By: Ryan Moreland (@ryanmoreland)
The JTR is back! We have seven new QBs joining the rankings this season and plenty of returners. The race for the JTR crown starts with Week One and these QBs didn’t disappoint. Let’s dive in.
How JTR Works
JTR ranks players by comparison to the league average using unbiased stats. By unbiased stats, we mean stats that don’t show a preference for one style of play over another. For example, we expect a quarterback in an air raid system to throw the ball more often than a quarterback in a multiple set. So comparing the two based on completions wouldn’t be fair. Once we determine stats that we believe to be unbiased, we create a league average. Outperforming the league average earns a player positive points. Stats that fall below the league average will earn a player negative points. Points for each stat are calculated and combined with a base rating given to each player. The combination results in a player’s JTR metric score. 0 is the worst possible score and 100 is the best possible score.
For QBs, the stats we chose to use are completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdown percentage, interception percentage, passing yards per game, and unique rushing index. The rushing index excludes sacks from a quarterback’s rush totals to get a more accurate sense of them as a runner. Also, QBs cannot take negative points from the rushing index (outside of fumbles). This is because a running ability for a quarterback is a plus, but not a requirement.
JTR is not a predictive metric. It cannot tell the future. It can only measure what a player has done up to that point.
| Rank | Player | Team | JTR Score |
| 1 | Gunner Rice | West Virginia | 99.203 |
| 2 | TJ Cunnington | Kentucky | 85.578 |
| 3 | Kevin Price | North Carolina | 82.581 |
| 4 | Saint Major | Cincinnati | 75.834 |
| 5 | Zeus Claydon | Florida State | 75.524 |
| 6 | Leisa Pink | Miami | 74.960 |
| 7 | Luke Cannon | Clemson | 68.774 |
| 8 | Jamesyn Golde | USC | 65.995 |
| 9 | Jack Schmidt | Florida | 65.814 |
| 10 | Johnny Ray Davis | Alabama | 65.569 |
| 11 | Sean Keohane | Penn State | 64.761 |
| 12 | Beau Dale | LSU | 63.225 |
| 13 | Greg Cooksey | Michigan | 61.165 |
| 14 | Cole Mantell | Michigan State | 60.137 |
| 15 | Windham Carter | Baylor | 59.932 |
| 16 | Jaylen Tyree | Ohio State | 59.034 |
| 17 | Sky Sanders | Colorado | 58.733 |
| 18 | Kolten Powell | Texas | 57.129 |
| 19 | Sterling Verdugo | Tennessee | 56.405 |
| 20 | JK Matthews | Syracuse | 56.143 |
| 21 | Andrei Belov | Notre Dame | 55.174 |
| 22 | Jay Duke | Auburn | 51.513 |
| 23 | Brandon Petty | Georgia | 50.668 |
| 24 | Owen Dart | Texas A&M | 40.731 |
| 25 | Noir Royal | Illinois | 39.990 |
| 26 | Claude DuBois | Oregon | 29.444 |
Findings
West Virginia’s Gunner Rice starts the season on top of the JTR leaderboard. Rice put up 494 total yards and 6 total touchdowns in an upset victory over Cincinnati. That was far and away the best performance of the week and gave him a nice buffer over second place.
Like every week one, the base score is lower this week and will increase in Week Two. Also, like every season, there is a large gap in scores this week. That will shrink as the weeks wear on. All you have to do is play great next week and your score will shoot up. We have seen bottom five QBs in Week One finish in the top five. Best of luck to all the QBs next week.
