Appalachian State’s Joey Aguilar and Western Carolina’s Cole Gonzales both came into the season anointed by their respective conferences as preseason offensive MVPs.
While there have been struggles for both quarterbacks after nearly two months of games, both find themselves among the statewide leaders in passing stats.
After week 7, Aguilar has the most passing yardage of any signal caller in the Old North State — 1,759. Gonzales sits in third with 1,528 yards.
Overall, quarterbacks from the western part of the state occupy five of the top six spots in total passing yards.
Lenoir-Rhyne’s Jalen Ferguson is the top passer among D2 players with 1,666 yards through the air. He’s second overall.
UNC Pembroke’s Colin Johnson, who earned D2Football.com National Player of the Week honors following a 514-yard, 7-touchdown performance on Saturday, jumped to fourth in the state in total passing yards (1,462). He’s followed by Wake Forest’s Hank Bachmeier (1,439) and Johnson C. Smith’s Darius Ocean (1,438).
Aguilar (293.2) and Ferguson (277.7) also lead the All-North Carolina list in passing yards per game. Brevard’s Ethan Beamish sits in third place in that category. Brevard has played just four games thus far, and Beamish is averaging 269.5 yards per contest for the 3-1 Tornados.
Shaw’s Christian Peters leads the state in touchdown passes with 17. Johnson has 16 in one fewer game. Duke’s Maalik Murphy, Louisburg College’s Dylan Trevillian and North Carolina Central’s Walker Harris have thrown 14 TDs apiece.
READ MORE: This Week’s Fabulous 15 Statewide Rankings
READ MORE: Statewide Rushing Leaders After Week 7
All-North Carolina Collegiate Passing Leaders
Passing Yards
| PASSING LEADERS | TOTAL | YDS/ | ||||||||
| PLAYER (SCHOOL) | DIVISION | CLASS | POSITION | GAME | ATT | COMP | INT | TD | YARDS | PER GAME |
| Joey Aguilar (Appalachian State) | FBS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 250 | 139 | 9 | 11 | 1759 | 293.2 |
| Jalen Ferguson (Lenoir-Rhyne) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 199 | 131 | 5 | 9 | 1666 | 277.7 |
| Cole Gonzales (Western Carolina) | FCS | Jr. | QB | 6 | 230 | 145 | 7 | 5 | 1528 | 254.7 |
| Colin Johnson (UNC Pembroke) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 159 | 100 | 12 | 16 | 1462 | 243.7 |
| Hank Bachmeier (Wake Forest) | FBS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 197 | 124 | 4 | 9 | 1439 | 239.8 |
| Darius Ocean (Johnson C. Smith) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 160 | 91 | 1 | 11 | 1438 | 239.7 |
| Maalik Murphy (Duke) | FBS | Jr. | QB | 6 | 208 | 125 | 5 | 14 | 1431 | 238.5 |
| Jake Garcia (East Carolina) | FBS | Jr. | QB | 6 | 181 | 109 | 12 | 8 | 1426 | 237.7 |
| Dylan Trevillian (Louisburg) | JUCO | So. | QB | 7 | 97 | 161 | 2 | 14 | 1372 | 196.0 |
| Jacolby Criswell (North Carolina) | FBS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 187 | 105 | 3 | 8 | 1367 | 227.8 |
| Christian Peters (Shaw) | D2 | Sr. | QB | 7 | 186 | 94 | 4 | 17 | 1323 | 189.0 |
| Chaz Hirschman (NC Wesleyan) | D3 | Sr. | QB | 6 | 160 | 93 | 5 | 9 | 1248 | 208.0 |
| Tyler Ridell (Gardner-Webb) | FCS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 157 | 101 | 8 | 5 | 1231 | 205.2 |
| Daylin Lee (Winston-Salem State) | D2 | So. | QB | 7 | 176 | 103 | 3 | 9 | 1231 | 175.9 |
| Chad Mascoe (Campbell) | FCS | So. | QB | 6 | 134 | 87 | 4 | 7 | 1205 | 200.8 |
| Walker Harris (North Carolina Central) | FCS | Jr. | QB | 7 | 137 | 87 | 3 | 14 | 1116 | 159.4 |
| Ethan Beamish (Brevard) | D3 | Jr. | QB | 4 | 104 | 68 | 4 | 13 | 1078 | 269.5 |
| CJ Bailey (NC State) | FBS | Fr. | QB | 6 | 131 | 87 | 4 | 6 | 1070 | 178.3 |
| Brennan Brucato (Methodist) | D3 | So. | QB | 6 | 209 | 104 | 5 | 6 | 1022 | 170.3 |
| Preston Brown (Catawba) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 4 | 116 | 84 | 2 | 10 | 1019 | 254.8 |
| Trevor Nored (Barton) | D2 | So. | QB | 6 | 155 | 85 | 6 | 2 | 972 | 162.0 |
| Brooks Bentley (Wingate) | D2 | So. | QB | 5 | 124 | 73 | 4 | 5 | 966 | 193.2 |
| Joe Owens (Fayetteville State) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 119 | 66 | 4 | 4 | 793 | 132.2 |
| JR Martin (Mars Hill) | D2 | Sr. | QB | 4 | 118 | 67 | 1 | 7 | 784 | 196.0 |
| Matthew Downing (Elon) | FCS | Sr. | QB | 5 | 104 | 66 | 3 | 3 | 757 | 151.4 |
| Deshawn Purdie (Charlotte) | FBS | Fr. | QB | 4 | 79 | 48 | 1 | 4 | 717 | 179.3 |
| Justin Fomby (North Carolina A&T) | FCS | Jr. | QB | 5 | 102 | 60 | 4 | 5 | 700 | 140.0 |
| Demarcus Creecy (Elizabeth City St) | D2 | Fr. | QB | 6 | 108 | 60 | 4 | 5 | 624 | 104.0 |
| De’yon Cannon (Greensboro) | D3 | Fr. | QB | 4 | 67 | 39 | 5 | 4 | 605 | 151.3 |
