Strictly from a numbers perspective, Catawba’s Preston Brown is the most prolific quarterback to suit up for a North Carolina college football team so far this season.
Through three games, the redshirt sophomore from Charlotte (West Mecklenburg HS) leads the Old North State in total passing yards (905), yards per game (301.7) and touchdowns (12).
Brown had a five-touchdown performance in week two against Livingstone, earning D2 National Player of the Week honors. He followed that up this past Saturday by completing 24-of-41 throws for 321 yards and three TDs. He did throw his first interception of the season in the loss to Mars Hill.
In addition to our Fabulous 14 team rankings, which we track across all divisions of play, NC Football News will periodically release various Fabulous 14 individual top player lists. Today, we focus on the state’s quarterbacks and track, by the numbers, the top passers, the quarterbacks with the most touchdowns and those with the best completion percentage.
In terms of pure stats, Brown is outdueling UNC’s Drake Maye (891) and Wake Forest’s Mitch Griffis (837) for most passing yards. Brandon Bullins of Methodist (811 yards) and Ethan Beamish of Brevard (765) come in fourth and fifth, respectively. Both compete at the D3 level.
Appalachian State’s Joey Aguilar, who took over quarterbacking duties midway through game one due to an injury to the starter, ranks second in touchdowns with nine. Griffis has eight and Davidson’s Coulter Cleland – who threw five TDs this past weekend at Marist – has six.
Jalen Ferguson (Lenoir-Rhyne) has the best overall completion percentage, though he’s only attempted seven passes in two games, finding his target on six throws.
One interesting fact that may seem hard to believe considering Duke owns a 3-0 record and a No. 18 Associated Press ranking: quarterback Riley Leonard only has one touchdown pass thus far. He has not thrown an interception and has found the end zone three times as a rusher.
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Passing Yardage Leaders
| NAME (SCHOOL) | DIVISION | GM | COMP | ATT | YDS | TD | INT | COMP% | YPG |
| 1. Preston Brown (Catawba) | D2 | 3 | 64 | 101 | 905 | 12 | 1 | 0.634 | 301.7 |
| 2. Drake Maye (North Carolina) | FBS | 3 | 74 | 102 | 891 | 4 | 4 | 0.725 | 297.0 |
| 3. Mitch Griffis (Wake Forest) | FBS | 3 | 60 | 97 | 837 | 8 | 3 | 0.619 | 279.0 |
| 4. Brandon Bullins (Methodist) | D3 | 3 | 80 | 124 | 811 | 5 | 6 | 0.645 | 270.3 |
| 5. Ethan Beamish (Brevard) | D3 | 3 | 80 | 119 | 765 | 3 | 5 | 0.672 | 255.0 |
| 6. Hajj-Malik Williams (Campbell) | FCS | 3 | 63 | 84 | 760 | 5 | 0 | 0.750 | 253.3 |
| 7. Matthew Caldwell (Gardner-Webb) | FCS | 3 | 82 | 143 | 736 | 5 | 2 | 0.573 | 245.3 |
| 8. Joey Aguilar (Appalachian State) | FBS | 3 | 50 | 85 | 690 | 9 | 2 | 0.588 | 230.0 |
| 9. Brennan Armstrong (NC State) | FBS | 3 | 66 | 105 | 679 | 3 | 3 | 0.629 | 226.3 |
| 10. Noah Bell (Wingate) | D2 | 3 | 55 | 93 | 642 | 3 | 2 | 0.591 | 214.0 |
| 11. Daylin Lee (Winston-Salem State) | D2 | 3 | 48 | 80 | 612 | 3 | 1 | 0.600 | 204.0 |
| 12. Cole Gonzales (Western Carolina) | FCS | 3 | 54 | 82 | 609 | 4 | 2 | 0.659 | 203.0 |
| 13. Rashad McKee (Chowan) | D2 | 3 | 43 | 91 | 600 | 3 | 5 | 0.473 | 200.0 |
| 14.Riley Leonard (Duke) | FBS | 3 | 44 | 65 | 530 | 1 | 0 | 0.677 | 176.7 |
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TD Passes
| NAME (SCHOOL) | TD |
| Preston Brown (Catawba) | 12 |
| Joey Aguilar (Appalachian State) | 9 |
| Mitch Griffis (Wake Forest) | 8 |
| Coulter Cleland (Davidson) | 6 |
| Bailey Baker (Guilford) | 5 |
| Brandon Bullins (Methodist) | 5 |
| Hajj-Malik Williams (Campbell) | 5 |
| Matthew Caldwell (Gardner-Webb) | 5 |
| Tyrell Jackson (Johnson C. Smith) | 5 |
| Cole Gonzales (Western Carolina) | 4 |
| Drake Maye (North Carolina) | 4 |
| Matthew Downing (Elon) | 4 |
| Brennan Armstrong (NC State) | 3 |
| Brenton Hilton (Livingstone) | 3 |
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Completion Percentage
| NAME (SCHOOL) | COMP% |
| Jalen Ferguson (Lenoir-Rhyne) | 0.857 |
| Trexler Ivey (Charlotte) | 0.758 |
| Hajj-Malik Williams (Campbell) | 0.750 |
| Drake Maye (North Carolina) | 0.725 |
| Tyrell Jackson (Johnson C. Smith) | 0.716 |
| Walker Harris (NC Central) | 0.708 |
| Riley Leonard (Duke) | 0.677 |
| Ethan Beamish (Brevard) | 0.672 |
| Cole Gonzales (Western Carolina) | 0.659 |
| Coulter Cleland (Davidson) | 0.659 |
| Brenton Hilton (Livingstone) | 0.654 |
| Brandon Bullins (Methodist) | 0.645 |
| Preston Brown (Catawba) | 0.634 |
| Brennan Armstrong (NC State) | 0.629 |
| JR Martin (Mars Hill) | 0.622 |
