One thing that will keep me curious as recruiting continues in the Class of 2017 and beyond is what, if any, impact the SEC’s reputation will have on quarterbacks.

The SEC absolutely kills it when recruiting defensive linemen, and not every quarterback is eager to commit to an SEC program and look at an Auburn front four that features Carl Lawson, Montravius Adams and Byron Cowart.

Especially when the Big 12 is having 50-49 shootouts weekly.

Even when we look at the SEC’s decade of dominance from the 2006 season to now the only championship-winning quarterback to really make a next-level impact is Cam Newton. A.J. McCarron is trying and Tim Tebow played for a couple of years.

There are a lot of good quarterback coaches in the conference. Florida head coach Jim McElwain is an excellent quarterback developer, and say what you want about Lane Kiffin as a head coach, but he’s always been respected as a quarterback teacher.

Ironically one player on the QB commit list, Jake Fromm, dumped Kiffin and Alabama in a recruiting flip to his home-state school in Georgia. A few years from now we’ll see if he made the smart move.

Seven quarterbacks in the 2017 class have committed to SEC schools:

Name Commitment Stars Ranking
Tate Martell Texas A&M 5 1st (Dual Threat)
Jake Fromm Georgia 5 3rd (Pro Style)
Jake Allen Florida 4 9th (Pro Style)
Keytaon Thompson Mississippi State 4 9th (Dual Threat)
Mac Jones Kentucky 3 19th (Pro Style)
Daulton Hyatt Arkansas 3 26th (Pro Style)
Walker Wood Kentucky 3 27th (Dual Threat)

If a team hasn’t received a verbal from a top quarterback prospect by now, there is a good chance they won’t.

Using the 247 Sports composite rankings, 17 of the top 20-ranked pro-style quarterbacks are already committed. The nation’s top-rated pro-style quarterback, Dylan McCaffrey of Littleton, Colo., is committed to Michigan. He is Christian McCaffrey’s younger brother, though Stanford reportedly never offered him a scholarship.

The dual-threat side is a little better as only 10 of the top-20 ranked prospects are committed.

Martell, the A&M commit, is the No. 1 guy and said he’s taking visits.

My favorite part of that tweet? He put up a list of schools that he wanted to hear from or offer him. Good news for Tennessee and South Carolina as they made the cut.

The top uncommitted quarterback prospect in this class is four-star Tua Tagovailoa from Honolulu.

Over the past two weeks Tagovailoa has been to Alabama twice, Auburn and Ole Miss, which shows that despite the distance factor, top SEC programs have incredible reach.