Drew Mestemaker did not start at quarterback for his high school varsity. He walked on at North Texas, became the starter there, and in 2026 followed coach Eric Morris to Oklahoma State, one of 88 new players on a roster that had gone 1-11 the year before.

In August, a panel of 25 NFL scouts and executives was asked who would be the first quarterback taken in the 2027 draft. Oregon’s Dante Moore got 14 votes. Mestemaker got none.

August poll: votes for the first QB drafted (of 25)

On Sept. 12, No. 6 Oregon came to Stillwater as a 23½-point favorite. On Oklahoma State’s first snap, Mestemaker ran 75 yards.

He finished with 317 passing yards, two touchdown passes and 109 rushing yards, and with Oregon ahead 31-30 early in the fourth quarter he drove the Cowboys 75 yards and leaped over defenders for a 10-yard touchdown. Oklahoma State won 39-31, ending a 21-game losing streak against FBS teams.

Moore went 14 of 21 for 191 yards that day. Two weeks later, on Sept. 26 at USC, he took the illegal hit that gave him the concussion expected to end his season. Scouts now point to the Oregon game as the turning point for the whole quarterback class.

The Oregon game was Mestemaker’s first 300-yard game as a Cowboy. He has not had a game under 300 since.

Through seven games he had completed 157 of 239 passes for 2,326 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions. In a 57-24 homecoming win over Colorado he threw for 386 yards and four touchdowns as Oklahoma State scored the last 37 points.

1. 2003B.J. Symons, Texas Tech, seven straight
2. 2007 and 2008Graham Harrell, Texas Tech, does it twice
3. 2013Bryce Petty, Baylor
4. 2017Will Grier, West Virginia
5. Oct. 31, 2026Mestemaker ties the longest single-season streak in Big 12 history, and matches Mason Rudolph's school record of seven straight 300-yard games

The streak reached seven on Halloween night in Ames, the same day the scouts’ midseason poll was published. Mestemaker went 27 of 42 for 323 yards, five touchdowns and one interception at Iowa State.

Oklahoma State trailed 38-28 going into the fourth quarter. He led three touchdown drives, the last ending in a 7-yard shovel pass to Wyatt Young for a 49-48 lead with 53 seconds left.

Young was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the play, so the Cowboys kicked off from their own 20. Iowa State needed one 33-yard completion to reach field-goal range, and Kyle Konrardy made a 34-yarder as time expired. Final: Iowa State 51, Oklahoma State 49.

Reporter Pete Thamel asked the same kind of panel again at midseason. Seventeen of the 25 scouts and executives picked Mestemaker, the most votes any quarterback has received in the poll’s three years. Moore fell from 14 votes to one.

Midseason poll: votes for the first QB drafted (of 25)

Mensah is the other riser. Entering Saturday he was completing 81.4% of his passes, four points above the FBS single-season record of 77.4% that Bo Nix set at Oregon in 2023, with 22 touchdowns and one interception. He threw three more in a 38-35 win at North Carolina that kept Miami 8-0.

The draft boards moved with the scouts. In eight full first-round mocks published from Oct. 23 to 28, Mestemaker went in all eight, never later than seventh, and was the first quarterback taken in seven. His average slot improved from 6.4 in the previous count to 3.4.

Average pick when taken in Round 1 (eight mocks, Oct. 23-28)

Manning, second in the August poll, got no votes at midseason and was left out of Round 1 in five of the eight mocks. Scouts say he could still play his way back, or return to college.

In 1983, five quarterbacks went in the first round. The last two drafts had two each, and both times a quarterback went first overall.

1. 1983Five first-round quarterbacks, the benchmark scouts mentioned in the summer
2. 2025Cam Ward No. 1, Jaxson Dart No. 25
3. 2026Fernando Mendoza No. 1, Ty Simpson No. 13
4. 2027Mestemaker is the favorite to be the first quarterback taken