There were a dozen high-school quarterbacks featured on the show ‘QB1: Beyond the Lights’, which streamed on Netflix for its first three seasons and concluded its fourth season on Tubi last year.
Every single player featured eventually played FBS football, with exactly half being drafted by an NFL team or getting a chance on a professional roster.
All of the quarterbacks were chosen because they were high-level prep prospects, which does not exactly mean future success.
However, the spotlight put on blue-chip football players typically makes for an interesting story.
Some of the show’s alumni are highly recognizable by NFL fans such as Bryce Young and Justin Fields, while others are likely known mostly by fans of the show.
Where are all of the players profiled on the show now? Here, Mail Sport breaks down each of their journeys since camera crews left below.
Bowers never made it big in college football despite appearing on the show during Season One
Season 1: Tayvon Bowers
Bowers was a prospect from Bishop McDevitt High School in Pennsylvania and was committed to Wake Forest at the time of the show’s filming.
After the season’s 2017 release, he played for the Demon Deacons for two seasons. His only FBS action came against FCS-level Towson. He was the quarterback for eight plays and handed the ball off to a runner on each of them.
Bowers then transferred to FCS-level Gardner Webb where in two seasons, he did not throw a touchdown pass.
He ended his college career playing in two FCS games, where he rushed for three yards.
Bowers’ passing stats are not any better. He completed three-of-five passes for 21 yards and did throw an interception.
What Bowers is up to now is unclear, but it is not football.
Fromm was the first person featured on the show to make it to the NFL after playing at Georgia
Season 1: Jake Fromm
Fromm had the best college and NFL career of anyone from the first season of the show. Fromm was the starter at Georgia from 2017-2019 and nearly led the Bulldogs to a national championship in his first year starting.
Fromm was portrayed in the backdrop of Houston County High School in Georgia, around two hours south of Atlanta.
He has not replicated his college success in the NFL however, starting as a fifth-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills.
Fromm was signed by the Giants from the Bills’ practice squad in December 2021 and saw action in a few games for the team.
After not being retained in New York, Fromm was signed to the Washington Commanders for parts of two seasons, but never appeared for the team in a game.
Fromm was teammates with another ‘QB1’ star, Season 2’s Sam Hartman, in Washington, but the former Georgia star was released by the team on Tuesday.
Martell maybe the most promising prospect the show ever saw, he never lived up to the hype
Season 1: Tate Martell
On paper, Martell was set up for the most success of anyone featured on Season One. He was the highest-ranked recruit. He was electric in high school. Only Martell could get in Martell’s way.
And that’s exactly what happened. He redshirted with Ohio State in 2017 and did not win the starting job in 2018, losing it to the late Dwayne Haskins, although he did appear in six games.
Martell then decided to pick a fight with Season Two cast member Justin Fields, posting to Twitter amid speculation the now-Pittsburgh Steeler would make the move from Georgia to Ohio State: ‘Word of advice: don’t swing and miss…especially not your second time.’
Less than two weeks after Fields made the move to Columbus, Martell entered the transfer portal himself.
He ended up at Miami, where he lost out on the starting job to redshirt freshman Jarren Williams and switched to wide receiver before switching back to quarterback.
After opting out in 2020, he played one final college season at UNLV in 2021. He barely played and retired from football in early 2022.
Martell is now an entrepreneur, as the owner of Trademark Enterprises, per his LinkedIn.
Fields was the first player featured on the show to be a first-round draft pick in the NFL
Season 2: Justin Fields
Here we have the first opening-weekend NFL starter on the list, and the only first-round draft pick from the show’s time on Netflix.
Fields was behind Season One’s Jake Fromm on the 2018 depth chart at Georgia, and transferred to Ohio State for the 2019 season, stealing the spotlight from Tate Martell.
Fields was 20-2 as a starter with the Buckeyes and propelled himself to become the No 11 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
The Chicago Bears made Fields their franchise quarterback for three seasons before landing the No 1 pick in this year’s draft. The Bears decided to draft Caleb Williams and send Fields packing to the Steelers.
Fields will serve as the backup to Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh as he hopes to become an NFL starter again.
Hartman had a lengthy college career and is attempting to make the Commanders roster
Season 2: Sam Hartman
Hartman played for six seasons in college, five of them at Wake Forest, starting from his freshman season. Hartman beat Season One’s Tayvon Bowers for the job the summer after graduating high school.
Hartman transferred to Notre Dame to help improve his eventual NFL Draft stock in 2023, but he still was undrafted in this year’s NFL Draft, eventually earning a free agent contract with the Washington Commanders.
Hartman’s addition led to the Commanders cutting Season One’s Jake Fromm.
Hartman is on the Commanders roster alongside No 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels, veteran Marcus Mariota, and Jeff Driskel.
Either Driskel or Hartman will not make the team’s 53-man roster for the regular season.
Re-al Mitchell was one of the stars of the show to never make it big in college football
Season 2: Re-al Mitchell
Rounding out Season Two is Mitchell, who also just finished his college career at FCS-level San Diego.
