JTR QB Rankings: Season 23, Week 4
By: Ryan Moreland (@ryanmoreland)
What a week?!? We kicked off conference play with some big wins, shocking upsets, and some stellar QB play. Thanks to that, we have a new leader in the JTR. Before we proceed, let’s examine how the JTR operates.
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). A quarterback’s running ability 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.
JTR Leaderboard
| Rank (Previous) | Player | Team | JTR Score (Changes) |
| 1 (5) | Malcom Streets* | Texas A&M | 91.256 (+8.345) |
| 2 (1) | Himoteo Del Este | Oklahoma | 90.057 (+1.230) |
| 3 (2) | Jaylen Tyree | Ohio State | 88.598 (+1.341) |
| 4 (8) | TJ Cunnington | Miami | 87.158 (+5.112) |
| 5 (6) | Alexa Earl | Oregon | 85.406 (+3.004) |
| 6 (3) | Zacchaeus Mosley | Auburn | 82.870 (-0.752) |
| 7 (4) | Troy League | USC | 81.044 (-1.945) |
| 8 (11) | Johnny Ray Davis | Alabama | 79.975 (+6.580) |
| 9 (7) | Jack Schmidt | Florida | 77.617 (-4.578) |
| 10 (14) | Bojack Merriweather* | Clemson | 75.696 (+5.022) |
| 11 (15) | Saint Major | Virginia Tech | 74.875 (+4.172) |
| 12 (10) | Cole Mantell | North Carolina | 72.710 (-5.563) |
| 13 (13) | Tavon Moss | LSU | 72.022 (+0.381) |
| 14 (16) | Lincoln League | Nebraska | 71.476 (+1.224) |
| 15 (19) | Michael Amber* | Michigan | 69.286 (+7.370) |
| 16 (9) | Drake McDaniel | Georgia | 69.123 (-12.322) |
| 17 (12) | Declan Murphy | Iowa | 68.374 (-4.068) |
| 18 (17) | Bear Michaels | Florida State | 65.361 (-3.418) |
| 19 (18) | Matt Perez | Notre Dame | 62.962 (-3.285) |
| 20 (23) | CJ Yost | West Virginia | 62.774 (+8.338) |
| 21 (21) | LC Fremont | Colorado | 59.763 (+0.167) |
| 22 (20) | Spunky Tolbert | Texas | 56.089 (-5.318) |
| 23 (22) | Sterling Verdugo | Tennessee | 51.519 (-5.371) |
| 24 (24) | Colter Thomas | Penn State | 48.367 (-3.072) |
Findings
For the first time in his career, Texas A&M QB Malcom Streets stands on top of the JTR Leaderboard. Streets put up 623 passing yards and 8 total touchdowns this past week against West Virginia. This stellar performance pushed him to the top.
Streets was also the leader in score improvement this week. His score jumped over 8 points. Interestingly enough, he barely beat out the QB he just beat for this honor. West Virginia’s CJ Yost’s score improvement was only 0.007 less than Streets’. Other big score improvers include Michigan’s Michael Amber, Alabama’s Johnny Ray Davis, and Miami’s TJ Cunnington.
Four was the lucky number this week for the folks moving up. Five QBs tied for the biggest mover this week, with all of them moving up four spots in the rankings. They are Streets, Cunnington, Amber, Clemson’s Bojack Merriweather, and Virginia Tech’s Saint Major. This is something we have never seen before in the JTR.
Will Streets keep the top spot? Can your favorite QB take his place? We will find out in Week 5!
