As the 2021 season inches closer, CardinalSports.com will continue to bring you content from Pro Football Focus as Rivals and PFF have partnered for another college football season.
PFF ranked all 130 of the starting quarterbacks throughout the FBS, and Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham came in at No. 34.
PFF's reasoning for the grade: Cunningham is one of the most dangerous rushing threats at the quarterback position. He picked up a gain of 10 or more yards on 38.1% of his attempts in 2020, whether it be designed runs or scrambles. Not only did that lead all FBS quarterbacks, but it topped the list by over five percentage points.
Cunningham still has room to grow as a passer. He needs to take much better care of the ball in 2021 than he did last season after making multiple turnover-worthy plays in seven of his 11 starts. In all, he earned just a 69.0 passing grade for the season.
Starting quarterbacks in the ACC:
No. 2: Sam Howell - North Carolina
No. 3: D'Eriq King - Miami
No. 8: D.J. Uiagalelei - Clemson
No. 16: McKenzie Milton - Florida State
No. 18: Brennan Armstrong - Virginia
No. 21: Sam Hartman - Wake Forest
No. 30: Phil Jurkovec - Boston College
No. 34: Malik Cunningham - Louisville
No. 44: Devin Leary - North Carolina State
No. 52: Kenny Pickett - Pittsburgh
No. 61: Braxton Burmeister - Virginia Tech
No. 95: Tommy DeVito - Syracuse
No. 100: Jeff Sims - Georgia Tech
No. 124: Gunnar Holmberg - Duke
Also of note: UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel came in at No. 4, and Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral came in at No. 6.
Using PFF's rankings, Louisville will face seven quarterbacks in the top 30.
