Syracuse Football: Top 10 QBs in School History

Donovan McNabb was the easy choice for the best Syracuse Football quarterback of all time.

For starters, McNabb was a winner.  A four year starter at the Cuse, he compiled an all-time record of 35-14 while playing for the Orange.  This included trips to the Fiesta and Orange bowls, which unfortunately Cuse came up short in both.  Finally, while at QB, McNabb’s Orange never finished worse than 2nd place in the Big East, won the conference outright twice, and tied for 1st place once.  Lastly, each year SU finished the season ranked in the top 25.

Donovan’s career stats at the Cuse were also extremely impressive.  He passed for over 8,000 yards and rushed for over 1,500.  McNabb also threw 77 touchdowns and rushed for 19.  His passer rating was great, above 150.  His senior season stats were good enough to place McNabb 5th in Heisman voting.

McNabb is 1st overall on this list for another reason: his NFL success.

Drafted 2nd overall by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1998 NFL Draft, Donovan enjoyed a ton of success in his pro career.  He played 13 total seasons, 11 of them with Philly.  Over the course of his career, McNabb passed for almost 40,000 yards, as well over 200 passing touchdowns.  Both of these are career-bests for the Eagles.  He could be inaccurate at times, with a completion percentage just below 60%, but barely threw for over 100 interceptions, throwing less than 10 in seven different seasons.

McNabb also used his speed to his ability in the NFL.  He rushed for just short of 3,500 career yards and 29 touchdowns, most of these numbers coming in the early stages of his career.

McNabb was also noted as a winner in the NFL.  While in Philly, he led the Eagles to over 100 wins in 11 seasons, as well as 5 Conference Championship appearances, and one trip to the Super Bowl.  McNabb’s No. 5 has been retired for the Eagles.

Next: Syracuse Football: Ranking every SU first round pick in NFL Draft history

McNabb’s stellar College and NFL careers and his ability to win are what put him in first place on this list.  I think we can all agree that it’s hard to find QBs like him.