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Northwestern's best quarterbacks since 2004
Clayton Thorson leads with 10,731 passing yards in 53 games at Northwestern; C.J. Bacher had 7,321.
Every quarterback with 5 or more games at Northwestern since 2004, ranked by passing yards; the lines are each player's passing yards game by game, the top 8 drawn. A link opens the player's page, where he has one, or his row on the board.
23 quarterbacks with 5+ games at Northwesternpassing yards
| # | player | seasons | games | passing yards | passing touchdowns | wins | yards of total offense | interceptions thrown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clayton Thorson | 2015–2018 | 53 | 10,731 | 61 | 36 | 11,139 | 45 |
| 2 | C.J. Bacher | 2005–2008 | 33 | 7,321 | 43 | 18 | 7,550 | 43 |
| 3 | Brett Basanez | 2004–2005 | 24 | 6,460 | 33 | 13 | 7,141 | 17 |
| 4 | Trevor Siemian | 2011–2014 | 44 | 5,931 | 27 | 24 | 5,908 | 24 |
| 5 | Dan Persa | 2008–2011 | 30 | 5,181 | 34 | 18 | 5,897 | 13 |
| 6 | Mike Kafka | 2006–2009 | 27 | 4,265 | 19 | 16 | 5,156 | 20 |
| 7 | Ryan Hilinski | 2021–2024 | 22 | 2,831 | 10 | 6 | 2,758 | 12 |
| 8 | Preston Stone | 2025 | 13 | 2,400 | 17 | 7 | 2,403 | 12 |
| 9 | Ben Bryant | 2023 | 9 | 1,807 | 13 | 6 | 1,774 | 6 |
| 10 | Jack Lausch | 2022–2024 | 20 | 1,792 | 7 | 8 | 2,082 | 9 |
| 11 | Peyton Ramsey | 2020 | 9 | 1,733 | 12 | 7 | 1,980 | 8 |
| 12 | Aidan Chiles | 2026 | 6 | 1,398 | 9 | 5 | 1,496 | 0 |
| 13 | Brendan Sullivan | 2022–2023 | 12 | 1,303 | 10 | 2 | 1,560 | 5 |
| 14 | Andrew Marty | 2019–2021 | 14 | 857 | 8 | 4 | 1,183 | 8 |
| 15 | Hunter Johnson | 2019–2021 | 9 | 856 | 5 | 2 | 898 | 8 |
| 16 | Aidan Smith | 2019 | 8 | 760 | 3 | 1 | 971 | 9 |
| 17 | Zack Oliver | 2012–2015 | 13 | 648 | 3 | 6 | 646 | 8 |
| 18 | Evan Watkins | 2010–2011 | 7 | 378 | 2 | 4 | 441 | 5 |
| 19 | Andrew Brewer | 2006–2009 | 28 | 368 | 1 | 15 | 570 | 4 |
| 20 | TJ Green | 2017–2019 | 7 | 236 | 0 | 4 | 268 | 1 |
| 21 | Matt Alviti | 2014–2017 | 13 | 169 | 1 | 6 | 313 | 0 |
| 22 | Ryan Boe | 2024–2026 | 9 | 59 | 0 | 7 | 168 | 2 |
| 23 | Carl Richardson | 2021–2022 | 5 | 58 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 1 |
Also at Northwestern: running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, defenders, kickers, punters. Every school and conference: schools, conferences. The games are ESPN's box scores since 2004 (the Method says where they fall short); a position is the roster's, else read off the box score, so a tight end from before 2014 may be listed with the wide receivers.