Picking An All-American College Quarterback

The FWAA (Football Writers Association of America) annually picks an All-American team, and since I'm a member of the FWAA, I get to put forward nominations every year. I completely blew the defense, but I'm starting with a list of possible offensive player nominations.

Quarterback

This year's quarterback crop has produced a high number of freakish performances. Currently eight quarterbacks have completed over 70% of their passes this season, putting up gaudy TD to INT ratios in the process.

After the jump is the list I'm considering.

Brandon Weeden - Oklahoma State

The Cowboys lost offensive coordinator Dana Holgerson to West Virginia this past season but that hasn't stopped the Okie State offense from being something short of amazing. A large part of that can be attributed to Weeden, who, if you remember last spring, was said to be teaching Okie State's new offensive coordinator Todd Monken how to run their offense. So far this season, Weeden has completed 73.1% of his passes for 3,635 yards, 31 TDs and 9 INTs.

Oklahoma State is having the best season in their school history. Weeden makes that difference, doesn't he? 

Case Keenum - Houston

Keenum has thrown for nearly 4000 yards already this season, with 37 TDs and three INTs. Unfortunately the knock on Keenum is that he's accomplished all this against fairly week competition and that he's a "system" quarterback. One might wonder if the latter applies to most of the quarterbacks on this list, though. Seems like Houston will pay forever for Andre Ware's Heisman selection.

Kellen Moore - Boise State

Moore has already set the NCAA all-time wins record, bypassing Colt McCoy's 45 earlier this season with a win over UNLV. Moore has a 74.1% completion rate, with 2,549 yards, 31 TDs and 5 INTs. The only possible knock on Moore is a recent loss to TCU that took Boise State out of national title consideration.

Collin Klein - Kansas State

You're probably wondering what Klein is doing here, given the list of quarterbacks, but you'd be hard pressed to find a player that's meant more to their offense than Klein. He's thrown for over 1,500 yards and ran for just over 1,000, scoring 24 TDs on the ground for a total of 34 TDs (KSU has scored 45 TDs total this season). Get this - Klein is third in the nation in rushing attempts. He at least deserves a mention, right?

Andrew Luck - Stanford

When you're the anointed leader in the Heisman at the beginning of the season and labeled the best quarterback in the history of mankind by Todd McShay, big things are expected of you. Unfortunately, Luck did the worst thing possible by showing he was human against Oregon. He's still completing over 70% of his passes, along with nearly 2,700 yards passing, 27 TDs and 9 INTs. In a few months, he'll be richer than most of us.

Robert Griffin III - Baylor

RGIII doesn't seem to be getting the hype that's gone to most of the other quarterbacks here, but what do you expect from a guy from Baylor. Still, Griffin is a freak of an athlete, and this season he's completed 74.2% (!) of his passes while throwing for nearly 3,100 yards, 29 TDs and only 5 INTs.

Let's face it, RGIII has put Baylor on the map. Like Oklahoma State, the Bears are having an exceptional season, it's just that the bar is a lot lower for the Bears. 

Russell Wilson - Wisconsin

The best free agent transfer in the history of college football, Wilson is another freakish athlete. Wisconsin's season hasn't turned out like they'd hoped, but Wilson has been phenomenal. Wilson has a 73.4% completion rate along with 2,416 yards and 25 TDs to only 3 INTs. 

I am a little skeptical that Wilson deserves to be THE All-American quarterback. I was disappointed in his game against Michigan State.