Mitchell was not the first member of his family to be featured on a television show. His mother was ‘Blaze’ on ‘American Gladiators’.
Mitchell did not finish his career as a quarterback, but switched to wide receiver before this season.
Mitchell started his college career at Iowa State and spent two years with the Cyclones before transferring to Temple.
After a solid start in Philadelphia, Mitchell again could not consistently find the field. He moved on again, this time to San Diego.
He was a ‘triple threat’ in his first season with the Toreros, playing as a quarterback, running back, and wide receiver.
According to his LinkedIn, Mitchell is now an aspiring psychologist.
Lengendre’s legacy is still being determined after transferring to Louisiana from Maryland
Season 3: Lance Lengendre
Kicking off the final season to air on Netflix with Lengendre, who is still an active college competitor.
At the time of his commitment to Maryland, Lengendre was a big deal for the Terrapins. An out-of-state, blue-chip quarterback coming to College Park was huge.
Then Maryland found Tualia Tagovailoa and he had the starting job on lock, leaving nowhere for Lengendre to play,
Lengendre transferred, which truly is a theme among many of the quarterbacks featured on the show, to Louisiana.
He is still listed on the Ragin’ Cajuns active roster as a wide receiver.
Spencer Rattler may be the quarterback whose legacy is most greatly tied to the show
Season 3: Spencer Rattler
Rattler made ‘QB1’ become relevant during this years NFL Draft. Due to his attitude on the show, teams saw that as the image of him. And he fell down draft boards before landing with the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round.
Rattler was the consensus No 1 quarterback in the country coming out of high school in 2019.
His first season in Norman, Rattler was the backup to current Philadelphia Eagles starter Jalen Hurts.
Ahead of the 2020 season, Rattler won the Sooners starting job and led Oklahoma to a Big 12 Championship.
Entering the 2021 season, and following in the footsteps of Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, Rattler had Heisman Trophy aspirations. That did not come close to happening as he was benched midway through the season in favor of Caleb Williams.
Turns out Fields was not the only quarterback to be supplanted by Williams on this list. Rattler transferred to South Carolina to finish his college career.
Scalzo did not have a chance to start at Kentucky and is hoping for the opportunity at Samford
Season 3: Nik Scalzo
Scalzo is still listed on the roster for FCS-level Samford heading into 2024. And by the show’s standards, Scalzo was not a highly rated quarterback.
Although he was committed to Kentucky, Scalzo was only one of three to appear on the show who was not a blue-chip prospect, which denotes a four- or five-star prospect according to recruiting services.
Scalzo never found the field at Kentucky, playing behind guys such as Will Levis in Lexington.
After the 2021 season and three years with the Wildcats, Scalzo found his way to Samford, where he has attempted one career college pass.
Young was the first Heisman Trophy winner and first-overall draft pick featured on the show
Season 4: Bryce Young
The only future Heisman Trophy winner to be featured on the show, and the only future first overall pick in the NFL Draft shown as well. Unless Deuce Hogan has one of the greatest revivals of the college career the sport has veer seen.
Young has been singled out for greatness since picking up his first Division-I offer from Texas Tech in June 2016.
He attended powerhouse Mater Dei High School in California and was as pristine a five-star prospect as the 2020 recruiting class had.
Then he sat behind Mac Jones, when he was actually good, at Alabama before taking charge himself and winning the Heisman Trophy in 2022.
He beat out good friend CJ Stroud to become the No 1 overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft and did not have a great rookie season with the Carolina Panthers, as the team finished 2-15.
Now, Young will have to help the worst team in the NFL get rid of that stigma.
Richardson had a stellar college career at Florida and is looking to replicate that with the Colts
Season 4: Anthony Richardson
Richardson shot up draft boards in 2023 after one year starting for one true years at Florida.
He backed up Kyle Trask and Emory Jones with the Gators before getting his chance in 2022.
Richardson’s 360-fake touchdown against Utah put him on the college football map and he never took his foot of the brakes, becoming the No 4 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, the third quarterback taken after Young and Stroud.
Richardson had an incredibly promising start to his rookie NFL season, but an AC joint sprain suffered in Week 5 ended his season.
Now, especially with his dual-threat ability, Richardson’s future ability is up in the air heading into his second season with the Indianapolis Colts.
Hogan will compete for the starting job at New Mexico State entering his senior season
Season 4: Deuce Hogan
Hogan has not lived up to the billing of his Season Four castmates, He’s still in college, enrolling at New Mexico State after two years riding the bench each at Iowa and Kentucky.
Hogan is looking to make his name in college football after going through the grind of Texas high school preps.
With a new head coach leading the Aggies, Tony Sanchez, Hogan could have a legitimate shot to start at an FBS program in his fifth season of college football.
To complete the trifecta of first-round NFL draft picks, Hogan would have to light up Conference USA in a way the league has rarely seen.
