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Is Jayden Maiava the best returning quarterback in college football, or did USC’s supporting cast do the heavy lifting? PFN’s preseason All-America first team puts the Trojans’ quarterback at the top of its offensive playmaker board for 2026, and the grades behind that call are not close. Maiava led the Big Ten with 3,711 passing yards last season, posted a 93.1 PFN QB impact grade, and stayed positive in the pressure and close-game splits where most returning starters bled points. So how does Malachi Toney, a true freshman at Miami twelve months ago, already belong in the same five? The answer is a 109-catch season, no first-year receiver in recent memory has matched.
We cover all this, plus LJ Martin’s claim as the highest-graded running back in the country and the two names most people will argue about, in a definitive five-deep ranking hosted by PFN’s Ian Cummings. The order is the argument. Three of these five are already on the early 2027 NFL Draft radar, one of them made PFN’s first team over the consensus top receiver prospect in the class, and the quarterback at the top inherits the Big Ten’s marquee job now that last season’s passing leader has moved on. Get this ranking wrong in August, and the September film makes you answer for it.
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The Hottest Takes You’ll Hear
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*Jayden Maiava logged a 93.1 PFN QB impact grade with 0.55 EPA per clean dropback and 0.77 EPA per dropback in close-game scenarios, making him the top returning quarterback on PFN’s board once Fernando Mendoza left for the NFL.
*LJ Martin posted a 93.5 PFN RB impact score, first in the nation, and carried 236 times for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns at 5.5 per carry without his yards after contact slipping below 3.76 per rush.
*Jaden Baugh piled up 1,380 total yards from scrimmage behind a Florida line that ranked seventh in the SEC by PFN team offensive line impact scoring, and he opens as PFN’s preliminary RB1 for the 2027 NFL Draft ahead of Kewan Lacy.
*Wyatt Young swept the receiver efficiency categories at North Texas with an 87.5 PFN receiver impact score, 0.96 EPA per target, and 4.07 yards per route run, which is why he made PFN’s first team over Jeremiah Smith.
*Malachi Toney turned a three-star recruiting profile into 109 catches for 1,211 yards and 10 touchdowns as a true freshman, with a catch rate 11.5% over expectation and zero drops through the regular season.
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