.
Mr. Cool: I also saw my first real action in 2024. I chose to transfer to my new school in large part because of the relationship I was quickly able to build with the coaching staff there. Tasked with taking over a team whose previous coach had left in scandal, the current coaching staff went 3-9 during their first year in charge in 2023. Despite this, they could only guarantee me a chance in a quarterback competition. What can I say? I like a challenge.
Prior to last season, our school was widely projected to finish last in our conference. Instead, I helped our offense into an efficient machine that put up the 21st-most points in the country. Whether it was taking shots downfield, picking apart underneath routes, timing routes to the intermediate area of the field, options or other designed runs, our offense was one of the most exciting to watch all season, and I was a critical part of keeping that operation running smoothly.
We ended our season 11-3, with one of the losses coming in a game I missed due to a rib injury. Our playoff game, despite ending in a loss, was one of the best and most entertaining contests of the entire postseason. I plan to build on that in 2025.
The fact is, I like proving people wrong; I guess you could say it runs in the family. My brother played six seasons in the NFL as a safety and special teamer, despite going undrafted. I’d like to clear that bar he’s set for me, and with another strong season, I will.
The Untamed: Despite playing as a freshman at my previous college, I was not given the job after I transferred to my new school in 2024. I managed to appear in seven games last season, but I was only the starter for the final four games of the year. I led the team to a 3-1 record during that span, including a victory in our bowl game. Our only loss during my stretch as the starter came at the hands of one of our historical rivals, who would go on to have a deep playoff run.
My stats come in a small sample size, and aren’t likely to blow anyone away when compared to my peers in this competition. Still, I’m functionally mobile and was often able to create with both my feet and my arm when plays broke down. While fixing up my footwork should help clean up some of my misfires, there are several throws on my tape where my placement is superb, especially downfield.
I enter the 2025 season as the presumed starter thanks to my experience in the program. A five-star freshman could be directly behind me on the depth chart, but a strong start to the season could take some of the pressure off maintaining my role. If I’m able to show signs of development this year and lead our program back to its former glory, I could enter the conversation as a Day 1 pick. If not, I could be hitting the transfer portal again after the season.
Steely McBeam: Ball security is key for every team, but for a team like the Steelers that is trying to grind out the clock and reduce the number of possessions their opponent has, it’s paramount. How are you protecting the rock?
Mr. Cool: Compared to these guys, I’m the runaway favorite. I only threw six interceptions all season and had zero fumbles. Even more impressive, I’m just as unflappable under pressure. Per PFF’s charting, I had zero turnover-worthy plays when blitzed last season, and my 1.3% turnover-worthy play rate was the third-best rank in the entire country. Like the newly popular meme,
it’s not clocking to you that I’m standing on business? And thanks to my decisiveness and improvisational abilities, I rarely take sacks either.
Superman: Turnovers were an early struggle that I greatly improved on the more game reps I started to accumulate. I threw 7 interceptions last year and had 11 fumbles last season, but 7 of those fumbles came in my first five games of the season. And while my turnover worthy plays were roughly the same — 10 such plays in my first six games, 9 in the final six — I will point out that the amount of pressure I was under was significantly higher than that of my peers here today. Despite this, I was constantly growing in my development, taking 24 of my 31 sacks in the first six games of the season, and just 7 sacks over the final six games of the year.
My numbers facing pressure might not be quite what my counterparts’ were last year, but I will point out that I completed a higher percentage of my passes — both under pressure and overall — while posting similar figures in yardage, touchdowns, and yards per attempt.
The Untamed: Part of what made my performance so up and down were my turnover issues. Despite only starting four contests, I threw 6 interceptions and added 4 fumbles. That’s a rate that can’t continue if I hope to make a reality out of my first-round dreams.
But if Superman can present his season splits as a positive, then I think the fact my four-game sample is even smaller should signal that I too might improve with more playing time. While I have more career dropbacks than either of these two on stage with me, I was only just starting to get my feet under with the leap in competition level. My school and head coach have a track record of quarterbacks needing only one good year to see their draft stock rise dramatically.
Steely McBeam: How were each of you in big games? I’m talking rivalry games, games against ranked opponents, and bowl/playoff games? Untamed, let’s stick with you first.
The Untamed: Not to sound like a broken record, but I didn’t play in many games last year. My only ranked opponent was the loss I mentioned previously. They were the No. 5 team in the country at the time, while we were 6-5. To our credit, we played them tight. A couple of turnovers with less than four minutes left in the game gave them a two-score lead, but the game was much closer than that for the majority of the game.
Our bowl game was another turbulent ride but we came out as winners. I threw for 4 touchdowns, but also tossed 3 interceptions in a 35-31 shootout.
Superman: We played five games against ranked opponents in 2024. Of those games, one was in our bowl game, one came against an intrastate rival from another conference, and the remaining three were against conference opponents. We went 2-3 in those games, with only one of the losses being more than a one-score loss, and that came in early October while I was still gaining my bearings.
Mr. Cool: The biggest knock our program had was that we didn’t play anybody of note until late in the season. Our first game against a ranked opponent came in late November, but it was a game we won. We faced our intrastate rival the following week and then went to our conference championship game, which featured the second ranked opponent we’d face. We scored 45 points or more in both of those games, easily winning in two blowouts. That earned us a spot in the college football playoff, where we came up just short in a thrilling double-overtime loss.
Steely McBeam: How are each of you on the ground?
Superman: This is where I shine as a prospect. I have a rocket arm, sure, but where my potential is fully unlocked is my ability as a runner. Whether it’s a designed run or a scramble attempt, I bring both speed and power as a runner. Of my 852 rushing yards in 2024, 581 came after contact. It’s no surprise I’m frequently compared to another quarterback who used the “Superman” nickname: Cam Newton. Steelers fans might even have some Roethlisberger nostalgia watching me shed would-be sacks off before making a clutch throw or scramble. I’m already an elite running prospect at this stage in my development and a certified weapon around the goal line. I do not doubt that my mobility is the trait that will push me towards No. 1 overall pick territory if the rest of my game continues to improve with it.
Mr. Cool: I didn’t have as many designed runs as Superman did, but I did run plenty of option plays for my school. When you have a running back as talented as we did in 2024, that guy is going to get the ball a ton, so I’m only scratching the surface on these types of plays. However, I showcased my skills as a runner plenty as a scrambler, with more such yards than Superman. I also had 21 runs of 10-plus yards, just five fewer than him. I have reasonable wiggle, too, with 34 missed tackles forced.
The Untamed: Again my raw numbers might not pop off the screen with only four starts in 2024, but my mobility is a big part of my game. While I’m more often looking to buy time to make a throw downfield, I managed to pick up 4 touchdowns on the ground and showed off more elusiveness than I might initially get credit for.
Steely McBeam: Alright, gentlemen, your cases have been made. The time has come to reveal yourselves.
Superman — LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images
Mr. Cool — Sam Leavitt, Arizona State
Photo by Bruce Yeung/Getty Images
The Untamed — Jayden Maiava, Southern California
Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images
Steely McBeam: Alright, Yinz, now is the part where you come in. Our elligible quarterbacks have put their best stuff forward and now it’s time for the peoples’ voice to be heard. Cast your vote and get your friends and family to do the same. The winner advances to the final round of five.
What are your thoughts on these prospects? Let us know in the comments! And keep an eye out for future “episodes” in the coming weeks.
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