Will TC prove the doubters wrong? ESPN analyst drops his top-10 college football QBs

Florida State football had to take the heartbreak on the chin in 2023 as they were excluded from the College Football Playoff after being an undefeated conference champion. The Seminoles did not recover the way they would've liked in 2024 as they finished with a 2-10 record.

There were ESPN analysts, such as Greg McElroy and Paul Finebaum, who openly criticized Florida State for "whining". Again, I understand that it is 2025 and fans need to move from the tragedy that happened in December 2023.

However, McElroy still uses every opportunity to dunk on the Seminoles' fan base by openly disliking them and saying that they were a reason that his college football podcast was getting one-star reviews. Nonetheless, the former Alabama quarterback dropped his top-ten college football quarterbacks in 2025.

This is a crazy list of signal-callers. I am not even a Texas Longhorns fan, but it is insane that he doesn't include Arch Manning in the ranking. Furthermore, Carson Beck is coming off a serious injury, while DJ Lagway had 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions last year.

While I know that the fan base has its hesitancies about Florida State quarterback Thomas Castellanos, I believe that he is a good fit for the Seminoles' offense with new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. That isn't to say that new Colorado quarterback Kaidon Salter wouldn't have been good, too. However, Castellanos knows how Malzahn's playbook is with being with the Knights for a year.

Castellanos should allow Florida State to run the football more effectively and set up the downfield passing. The problem with DJ Uiagalelei (not throwing a shot) is that he was a statue in the pocket, which allowed teams to bring extra pressure since they knew that he was not going to run.

Florida State fans worry about the benching of the former Boston College quarterback and the fact that he was not mentioned much this spring, but I believe that he will be more than a serviceable signal-caller and could find himself in the conversation of being a top-ten quarterback if he can find success in throwing short to intermediate passes when he needs them the most.