Jacksonville State quarterback Ryan Perrilloux

Throughout this college football season, the starting quarterbacks at Alabama and Auburn have come under increasing scrutiny and rightly so.

Crimson Tide junior Greg McElroy and Tigers senior Chris Todd play the marquee position at the state's two most high profile programs, so it's only natural that their sometimes sporadic play would be criticized.

But the fact of matter is neither McElroy, a first-year starter, nor Todd is regarded among the best college quarterbacks in the state.

NFL scouts prefer Jacksonville State's Ryan Perrilloux, UAB's Joseph Webb and Troy's Levi Brown.

According to Scout.com, Perrilloux is ranked 13^th among quarterbacks for the 2010 NFL draft, just ahead of Webb, who's 14^th. Brown is ranked 19^th, right behind Georgia's Joe Cox. CBS Sports NFLDraftScout.com has Webb 12^th, Perrilloux 13^th and Brown 18^th.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Perrilloux, who began his career at LSU, is projected as a mid-round pick, while Webb and Brown are projected to go in the final round.

Each of them is having a banner season. Perrilloux, who was featured in Sports Illustrated last week, has been named the Ohio Valley Conference's Offensive Player of the Week five times this season.

Despite being suspended for a violation of team rules for the Gamecocks' opener, Perrilloux has thrown for 1,936 yards and 19 touchdowns, while completing 58.9 percent of his passes with only two interceptions in eight games. He also has rushed for 225 yards and five touchdowns, leading Jacksonville State to a 6-3 record, 4-1 in the OVC.

"I coached Bo Jackson at Auburn, and Ryan is the same caliber athlete as Bo was," Jacksonville State head coach Jack Crowe told Sports Illustrated. "He's straightening out his life here, and almost every NFL team has sent a scout to see him."

The 6-4, 220-pound Webb could be the top dual threat quarterback in the nation. He has passed for 1,352 yards and 13 touchdowns, while completing 57.1 percent of his passes and throwing only six interceptions in 184 attempts. He also rushed for 1,103 yards (a Conference USA record for a quarterback), averaging 6.8 yards per carry, and nine touchdowns. He has eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing for the second consecutive season.

Last week, Webb threw for 292 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 120 yards and two more scores in UAB's 56-29 rout of Florida Atlantic. The week before that he had 304 yards total offense while passing for two touchdowns, running for one and catching a 14-yard TD pass in the Blazers' 38-33 victory at UTEP.

Without Webb, UAB might be winless this season, but now has an outside chance to become bowl eligible if the Blazers (4-5) can win two of their final three games at Memphis, at East Carolina or at home against Central Florida.

"Joe is by far our best playmaker offensively, and we've asked him to do an awful lot," UAB head coach Neil Callaway said.

The 6-3, 225-pound Brown, who began his career at Richmond, has been a regular recipient of the Sun Belt Conference's Offensive Player of the Week award. He has passed for 2,777 yards and 17 touchdowns, while completing 64.7 percent of his passes and throwing only four interceptions in 331 attempts. He ranks fifth in the nation in total offense (310.11 yards per game) among players who play for FBS teams, putting Troy (7-2, 6-0) in position to win its fourth consecutive Sun Belt title.

Earlier this season in a 50-26 victory against North Texas, Brown threw for 469 yards to break a 41-year-old school single-game record.

Brown currently stands just 13 pass attempts shy of the NCAA single-season record for consecutive pass attempts without an interception. The NCAA record of 271 attempts without an interception was set by Trent Dilfer at Fresno State in 1993. Brown's current streak of 258 attempts, which stretches back to the first quarter of the game against UAB that started Troy's seven-game winning streak, is more than twice as long as the next closest active streak in the country. He will try to set the record Saturday when the Trojans visit Arkansas.

"He concentrates well, is an accurate guy, has a good understanding of touch, and when he has to throw the ball hard, he does," Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said. "Being smart, going through progressions and throwing away when you have to, that'll keep you from interceptions."