On This Year’s CFB Rosters, Even Backup QBs Make Six Figures

For some of the highest-rated quarterbacks this offseason, Week 1 of college football didn’t necessarily go as planned. Texas’s Arch Manning, the third generation of the Manning quarterback dynasty, underwhelmed in his much-hyped debut, losing 14-7 to Ohio State on Saturday. UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava, who dominated offseason headlines for his abrupt transfer out of Tennessee, made an all-but-forgettable start for the Bruins: a 43-10 loss to Utah Saturday night.

One start isn’t much to go on. But if schools want to ensure they have a backup plan in case their star quarterback doesn’t pan out, they’ll still have to cough up some serious cash.

During the most expensive offseason of college football in history, the going rate for backup quarterbacks in both the power conferences and Group of 6 was in the mid-six-figures.

The most expensive backup quarterbacks are the “next men up,” or the young freshmen or sophomore phenoms awaiting their turn under center. (Arch Manning himself was arguably the most famous next man up as he spent two years on the Longhorns roster patiently awaiting Quinn Ewers’s departure.) At Texas, that spot is held by four-star true freshman KJ Lacey, who could be making seven-figures even on the bench, one power conference collective operator estimates.

But decent backups without big names could be cashing in, too. 

Across the power conferences and Group of 6, backup quarterbacks are earning an average of $233,000 a year, according to data provided by NIL company Opendorse. That’s just outside NIL deals, potentially provided by a school’s collective; it doesn’t include potential earnings from revenue-sharing (the pool of $20.5 million that each school can offer athletes across their athletic departments this year thanks to the House v. NCAA settlement). 

Backup quarterbacks can expect six figures from revenue-sharing payments, too, given that football rosters receive about 75% of the $20.5 million. 

A backup quarterback at a top power conference school—even without a big name and with little chance of playing—could easily be making around $500,000, the collective operator says. At Texas, in addition to Lacey, senior Matthew Caldwell and redshirt freshman Trey Owens are behind Manning in the pecking order.

Meanwhile, Manning—who is in a small upper-echelon of players who can easily make seven figures through endorsement deals alone—will keep raking in the deals. His endorsements with big-name brands include Warby Parker, Vuori, and Red Bull.