BERKELEY, Calif. -- Nearly halfway through the college football season, there's still a fascinating race among the sport's top quarterbacks to see who'll be the first one taken in the NFL draft this spring.

Heading into Week 6, there are still five quarterbacks who could claim the top spot, making this a particularly "muddy" year, as one veteran scout termed it. Part of that lack of conviction comes from the caliber of the quarterback crop, as it's considered a distinctly lower-quality quarterback class than the record class of six quarterbacks drafted in the top 12 picks last year.

ESPN polled 20 NFL scouts and executives who evaluate college players to see where they stood right now on the top quarterback for the 2025 NFL draft. The variance of answers proved telling, as Colorado's Shedeur Sanders got nine votes, Georgia's Carson Beck got five and Alabama's Jalen Milroe got four. Miami's Cam Ward and Texas' Quinn Ewers got one vote each, with Ward rising and Ewers' standing likely hurt after missing the last two weeks with an injury.

The poll should be regarded as more of a bellwether for the uncertainty in the class and potential volatility between now and the draft more than any type of definitive predictor.

Executives agreed it's rare to have this many quarterbacks in the conversation and this much uncertainty around the position. There has been unanimous feeling in scouting circles that there's a significant step back in top quarterback talent from last year's historic haul, which isn't a surprise. "Definitely a strange year," observed one veteran executive. "Obviously need to see more."

Ward and Milroe can be considered the risers in recent weeks, as two scouts noted that they had Ward second on their current lists. Joked one veteran scout: "I'm not ready to say Cam Ward, but I want to say Cam Ward."

Milroe played one of his best games as a college football player against Georgia, and there's real momentum for him as he shows more anticipation and polish as a passer. Ward showed off his late-game magic by orchestrating a fourth-quarter comeback against Virginia Tech on Friday night, which included a few Houdini escapes, an improbable chest pass and a fourth-down completion to a player on the ground.

A few scouts picked Beck through gritted teeth, not wanting his flat first half against Alabama to taint him as a prospect.

For the second straight year, Ewers delivered a definitive road win in an iconic venue against a top-10 team, slicing apart Michigan for three touchdowns and 246 yards on 24-for-36 passing. He's expected to return next week against Oklahoma and continue his trajectory.

Typically, there's some element of clarity in the quarterback hierarchy by now. Last year, for example, Caleb Williams had been the presumptive No. 1 pick for two full seasons. Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud were projected to be selected early heading into the 2022 season.

One scout invoked the 2022 draft, which didn't see a quarterback picked until Kenny Pickett at No. 20, when referencing the muddled nature of this year's crop. While the overall talent of this quarterback crop projects higher than 2022, especially given the need at that position amid an overall weak draft, it will be interesting to see when a quarterback goes off the board.

A few additional scouts declined to answer, insisting it was too early to make a call. That's also instructive to the scouting process, in which area scouts are studying players in their regions and national scouts haven't done all the cross-checking they need to fully study all the players. General managers and top executives don't fully invest in the scouting process until much later in the year.

Sanders has been productive this year and has shown an affinity for the dramatic, as he led a miraculous comeback at Baylor and has thrown 14 touchdowns and three interceptions. He's No. 6 nationally in passing yards with 1,630. He's playing under longtime NFL offensive coach Pat Shurmur, which has led to an evolution to more of an NFL-style offense.