By admin 
There was a moment in Mississippi State’s blowout win over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday when quarterback Kamario Taylor went viral.
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On his final pass of the game, Taylor took the snap, peered left, stepped forward in the pocket and perfectly uncorked an effortless 50-plus-yard throw to wide receiver Marquis Johnson for an eventual 70-yard touchdown.
The play capped a 354-yard, four-touchdown evening for Taylor and sent social media into a frenzy. Fans and pundits went crazy online about just how special the throw was. In the postgame presser, Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby said, “There are very few that can do it.”
Meantime, Minnesota QB Drake Lindsey opened the season by completing 19-of-24 passes for 264 yards and a TD pass in a blowout win over FCS Eastern Illinois. This comes after he was ranked fourth among 2027 draft-eligible QBs (behind Texas’ Arch Manning, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers and Oregon’s Dante Moore) by Yahoo Sports draft analyst Nate Tice.
For most of their young careers, Taylor and Lindsey were viewed as project players with big potential. By and large, they flew under the radar nationally. But after strong summers at the Manning Passing Academy and big season openers, that time is over.
Taylor and Lindsey will square off in Minneapolis in one of Saturday’s best quarterback matchups (3:30 p.m. ET on CBS). If all goes according to plan, the game could be a coming-out party for two of the most intriguing quarterbacks in college football.
Kamario Taylor’s Dual-Threat Abilities Make Him the Ultimate X-Factor
A season ago, Taylor had to wait his turn in Starkville.
Incumbent starter Blake Shapen took the vast majority of the first-team snaps, leading Mississippi State to an upset win over Arizona State and near-wins over Tennessee and Texas. But after late-season losses to Georgia and Missouri, Lebby decided the time was right for Taylor to take over.
Taylor started the season finale against Ole Miss. And although he was only so-so in the passing game, he dazzled with his legs, racking up 173 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Taylor is a difficult player to analyze from an advanced stats perspective. He played so few starting snaps last season that there’s little data to work with.
In 237 snaps, Taylor left the pocket 14.4% of the time and scrambled on 20.2% of all plays, according to Hudl IQ. Even in that small sample size, the data paints a picture of a quarterback who not only relishes the chance to use his legs as a weapon, but perhaps prefers to do so when given ample opportunity.
As a passer, Taylor was a bit more refined than basic stats might suggest. He notched 0.26 EPA/play and 0.04 EPA/pass figures, and averaged 14.6 yards per completion, according to Hudl IQ.
The areas of Taylor’s game that could use improvement are consistency and accuracy. In limited action last season, Taylor had a boom-or-bust quality in the passing game. When he did complete passes, they went for big gains. When he missed, he often missed badly, as evidenced by his 54.5% completion percentage and -11% CPOE (completion percentage over expectation), according to Hudl IQ.
Over the summer, Taylor went to work on refining his mechanics and footwork. He studied film and had a strong appearance at the Manning Passing Academy. If he can hone in on his accuracy, he’s going to be a major weapon in the Bulldogs’ aerial attack.
One area of his game that needs no improvement is his running ability. Taylor has freaky speed and elusiveness. He knows how to take good angles. And when he gets defenders in open space, it’s bad news for opposing defenses.
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Last season, Taylor notched a 0.55 EPA/rush figure and averaged a sky-high 7.2 yards per attempt, according to Hudl IQ. He has rushing abilities you just can’t teach, and he’s far and away the best dual-threat athlete to ever quarterback in Lebby’s Veer and Shoot system.
Drake Lindsey’s Arm Talent is Putting Evaluators on Notice
Drake Lindsey is not a runner. He’s big and mobile enough in the pocket, and he possesses good strength when the pocket collapses. But his biggest weapon is his arm, something that he didn’t get too many opportunities to show off last season.
Despite having a rocket for an arm, Lindsey rarely pushed the ball downfield with any venom last season.
He notched an extremely low 5.6 yards per pass and averaged only 9.6 yards per completion, according to Hudl IQ.
He did complete a solid percentage of his passes (63%), but many were of the dink-and-dunk variety, where he just took what the defense gave him.
The next evolution of his game is two-fold. He needs to be a more willing downfield passer and punish defenses when they give his receivers openings down the field. He could also stand to complete more passes across the middle of the field, a hallmark of effective passing at the NFL level.
If he finds ways to do that at a better rate this season, there’s no reason why he can’t be one of the more effective passers in the Big Ten, which will, in turn, make him an even more attractive candidate for the next level after this season.
Can Either Quarterback Pass the First Big Test?
Saturday afternoon should provide a nice challenge for Taylor and Lindsey.
Minnesota defensive coordinator Danny Collins will surely key in on Taylor’s rushing ability. The Gophers’ best bet might be to try to limit Taylor as a runner and make him prove he can consistently beat a power conference foe with his arm.
Mississippi State defensive coordinator Zach Arnett is known for his chaotic brand of 3-3-5 defense. It’s a scheme that relies on pre-snap confusion and blitzes that come from out of nowhere. Perhaps Arnett will try to heat Lindsey up and make him get rid of the ball quickly to nullify the threat of a downfield passing attack.
Making sweeping indictments of quarterbacks early in a college football season is often a fool’s errand. It’s only Week 2. That means there’s plenty of time for both players to grow, improve and hone their craft over the course of a long season.
One thing is for certain, though. These two players have not-so-quietly jumped onto the radars of national pundits across college football and the NFL. Taylor and Lindsey both possess tantalizing traits, and Saturday’s game might offer a window into what type of QB these players can become in a big-time matchup.
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Related: Big Ten Quarterback Rankings for 2026
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This story was originally published September 9, 2026 at 5:05 AM.