NCAA Division I FCS passing leaders

This page lists the top individual passing performances in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), including career passing yards and touchdowns, single-season passing yards and touchdowns, and single-game passing yards and touchdowns.

FCS quarterbacks such as Devlin Hodges, Taylor Heinicke, Bruce Eugene, and Willie Totten have set notable records at multiple levels. Eugene holds the career passing touchdowns record, surpassing Totten, who played alongside NFL legend Jerry Rice in the 1980s. Lindsey Scott holds the single-season passing touchdowns record, while Ren Hefley set the single-game passing touchdowns mark. Taylor Heinicke holds the single-game passing yards record. The lists below include both career and single-season leaders, as well as single-game performances, reflecting the most prolific passing achievements in FCS history. Statistics reflect official FCS games and are current through the end of the 2025 season.^[1]

Samford's Devlin Hodges is the NCAA FCS career passing yards leader with 14,584 yards, surpassing Steve McNair of Alcorn State and Bruce Eugene of Grambling State. Hodges is one of only four FCS players to exceed 13,500 career passing yards, joining McNair, Eric Barriere of Eastern Washington, and Eugene. Many of the top FCS passers maximized their eligibility, with several playing five seasons, allowing them to challenge long-standing records. While slightly below the all-time FBS leader Case Keenum of Houston (19,217 yards), multiple FCS quarterbacks have surpassed 12,000 career yards, ranking among the most prolific passers in NCAA history.^[2]

Eastern Washington's Gage Gubrud holds the FCS single-season passing yards record with 5,160 yards in 2016. He is one of only six FCS players to throw for over 5,000 yards in a season, joining Cole Kelley (Southeastern Louisiana, 2021), Taylor Heinicke (Old Dominion, 2012), Eric Barriere (Eastern Washington, 2021), Jimmy Garoppolo (Eastern Illinois, 2013), and Jeremiah Briscoe (Sam Houston, 2017).

The FCS single-game passing yards record is held by Taylor Heinicke of Old Dominion, who threw for 730 yards against New Hampshire on September 22, 2012. Many other FCS quarterbacks have surpassed 500 yards in a game, highlighting the prolific passing offenses in the subdivision.

The FCS career passing touchdowns record is held by Bruce Eugene of Grambling State, who threw 140 touchdowns from 2001 to 2005, surpassing the previous mark set by Willie Totten of Mississippi Valley State. Totten had originally set the record while playing alongside future NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice in the 1980s.

The FCS single-season passing touchdowns record is held by Lindsey Scott of UIW (University of the Incarnate Word), who threw 60 touchdowns in 2022. Other quarterbacks who have surpassed 50 in a season include Jeremiah Briscoe of Sam Houston and Bruce Eugene of Grambling State.

In the 84–43 season opener on September 4, 2021, Ren Hefley of Presbyterian set the FCS single‑game touchdown record with 10 touchdown passes against St. Andrews.^[3][4]

Passing efficiency is a measure of quarterback performance based on the following formula:

${\displaystyle {\text{Passing Efficiency}}={(100\times {\text{completions}})+(8.4\times {\text{yards}})+(330\times {\text{touchdowns}})-(200\times {\text{interceptions}}) \over {\text{attempts}}}}$

Only passing statistics are included in the formula. Any yards or touchdowns gained rushing or by any other method are not a factor in the formula, and neither are fumbles. Players tend to rank highly on the list when they have a high completion percentage, high yards per completion, and many touchdowns to few interceptions.

The FCS career passing efficiency record (minimum 425 completions; player must have concluded his career) is held by Josh Johnson of the San Diego Toreros, who recorded a career passer efficiency rating of 176.7 from 2004 to 2007. He finished his career with 1,065 passing attempts, 724 completions, 15 interceptions, 9,699 passing yards, and 113 touchdown passes.

The FCS single-season passing efficiency record (minimum 15 passing attempts per game) is held by Shawn Knight of the William & Mary Tribe, who posted a passer efficiency rating of 204.6 in 1993. He completed 125 of 177 passing attempts, threw 4 interceptions, gained 2,055 passing yards, and recorded 22 touchdown passes over 10 games. Other notable single-season performances include Josh Johnson of San Diego in 2007 (198.3 rating), Lindsey Scott of UIW in 2022 (197.7 rating), and Jonathan Dally of Cal Poly in 2007 (196.7 rating).

