Where BYU's Bear Bachmeier ranks among Big 12 quarterbacks ahead of 2026 season

There has been a ton of movement with Big 12 quarterbacks coming into the 2026 season. Sam Leavitt is now at LSU with Lane Kiffin and Texas Tech thought they secured one of the best transfer portal passers with Brendan Sorsby coming over from Cincinnati. A few months before the season, the gambling man is fighting the NCAA for his eligibility in court.

One of the best returning players in the Big 12 regardless of position is BYU Cougars QB Bear Bachmeier. The standout freshman is one of nine starting quarterbacks returning to the league and is ready to make a statement after bursting onto the scene. But where does he rank among his peers?

Bachmeier is certainly not No. 1 in the conference, but he's not last either. According to Deseret News' Brandon Judd, the BYU signal-caller is fourth on the list. So who's above and below him going into the final preparation for the season?

Utah's Devon Dampier is noted as the best quarterback in the Big 12. This could've been a spot reserved for Leavitt, if he stayed, and Sorsby, if he wasn't dropping thousands of bets on his teams and others. Nonetheless, Dampier comes into the season after arguably a career year in Salt Lake City. The former New Mexico transfer followed offensive coordinator Jason Beck to lead the Utes' offense in 2025.

Dampier threw for 2,490 yards, 24 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, while also stacking up 146 carries for 835 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. His dual-threat ability was a major reason he edged out Bachmeier to earn Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors.

"What will he do for an encore? Dampier has a new offensive coordinator, Kevin McGiven, after Jason Beck followed Kyle Whittingham to Michigan," Judd wrote. "Perhaps that, and having a new offensive line with all five starters gone, will lead to a dip in his numbers — then again, Dampier showed he can be the most electric playmaker on the field at any given time and make game-changing plays with his legs and his arm."

After Dampier is Arizona's Noah Fifita at No. 2. The senior Wildcats passer has ridden a roller coaster over his collegiate career. But he's going to stick it out before his shot in the NFL comes in 2027.

Oklahoma State QB Drew Mestemaker comes in third, according to Judd. The former walk-on bet on himself and is now in a position to make it pay off after transferring from North Texas to Stillwater.

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"There will be a learning curve jumping to the power conference level — and he’s doing it at Oklahoma State, which hasn’t won a Big 12 conference game in two years — but Mestemaker has some intriguing offensive weapons at his disposal and, more importantly, his head coach at UNT, Eric Morris," Judd wrote.

Bachmeier comes into this season for the Cougars after getting past the learning curve. He'll turn heads for many of the non-believers who didn't watch him play throughout BYU's two-loss season last year.

"There will be high expectations on Bachmeier to improve this season and try to get the Cougars over the hump — both in the Big 12 chase and in the program’s pursuit of a College Football Playoff berth," Judd added. "Last season, though, Bachmeier showed he had the moxie to deal with those expectations."

The rest of the field in the top eight goes as follows. Houston's Connor Weigman, Kansas State's Avery Johnson, Baylor's DJ Lagway, and TCU's Jaden Craig rounded out the top-half for Big 12 QBs, respectively. Check out the rest of Judd's rankings for  the bottom eight in the conference.