Sam Herder ranks FCS’s top returning quarterbacks for 2026 season

Quarterback stability is the cheapest edge in FCS football, and 2026 has a lot of it. In a 128-team subdivision with a 24-team playoff bracket, the returning passers matter because the spring transfer portal is gone, the Big Sky and Missouri Valley Football Conference are stacked with proven starters, and one hot quarterback can still swing a national title run.

1. Beau Brungard and Justin Lamson

Brungard sits at the front of the conversation because he has already played his way into award-level territory, while Lamson turned the biggest stage into a résumé piece. Lamson was the Most Outstanding Player in Montana State’s 35-34 overtime win over Illinois State for the national championship, completing 18 of 27 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns, and that kind of playoff proof travels.

2. Andrew Body and Taron Dickens

Body brings hardware that defenses cannot ignore, with the SWAC Offensive Player of the Year and Stats Perform HBCU National Player of the Year on his line. Dickens was a Walter Payton Award finalist and finished second behind Brungard, which tells you this top tier is not built on reputation alone.

3. Chris Parson, Ty Pennington, Jordan Cooke and Keali’i Ah Yat

This is the cluster that can quietly reshape conference races, because Herder already flagged Pennington, Cooke, Parson and others as notable returning starters poised to influence the season. When the spring portal no longer gives coaches another chance to plug a hole, quarterbacks with proven snaps become the most valuable currency in the league.

4. Chase Mason and DJ Williams

Mason and Williams belong in the next wave of quarterbacks who matter because their presence keeps good teams from spending September searching for identity. Herder’s list is weighted toward returners who can stabilize a playoff push, and these are exactly the types who make preseason projections hold up in November.

5. Devin Farrell and Jerry Kaminski

Farrell and Kaminski are the sort of names that do not always lead highlight reels but still shape whether a team gets to play into December. The current FCS landscape is crowded enough that a competent returning quarterback can mean the difference between a top-half conference finish and a season that never gains traction.

6. Pat McQuaide and Collin Hurst

McQuaide and Hurst fit the veteran mold that coaches trust when the games tighten and possessions get scarce. In a 24-team bracket, avoiding wasted drives is half the battle, and returning quarterbacks like these give their teams a better chance to survive the margin game.

7. Joshua Wood and Gunnar Smith

Wood and Smith matter because the 2026 quarterback class is deep enough that even the middle of the top-returning list has real playoff implications. Herder’s ranking makes the point clearly: the subdivision is not just getting stars back, it is getting stability back.

8. Grayson Saunier and Sonny Mannino

Saunier and Mannino help explain why this offseason feels different from the uncertainty-heavy build to last year. A separate count showed 44 of the previous season’s top 100 quarterbacks were returning to their teams, and that volume of experience raises the floor for more programs than usual.

9. Jared Lockhart, Bryce Schondelmyer and Frankie Weaver

Lockhart, Schondelmyer and Weaver sit in the part of the ranking that keeps the top of the board honest. They may not carry the same national profile as the names above them, but Herder’s inclusion of all three says the depth of this quarterback class is real, not just top-heavy.

10. Jake Stearney, Cason Carswell and Dante Reno

This group is where upside starts to matter as much as production. If one of these quarterbacks jumps from promising returner to difference-maker, he does not just help his own offense, he can redraw a conference race in a league where eight of the 13 conferences have already been affected by realignment.

11. Andrew Indorf, James Murphy and Hayden Johnson

The back end of Herder’s quarterback list still carries weight because FCS seasons are often decided by which team gets steady play from the position, not just star power. Indorf, Murphy and Johnson round out a deep field that makes 2026 look far stronger than a year ago, when more teams were still sorting out uncertainty under center.

The bigger story is not simply that more quarterbacks are back. It is that the right quarterbacks are back, the ones with postseason credibility, award résumés, and enough surrounding continuity to matter when the bracket gets tight. In 2026, that is how a title race gets reshaped.