The NCAA does not recognize a comprehensive list of single-game passing efficiency records, but notable FCS performances include:

• Minimum 15 attempts – 389.9: (16 of 17, 363 yards, 6 TD, 0 INT) – Mark Washington of Jackson State vs. Alcorn State, November 20, 1999
• Minimum 25 attempts – 319.1: (22 of 25, 452 yards, 6 TD, 0 INT) – Matt Barr of Western Illinois vs. Illinois State, October 30, 2010^[5]
• Minimum 45 attempts – 243.8: (42 of 46, 560 yards, 7 TD, 0 INT) – Derek Carr of UT Martin vs. Murray State, October 13, 2012^[6]

The FCS career passing completions and attempts record is held by Devlin Hodges of Samford, who completed 1,310 of 1,896 pass attempts from 2015 to 2018. He also set the FCS single-season average completions per game record in 2018, completing 388 passes over 11 games for an average of 35.3 completions per game.^[7]

The FCS single-season passing completions record is held by Cole Kelley of Southeastern Louisiana, who completed 406 passes out of 552 attempts in 2021.^[8]

The FCS single-game completions record is held by Jeremy Moses of Stephen F. Austin, who completed 57 passes against Sam Houston on November 1, 2008. Other notable performances include Taron Dickens of Western Carolina, who completed 53 passes against Wofford in 2025, setting the FCS record for consecutive completions in a single game with 46 straight completions.^[9][10]

The FCS career completion percentage record (minimum 750 attempts) is held by Michael Hiers of Samford, who completed 669 of 901 passes (74.3%) from 2022 to 2023. Hiers previously spent two years at Murray State but saw limited action.

The FCS single-season completion percentage record (minimum 200 attempts) is held by Michael Hiers of Samford, who completed 353 of 461 passes (76.6%) in 2022.

The NCAA doesn't recognize a full list for FCS single-game completion percentage, but top performances include:

• Minimum 20 completions – 96.15% (25 of 26) – Ricky Santos of New Hampshire vs. Northeastern, Oct. 22, 2005
• Minimum 30 completions – 91.43% (32 of 35) – Quinn Epperly of Princeton vs. Cornell, Nov. 2, 2013
• Minimum 50 completions – 94.64% (53 of 56) – Taron Dickens of Western Carolina vs. Wofford, Oct. 4, 2025 (set FCS record with 46 consecutive completions in this game)

This table lists Division I FCS quarterbacks ranked by career wins in games in which they were the designated starting quarterback. Only games started are counted (relief appearances are excluded), and ties are included where applicable. For Mark Gronowski, only wins recorded at the FCS level are included in the table below; his 2025 season at Iowa (FBS)—during which he recorded nine wins as a starter—is noted separately and is not included in his FCS total. Easton Stick and Gronowski are tied for the most career wins by a starting quarterback at the FCS level with 49 each, followed by Brock Jensen with 47 wins, Cam Miller with 45 wins, and Armanti Edwards with 42 wins.^[11]

Among the quarterbacks listed, Edwards won the Walter Payton Award in 2008 and 2009 and Gronowski won the award in 2023. In addition, Stick, Jensen, Miller, Edwards, and Gronowski each led their teams to at least one FCS national championship as a starting quarterback.

George Southern's Raymond Gross is reported to have a 44–8 record as a starting quarterback.^[12] However, he was off the official NCAA notes list when Jensen broke Edwards’s 42-win mark in 2013, and he is therefore left off the table below due to limited game logs and participation charts.^[13][14][15]

This table lists FCS quarterbacks with the highest number of wins in a single season as a starter. Only victories earned while the player was the designated starting quarterback are counted (relief appearances are excluded), and ties are included where applicable. Only undefeated FCS seasons are included; seasons with 15 wins but one or more losses are excluded due to limitations in historical data and winning percentage calculations.^[16] Trey Lance led the 2019 North Dakota State to a perfect 16–0 season, the only FCS quarterback to reach 16 wins in a single season.^[17]

Single-season win totals have become more common in recent years due to expanded schedules and extended playoff formats, which give quarterbacks more opportunities to earn victories.

• FBS passing leaders