| Maurice Smith (Chowan) | D2 | Fr. | QB | 4 | 72 | 47 | 1 | 6 | 554 | 138.5 |
| Demari Daniels (Fayetteville State) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 73 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 513 | 85.5 |
| Zorian Wallace (Livingstone) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 5 | 53 | 29 | 2 | 3 | 395 | 79.0 |
| Andrew Frazier (Davidson) | FCS | So. | QB | 6 | 36 | 21 | 0 | 3 | 344 | 57.3 |
| Hunter Sheppard (Catawba) | D2 | So. | QB | 4 | 64 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 325 | 81.3 |
| Mike Chandler II (Campbell) | FCS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 28 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 122 | 20.3 |
Passing Touchdowns
| PASSING TOUCHDOWNS | ||||||
| PLAYER (SCHOOL) | DIVISION | CLASS | POSITION | GAME | INT | TD |
| Christian Peters (Shaw) | D2 | Sr. | QB | 7 | 4 | 17 |
| Colin Johnson (UNC Pembroke) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 12 | 16 |
| Maalik Murphy (Duke) | FBS | Jr. | QB | 6 | 5 | 14 |
| Dylan Trevillian (Louisburg) | JUCO | So. | QB | 7 | 2 | 14 |
| Walker Harris (North Carolina Central) | FCS | Jr. | QB | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| Ethan Beamish (Brevard) | D3 | Jr. | QB | 4 | 4 | 13 |
| Darius Ocean (Johnson C. Smith) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 1 | 11 |
| Joey Aguilar (Appalachian State) | FBS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 9 | 11 |
| Preston Brown (Catawba) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| Hank Bachmeier (Wake Forest) | FBS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 4 | 9 |
| Jalen Ferguson (Lenoir-Rhyne) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 5 | 9 |
| Chaz Hirschman (NC Wesleyan) | D3 | Sr. | QB | 6 | 5 | 9 |
| Daylin Lee (Winston-Salem State) | D2 | So. | QB | 7 | 3 | 9 |
| Jacolby Criswell (North Carolina) | FBS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 3 | 8 |
| Jake Garcia (East Carolina) | FBS | Jr. | QB | 6 | 12 | 8 |
| JR Martin (Mars Hill) | D2 | Sr. | QB | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| Chad Mascoe (Campbell) | FCS | So. | QB | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| Maurice Smith (Chowan) | D2 | Fr. | QB | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| CJ Bailey (NC State) | FBS | Fr. | QB | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| Brennan Brucato (Methodist) | D3 | So. | QB | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Brooks Bentley (Wingate) | D2 | So. | QB | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Justin Fomby (North Carolina A&T) | FCS | Jr. | QB | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Demarcus Creecy (Elizabeth City St) | D2 | Fr. | QB | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| Cole Gonzales (Western Carolina) | FCS | Jr. | QB | 6 | 7 | 5 |
| Tyler Ridell (Gardner-Webb) | FCS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 8 | 5 |
Passing Yards-Per-Game
| PASSING YARDS/GAME | TOTAL | YDS/ | ||||||||
| PLAYER (SCHOOL) | DIVISION | CLASS | POSITION | GAME | ATT | COMP | INT | TD | YARDS | PER GAME |
| Joey Aguilar (Appalachian State) | FBS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 250 | 139 | 9 | 11 | 1759 | 293.2 |
| Jalen Ferguson (Lenoir-Rhyne) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 199 | 131 | 5 | 9 | 1666 | 277.7 |
| Ethan Beamish (Brevard) | D3 | Jr. | QB | 4 | 104 | 68 | 4 | 13 | 1078 | 269.5 |
| Preston Brown (Catawba) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 4 | 116 | 84 | 2 | 10 | 1019 | 254.8 |
| Cole Gonzales (Western Carolina) | FCS | Jr. | QB | 6 | 230 | 145 | 7 | 5 | 1528 | 254.7 |
| Colin Johnson (UNC Pembroke) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 159 | 100 | 12 | 16 | 1462 | 243.7 |
| Hank Bachmeier (Wake Forest) | FBS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 197 | 124 | 4 | 9 | 1439 | 239.8 |
| Darius Ocean (Johnson C. Smith) | D2 | Jr. | QB | 6 | 160 | 91 | 1 | 11 | 1438 | 239.7 |
| Maalik Murphy (Duke) | FBS | Jr. | QB | 6 | 208 | 125 | 5 | 14 | 1431 | 238.5 |
| Jake Garcia (East Carolina) | FBS | Jr. | QB | 6 | 181 | 109 | 12 | 8 | 1426 | 237.7 |
| Jacolby Criswell (North Carolina) | FBS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 187 | 105 | 3 | 8 | 1367 | 227.8 |
| Chaz Hirschman (NC Wesleyan) | D3 | Sr. | QB | 6 | 160 | 93 | 5 | 9 | 1248 | 208.0 |
| Tyler Ridell (Gardner-Webb) | FCS | Sr. | QB | 6 | 157 | 101 | 8 | 5 | 1231 | 205.2 |
| Chad Mascoe (Campbell) | FCS | So. | QB | 6 | 134 | 87 | 4 | 7 | 1205 | 200.8 |
