It was a relatively down year for quarterbacks in the SEC last season. Ole Miss’ Chad Kelly had the best year of them all as far as total passing yards go, and that was only good enough for 10th in the country. He, along with Dak Prescott and Brandon Allen, carried the torch for the conference in 2015.

Kelly will return for his senior season in Oxford, leading a small group of returning signal-callers that should beef up that position across the board in the SEC for 2016.

Here’s a look at the SEC’s top five quarterback situations for next season:

  1. Alabama – It’s not so much that the Tide has a plethora of experienced talent coming back, but rather what OC Lane Kiffin has been able to do with what he’s had to work with. In the previous two seasons, Kiffin has been able to mold a new quarterback into a system which has proven to be among the most successful in the country. There’s no reason to believe this year would be any different. Cooper Bateman will be in his junior season and five-star redshirt freshman Blake Barnett appear to be the frontrunners for the starting job. The Tide also brings in Jalen Hurt from its most recent No. 1 recruiting class, and redshirt sophomore David Cornwell will get a look as well.
  1. Auburn – The old cliché “if you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have one” rang true last season for Auburn. The Tigers return two quarterbacks that passed for more than 1,000 yards in 2015. Jeremy Johnson (1,053 yards, 10 TDs) will be a senior while Sean White (1,167 yards, 1 TD) will be a sophomore. If one of the two could emerge as the everyday starter, it would lend some consistency to the Auburn attack. However, JUCO transfer John Franklin III, the nation’s top JUCO athlete, could compete for that starting spot as well. The Tigers are deep at the position with redshirt freshman Tyler Harris and class of 2016 recruit Woody Barrett.
  1. Tennessee – If we were grading solely on the starting quarterback, the Vols would be further up the chart. But these are the top five quarterback situations and that changes things a little bit. True, Joshua Dobbs is second in the SEC among returning quarterbacks with 2,291 yards and 15 TDs in 2015, if something should happen to him, Tennessee would face a big unknown. Freshman Quinten Dormady threw for 181 yards and a touchdown last season and the Vols bring Jarrett Guarantano, in the nation’s No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the recruiting class of 2016. That inexperience puts the Vols’ quarterback situation on rather shaky ground.
  1. Georgia – Greyson Lambert returns for his senior season at Athens. He is coming off of a pretty efficient 2015 campaign in which he threw for 1,959 yards and 12 touchdowns with just two interceptions for the season. Lambert should be among the SEC’s top quarterbacks in 2016. He is backed up by Brice Ramsey, who added 249 passing yards and a touchdown during the 2015 season. But the Bulldogs also pulled Jacob Eason from the recruiting class of 2016. Some feel that Eason is the nation’s top pro-style quarterback. The Bulldogs’ quarterback situation looks good heading into the 2016 season and beyond.
  1. Ole Miss – Kelly threw for an SEC-best 4,042 yards and 31 touchdowns. The Rebels could be in the same boat as Tennessee in that an unfortunate injury could make this a very rough season in Oxford. Ryan Buchanan is the backup but with very limited playing time. He threw for 96 yards and two touchdowns during the 2015 season. But the Rebels did lure Shea Patterson to campus from the recruiting class of 2016. As with Georgia’s Eason, Patterson is regarded by some as the top pro-style quarterback coming out of high school this season. The Rebels have the conference’s top quarterback heading into the 2016 season and could also hold the future of the position in the SEC as well.