Analyst Names College Football’s 2020 “Sleeper” Quarterback

Former LSU Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow didn’t exactly come out of nowhere during the 2019 college football season, but he did what almost no one expected.

Burrow, who transferred to LSU from Ohio State in 2018, had modest hype heading into the ’19 season. He played pretty well for the Tigers in 2018, but was far from a true star.

Everyone knows what happened next. Burrow became the best player in the country and rose to the top of NFL teams’ draft boards. The Cincinnati Bengals took him at No. 1 overall last month.

Could another college football quarterback make a similar rise in 2020? One NFL insider has identified a potential candidate.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer thinks Stanford’s Davis Mills could make a jump into Round 1 contention this fall.

He just became the Cardinal’s starter last year, overtaking incumbent K.J. Costello, has all the measureables and traits, was the No. 1 prep quarterback in America three years ago, and David Shaw—a coach that NFL teams listen to—has signed off on him to everyone who’ll ask. At the very least, if he has a big year, he could make the quarterback scene atop the draft a little more crowded.

Mills threw for 1,960 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions in 2019. He’ll need to make a big jump in 2020 in order to get an NFL team to select him in the first round.

At least one NFL insider thinks it’s possible.