As it stands right now, there are two quarterbacks who are on the first round track for the 2023 NFL Draft. CJ Stroud and Bryce Young both had great seasons, and are predicted to be potential top five picks next year. While we may not agree with this, this article is about a few quarterbacks we think are one great college season away from getting into the first round, and possibly even supplanting one of the two mentioned above. Sleepers is a strong term, as some of these are former top recruits out of high school who were once thought to be future first rounders, while others are players who had decent seasons and can continue improving their draft stock and should be considered 2023 1st round sleeper quarterbacks.
Tyler Van Dyke, Miami
Van Dyke took over after Miami’s previous quarterback got hurt and he put on some impressive tape. He is a former 4 star recruit and enters this season as Miami’s starter. He possesses a very strong arm (although not a cannon) with extremely impressive poise. He is very good at throwing the deep ball, has impressive size, and enough mobility. All of these traits, along with anticipated growth, could have him go into the first round. Early thoughts from me are that he has the potential and mold of a Matt Stafford (maybe not as strong of an arm) and the floor of a player like Kirk Cousins. Van Dyke needs to work on his pocket presence as he does not sense the rush as much as you want, and he needs to work more on progressing through reads. As long as he continues the play he did last season and improves in all areas, he could find himself in the first round.
Bo Nix, Oregon
Bo Nix has had a wild journey in his college career thus far. He was the number one dual threat QB of his class and is a former five star recruit. At Auburn he has shown flashes, but a lack of weapons and three different head coaches in three years has really stunted his growth as a player and prospect. Now he finds himself at Oregon, where he is reunited with Kenny Dillingham (Oregon’s OC) who was the QB coach and OC at Auburn that recruited him. Under his offense, Nix was SEC rookie of the year and had his best season. Now, they are rejoined and Nix is primed to explode onto the scene. His athleticism can make him one of the best rushing QBs in college football, while also having the arm talent to garner first round consideration should be improve drastically from the past two seasons at Auburn, which again, seems very likely.
DJ Uiagalelei, Clemson
Uiagalelei was supposed to be the heir to Trevor Lawrence and continue the elite lineage of quarterback play at Clemson. However, an absolutely brutal season last year has his prospect outlook seemingly grim. It is easy to forget that he was a five star recruit and the number one pro quarterback of his class, so the potential is there. On top of this, multiple weapons should take the next step including Will Shipley and multiple 4 star receivers who are in their second season with the team. A hypothetically improved weapons group and a defense filled with top prospects could have Clemson as a whole taking a big step back. It needs to be a big step for D.J. in order to be back in first round status, but is absolutely not impossible.
Gerry Bohanon, USF
Bohanon is a player who I noticed when scouting Abrham Smith and Tyquan Thornton. I was surprised at how good Bohanon looked for a guy who was not talked about a ton. He showed a lot as a runner (alost 700 yards) but also a lot as a thrower too (over 2,000 yards). The Baylor offense was pretty basic, but it still had him show some potential as a darkhorse prospect in the NFL. He is a former four star recruit and now finds himself at USF, with head coach Jeff Scott, who runs a more friendly offense and could allow Bohanon to grow exponentially and possibly even find himself in the first round conversation.
Spencer Rattler, South Carolina
It was not too long ago that Rattler was viewed as a surefire first rounder and possibly even the first overall pick. Then, Rattler lost his job to Caleb Williams who never relinquished it after turnover heavy play and a lot of boos from the fans. Now, both Williams and Rattler are out of Oklahoma, and Rattler is set up in South Carolina to try and revive his prospect status. At first glance he may seem super likely that this happens, as his stats do not seem bad before benching, but a closer look suggests something off. He had a high completion percentage, but had way too many turnovers and struggled to put up good passing numbers beyond completions. Caleb Williams did not struggle, though, so the issues seem to lie in Rattler. We are not counting him out, but his prospects and abilities are the most in question on this list.