2024 NFL Draft: Top quarterback performances from week 5

What a weekend of college football.

We had a couple of games where top quarterback prospects dueled for their respective teams, giving us a lot to talk about as the college football season continues.

With the play of Kirk Cousins this past Sunday, these prospects begin to look more interesting as potential Minnesota Vikings come next April.

Even without the questionable play, there are questions that surround the quarterback position for Minnesota. Looking around for a potential franchise guy in the loaded quarterback class in the 2024 NFL draft is the least that we can do.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the top quarterback performances from the past week.

Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders

Score: 48-41 loss vs. USC

Stats: 30-of-45, 371 yards, 4 touchdowns, 1 interception, 1 rushing touchdown

Thoughts: “Everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the mouth. No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

Deion and Shedeur Sanders had a plan going into their game against USC on Saturday. I’m not a betting man, but I’d bet my house that their plan did not have Shedeur throwing an interception on a miscommunication and having Caleb Williams and this USC offense jump out to a 34-7 lead with just under three minutes left to go in the first half.

Thoughts of the 42-6 debacle against Oregon had to have creeped into the minds of the Colorado locker room. They could have easily laid down and accepted that this wasn’t their week. They’ll take their lumps and back to the drawing board next week. Instead, Sanders and company roared back to get within a touchdown of tying this game.

There are no such things as moral victories in the win-loss column, but there is something to say about a player who can rally his troops and give the game everything they have. Finding open receivers throughout the second half of the game, Sanders made throw after throw to get his team back into the game, including this beauty to freshman Omarion Miller to put a bow on his almost 200-yard receiving day.

There’s not enough words to express how impressive this throw is. Getting out of the pocket, throwing the ball past three sets of USC defenders’ hands and placing it where only Miller could make a play on the football. Not to mention that this is fourth-down and an incompletion gives the ball back to Caleb Williams after squandering the lone interception from your defense that day.

USC QB Caleb Williams

Score: 48-41 win vs. USC

Stats: 30-of-40, 403 yards, 6 touchdowns, 1 interception

Thoughts: What else needs to be said about Caleb Williams and his performance in the first half of this game? He went 16-of-19 for four of his six touchdowns and 248 yards. For quick math purposes, he had more touchdowns than incompletions going into the half.

Williams never looks flustered in the pocket, he always seems to have a feel of not only what he’s doing but control over what’s going on around him. His pocket navigation is otherworldly and lends to Williams showing off creativity inside the pocket, as well as outside of it.

Then, there’s the arm talent that he possesses and ability to put the ball anywhere he wants to on the field. His play alongside the bruising running style of MarShawn Lloyd had USC up 34-7 late in the first half of this game and it looked all but over.

There were times in the second half where Williams did look human, including his interception, the first of the year for him. It was the first time this season that his trust in his arm got him in trouble as he looked to will a throw to a wheel route late and just didn’t put enough on it. A risk that you have to live with every now and again with a talent like Williams.

But then there’s the realization that through five games and 141 passing attempts, he’s thrown 21 touchdowns to one interception. Insane efficiency for an insane prospect.

Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy

Score: 45-7 win vs. Nebraska

Stats: 12-of-16, 156 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 rushing touchdown

Thoughts: Sometimes you have to just make your layups. Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy doesn’t just take the layups though, he steps back and launches it from the logo. So far, it is working.

McCarthy’s numbers against Nebraska won’t be eye-popping but some of the throws he put on tape were.

His creativity outside of the pocket is a whole lot of fun. Being able to throw a ball off-platform to a spot where the receiver doesn’t break stride along the back of the end zone is special.

Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa

Score: 44-17 win vs. Indiana

Stats: 24-of-34 for 352 yards, 5 touchdowns, 1 rushing touchdown

Thoughts: It has been a banner year for the Tagovailoa family when it comes to the football field. While big brother Tua leads the Legion of Zoom down in Miami, Taulia Tagovailoa is down in Maryland leading the Big Ten in passing yards.

His game against Indiana showed a lot to like about his game. There were a lot of big throws down the field to his receivers. Not just that, but he did not hesitate to take those shots. His confidence can be felt through the TV screen.

There were times where he was a bit erratic and there were some clear miscommunications with his receivers. These are aspects of his game that he must continue to work on.

However, he looked very comfortable in the pocket and delivered throw after throw to the tune of a whopping five touchdown passes and added one more on the ground. The performance earned him Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and very deservedly so.

LSU QB Jayden Daniels

Score: 55-49 loss vs. Ole Miss

Stats: 27-of-36, 414 yards, 4 touchdowns, 1 rushing touchdown

Thoughts: Losses like the one that LSU took against Ole Miss will hurt a bit more. Having the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win is exactly where you want to be when you’ve already scored 49 points on the day. They were just a play or two away. Besides the loss, the LSU offense was clicking on all cylinders and the catalyst of that was the play of their quarterback Jayden Daniels.

LSU had two receivers over 100 yards on the day and Daniels fed them a ton throughout the day. Brian Thomas Jr. and Malik Nabers both had eight receptions and Thomas scored three of Daniels’ four touchdowns on the day. Daniels made a few beautiful throws that dropped over the shoulder and into the waiting arms of his receivers on a few of his touchdowns. His ball placement against Ole Miss was very impressive, giving his receivers the best chance possible to win at the catch point against the defensive back.

Daniels kept his team in the game not only through the air, but also with his legs. Daniels had 15 carries for 99 yards including a 1-yard sneak to get into the end zone. Even more impressive is that in college, the sacks in college go against the quarterback’s rushing yards, not his passing yards. So, Daniels had over 100 yards rushing the football to go with his 400 yards through the air without the sacks.

What Daniels does need to work on is when to give up on the play. Over the past few weeks, Daniels has taken some massive hits and that can’t happen at the next level. Anthony Richardson dwarfs Daniels and has found himself in concussion protocol due to taking too many hits too early. Daniels has to learn to protect himself and protect the football, he lost a fumble in this game that stymied an early drive that was deep in Ole Miss territory due to taking one of these massive shots.

Washington QB Michael Penix, Jr.

Score: 31-24 win vs. Arizona

Stats: 30-of-40, 363 yards

Thoughts: Why is Penix on here if he didn’t even score a touchdown? Better yet, Washington had to stave off a late comeback bid from Arizona. So, what about Penix’s performance could be seen as a “top performance?”

We saw Penix win in a different way this week. Penix loves the deep ball, his deep shots sometimes look like handoffs to the receiver from 40-50 yards away. However, Arizona did everything in their power to keep the explosives to a minimum. How did Penix and Washington counter? By hitting the underneath early and often.

There were still some nice throws from Penix as he continuously painted the corners of the defense with outside curl routes. But most of the throws from Penix were underneath and allowed his receivers to work after the catch. That’s not to say that he didn’t take his shots, Washington still had three explosive plays of 20+ yards. But the attention should go to his decision-making more than anything. Penix looked calm and decisive delivering the football.

There will be times in the NFL where you have to check it down and take your five-to-seven yard gains. Seeing Penix take and make these layups over and over again is a sign of maturity, an important trait for a potential franchise quarterback.

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Story originally appeared on Vikings Wire