South Florida All-Time Touchdown Pass Leaders: Who’s The Best?

The University of South Florida football team began play in 1997. The Bulls are part of the NCAA and play in the Football Bowl Subdivision and the American Conference, where they've had mixed results over the years.

South Florida has an overall record of 175-160 and a bowl record of 8-4. USF won its only division title in 2016. The team played well in the 2000s, hovered around .500 in the 2010s, played extremely ugly football in the early 2020's, but lately have been trending up and are now back over .500.

Historically, the Bulls have had some elite quarterbacks. Let's take a closer look at the all-time passing touchdown leaders.

The most productive quarterbacks that played for the Bulls include:

Flowers was a dynamic quarterback at USF and is considered one of the best players in Bulls football history. He also has school records in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. In 2016, Flowers was the first player in USF history to get over 2,000 passing yards and over 1,000 rushing yards in a single season.

In that 2016 season, he was named Offensive Player of the Year. Flowers didn't get drafted in the 2018 NFL Draft, and eventually signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, as he converted to running back. However, he mostly remained in the practice squad.

Blackwell played for USF from 1999-2002 and had a few passing records. His career record with the Bulls was 30-12, as he helped them get their first nine-win season in 2002. Eventually, Blackwell did get to spend time with the New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL, but never played in a regular season game.

He also played in the American Football League for the Tampa Bay Storm and the Canadian Football League for the Montreal Alouettes. His best post-college achievement was coaching 20 high school players to Division I scholarships: three of them went on to become first-round NFL picks.

Daniels played at USF from 2008-2012. He had the second-best total yards in the Big East and was good at both football and basketball. Daniels eventually got drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round of the 2013 NFL Draft.

He spent time with six different teams in the NFL, and earned a Super Bowl ring as a backup quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks in 2013. He is now back with USF, where he is an Assistant Director of Development/Community and Donor Engagement.

Grothe was considered one of the best players in USF football program history and was inducted into the USF Athletic Hall of Fame in 2024. He is the all-time leader in total offense in the Big East conference with 10,875 yards.

Grothe got the Bulls their first-ever bowl victory in 2006 and a career total of two bowl wins. Grothe was a dual-threat QB and spent some time in the UFL, CFL, and Arena Football.

Brown had a record-breaking season for the Bulls in 2023. In that year, he broke the USF single-season passing yards record and became the first player in program history to pass 3,000 passing yards with 3,292. He was another dual-threat QB and really enjoyed running the ball.

In that 2023 season, he rushed for 809 yards and 11 touchdowns, while some of his stats put him in elite company with the eventual Heisman winner Jayden Daniels. Overall, Brown was considered a big-time leader for the program and was known for his leadership skills and the positive vibes he had with his teammates.

Barnhardt played for the Bulls from 1997-1998. He was the program's first-ever quarterback, earning a 13-9 career record when he started games. In those two seasons as a starter, he threw for 4,138 yards and 27 touchdowns. Barnhardt gave the new football program some good general direction.

He went on to do some coaching in his post-college days. A fun fact about Barnhardt is that he was actually drafted into Major League Baseball by the Boston Red Sox in the eighth round in 1994. He played some summer ball in the minor leagues, but eventually shifted his focus back to football.

Among these memorable USF quarterbacks, the player that stood tall among the rest was Quinton Flowers. He had dual-threat skills and ranked high in passing and rushing categories. He was inducted into the USF Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022, officially cementing his impact on the football program.

Flowers was recognized by ESPN as one of the top college football players and made the top 50 players list in 2017. He had a good combination of records and key moments to make him the historical face of the USF football program.