The 10 Highest Paid Quarterbacks In College Football Entering The 2025 Season

In the NIL Era of college football, you’d better be willing to spend big if you’re a program looking to have a star quarterback calling the shots.

But just how much does it cost to acquire and keep one of those big-time QBs these days? Pete Nakos of On3 Sports has been ahead of the curve throughout the offseason, tracking down the answer to that question.

The result is a list of the highest-paid signal callers in college football, highlighted by some of the sport’s biggest stars, as well as some names you may not have expected.

10 Highest-Paid Quarterbacks In College Football

By now, everyone has heard about the massive NIL deal the Michigan Wolverines handed five-star freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, backed by billionaire Larry Ellison

But Underwood doesn’t top the list of highest-paid signal callers. In fact, this average annual value falls right in line with some of the other top quarterbacks in the country.

In this list, we take a look at Underwood as well as nine other field generals who make up the 10 highest-paid QBs in the nation.

10) Josh Hoover – TCU

The first quarterback on our list is perhaps the least well-known. But don’t sleep on TCU redshirt junior Josh Hoover.

According to Nakos, Hoover is in line to make $1.75 million this year after the Horned Frogs fended off inquiries from Tennessee to get Hoover into the transfer portal.

That’s money well-earned, too. Last season, Hoover completed 66.5 percent of his passes for 3,949 yards, 27 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. If Hoover can cut down on the turnovers in his third year as a starter for head coach Sonny Dykes, the Horned Frogs could well be a contender to win the Big 12 and make the College Football Playoff.

9) LaNorris Sellers – South Carolina

South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers is everything that NFL scouts dream of. He’s big, strong, athletic, and intelligent. Which is exactly why Sellers is set to make around $1.8 million this year in hopes of leading the Gamecocks to the College Football Playoff.

Sellers was inconsistent as a redshirt freshman in 2024, but his good was very good. The Florence, South Carolina native threw for 2,534 yards, 18 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions while adding a further 674 yards and seven scores on the ground.

There’s a feeling around some in the college football world that he may not have even scratched the surface of his potential. If that’s true, Sellers could well more than repay the sizable payday he’s getting from the Gamecocks and their boosters.

8) Avery Johnson – Kansas State

Much like Sellers, Avery Johnson is an elite athlete who is still learning to use all of his tools. He came into Kansas State as a highly touted recruit and immediately saw the field as a true freshman.

Last year, Johnson took the starting job after Will Howard left Manhattan for Ohio State. He proceeded to throw for 2,712 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions with a further 605 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.

There’s an expectation that he could be due for a big breakout in 2025, which is why the Wildcats are reportedly paying the star quarterback north of $2 million.

7) Diego Pavia – Vanderbilt

Diego Pavia became the breakout star of the college football world a year ago when he led the Vanderbilt Commodores to their first win over Alabama in four decades.

Now, after winning a court battle with the NCAA, Pavia returns for what is, presumably, his final year of college football.

Like Johnson, the former JuCo product is set to make just north of $2 million this year, and the Commodores are hoping he can build upon a strong 2024 season, where he threw for 2,293 yards, 20 touchdowns, and four interceptions in addition to 801 rushing yards and eight scores.

6) John Mateer – Oklahoma

According to Nakos, the Oklahoma Sooners are set to pay Mateer anywhere from $2.5 million to $3 million in 2025 after prying him away from Washington State.

Mateer, like offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, comes over from Pullman after lighting it up for 3,139 yards, 29 touchdowns, and seven interceptions a year ago.

The Texas native is now tasked with saving a Sooner program that has floundered a bit since Lincoln Riley left for USC. If he can have a big year, it may just keep head coach Brent Venables in a job and keep Oklahoma among the elites in college football.

5) Drew Allar – Penn State

The lasting memory of Drew Allar for many fans nationally is the late interception he threw in a College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Notre Dame. But in two seasons at the helm for Penn State, Allar has thrown for 5,958 yards, 49 touchdowns, and just 10 interceptions.

Had he entered the NFL Draft earlier this year, there’s a good chance the former five-star would’ve been selected in the top 10.

Instead, he returned to the Nittany Lions and received at least a $3 million payday to do so. Allar and Penn State, who welcomed three transfer wide receivers to the fold in the offseason in hopes of fixing a previously broken position group, begin the season ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll and with serious national title aspirations.

4) Dylan Raiola – Nebraska

By now, every college football fan knows the name Dylan Raiola. The former five-star recruit was committed to Ohio State, then Georgia, before eventually signing with the Nebraska Cornhuskers on a deal that will see him make north of $3 million this season.

Raiola flashed at times as a true freshman starter for the Huskers. He threw for 2,819 yards, 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. But head coach Matt Rhule and the Nebraska faithful will be hoping for much more from him in year two, especially when he’s paid like one of the best quarterbacks in the nation.

Maybe the fact that Raiola stopped trying to look like Patrick Mahomes in the offseason will help him play more like Mahomes on the field.

3) Carson Beck – Miami

This time last year, Carson Beck was the starting quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs, a Heisman Trophy favorite, and the leader of a team that many felt would win the national championship.

Instead, Beck and the Bulldogs struggled, capped by the quarterback tearing the UCL in his throwing arm in the SEC Championship Game. Gunnar Stockton then took over, and one month later, Beck was in the transfer portal.

The Miami Hurricanes then stepped in and over Beck a deal worth in the range of $3-3.2 million in 2025, with incentives that could reportedly take that number far higher. Will Beck live up to that investment? Only time will tell.

2) Bryce Underwood – Michigan

The aforementioned prince who was promised, Bryce Underwood, is set to earn upwards of $3 million this season as part of a four-year deal he signed with the Michigan Wolverines.

The five-star recruit and Michigan native is currently locked in a battle with Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene to determine the Wolverines’ week one starter.

Underwood is as highly touted as they come at the quarterback position despite being extremely young for his class. If he comes anywhere close to living up to expectations in Ann Arbor, it will be money well spent.

1) Darian Mensah – Duke

Of course, as everybody expected, the highest-paid quarterback in college football in 2025 goes to…Duke?

That’s right. Mensah joins the Blue Devils and head coach Manny Diaz after a breakout redshirt freshman campaign for Tulane. The California native threw for 2,723 yards, 22 touchdowns, and six interceptions for a Green Wave team that spent most of the season on the fringes of the Top 25.

Mensah then signed one of the highest-paying NIL deals in the sport, which will pay him a minimum of $4 million over the next two seasons and up to $5 million per year with incentives.

By comparison, Oregon State is set to pay Maalik Murphy, whom Mensah is replacing, $1.5 million to be their starting quarterback in 2025. Murphy threw for 2,933 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions for the Blue Devils last season.