MonDak Show Links 2026 Montana-Dakotas Returning QB Class to Big 12 Rankings

The MonDak Football Show put a spotlight on a deep Montana/Dakotas quarterback class, saying the program’s panel "Podcast debates top returning QBs in Montana/Dakotas region including Ah Yat vs. Lamson, Mason's ceiling, Kaminski's potential, and USD competition in standout group for 2026." The regional exchange framed local name recognition against a national quarterback landscape that already lists Arch Manning and Dante Moore among the sport’s top returners.

The MonDak excerpt names five conversation points for the region — Ah Yat, Lamson, "Mason's ceiling," "Kaminski's potential," and "USD competition" — but supplies no first names, team affiliations, or statistical lines for those players in the summary provided. That local ambiguity sets up a season-long storyline: which of those regional prospects will translate into the measurable production that national evaluators are using to rank returners.

At the Big 12 level, a separate assessment places BYU’s Bear Bachmeier at No. 4 among returning starters, noting that "Bachmeier led BYU to 12 wins and the school’s first-ever appearance in the Big 12 Championship game last season after completing 64.9 percent of his passes for more than 3,000 yards and 26 total touchdowns." The same Big 12 ranking calls out Bachmeier’s two-game stretch versus Texas Tech — a combined 60 percent completion rate for 303 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions — and adds the scheduling note that he "won’t have to face Texas Tech during the regular season in 2026."

MikeFarrellSports’ Big 12 piece also lists Kansas State’s Avery Johnson at No. 5, with concrete room for improvement: "Although he improved on his completion percentage (59.8) and had a career high in rushing touchdowns for a season (8), Johnson threw for just 2,385 yards and 18 touchdowns for the Wildcats." The write-up situates Johnson’s future in scheme continuity, adding that "Heading into his third season as the starter Johnson will benefit from a familiar offensive scheme with the return of former Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein as the head coach." Colorado freshman Julian Lewis rounds out the excerpted top six at No. 6; "Lewis played in just five games as a freshman but did register one of the Buffaloes’ three wins of the season in a 31-7 win against Delaware."

Those conference-level evaluations sit inside an even wider national conversation. Danny Kanell’s top-returners framing opens with a broad declaration: "Following Oregon quarterback Dante Moore‘s decision to return to college instead of entering the NFL Draft and Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss‘ successful eligibility battle, the 2026 season will be one of the most star-studded at the quarterback position in recent memory. Get excited, college football fans." Kanell lists Arch Manning as his No. 1 returning QB, noting Manning "underwent offseason surgery, but is already out of his walking boot ahead of March" and that in "his first full season as the Longhorns’ starter, Manning passed for 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns with just seven interceptions" while rushing for "399 yards and 10 scores," including "155 of his rushing yards" in Texas’ 41-27 Citrus Bowl win over Michigan. Kanell’s No. 4 is Dante Moore, who "was the consensus No. 2 quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft (behind Indiana‘s Fernando Mendoza) before he surprisingly decided to return to college," and who "passed for 3,565 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions" while leading Oregon to CFP wins over James Madison and Texas Tech before falling to Indiana.

A separate national composition note underscores how returners are spread across conferences: "The entire list is below, featuring four Big Ten quarterbacks, three SEC quarterbacks, one ACC quarterback, one Big 12 quarterback, and Notre Dame‘s CJ Carr (Independent)." Across these layers — MonDak’s regional debate, Big 12 returner rankings and Kanell’s national Top 10 — the provided excerpts do not show a direct overlap between the MonDak-named prospects and the players appearing in the Big 12 or national lists. That gap leaves room for the Montana-Dakotas group to either rise into the statistical conversation that produced Manning’s and Moore’s rankings or remain a regional storyline until fall production supplies comparable numbers.

As evaluators finalize depth charts, the season will measure MonDak’s "standout group for 2026" against benchmarks set by Manning, Moore and Big 12 returners like Bear Bachmeier and Avery Johnson. The coming months should clarify whether the Montana-Dakotas names debated on the podcast can produce the yards, touchdowns and signature games that push them onto conference and national returner lists.