After an unprecedented spate of quarterback transfers, as well as the loss of Dak Prescott, Brandon Allen and Jake Coker, the SEC entered spring practice with a high degree of uncertainty at the position.

That uncertainty didn’t last at most schools. We believe we know the starter at nine schools with at least a 90 percent degree of certainty. And we have an idea that Alabama (Cooper Bateman) and Georgia (Greyson Lambert) may go with experience ahead of potential.

There’s still intrigue at the position. We don’t have a good grasp on the position battles at Auburn, Mississippi State and South Carolina. And waiting for the Tide and Bulldogs to name a starter will remain interesting.

But we learned more than we thought from the spring practices. Here are our predictions to start each team’s season opener at quarterback.

Alabama: Cooper Bateman

Confidence Level: 65 percent

The Skinny: Despite losing the starter for three consecutive seasons, this roster arguably contains more quarterback talent than any Alabama team ever. Bateman (No. 4 pro-style, ’13), David Cornwell (No. 4 pro-style, ’14), Blake Barnett (No. 2 pro-style, ’14) and Jalen Hurts (No. 3 dual-threat, ’15) all were touted prep quarterbacks.

The player who eventually starts for Alabama probably won’t win the job with his arm strength or running ability. The roster includes multiple players who rank as good to great at both skills. The Tide need someone who is going to take care of the football and avoid the big mistake. And it’s always this way at the position, but especially in Tuscaloosa, there’s a big leadership burden, as the starter is a figurehead of sorts.

From these eyes, Cornwell has played himself out of the race this spring. Hurts is a true freshman and although he did some exciting things this spring, I don’t see Nick Saban taking such a risk on the player who may be least developed in terms of arm talent. Hurts may have to hope for some goal line packages built for him. That leaves Barnett as the main challenger, and thus far it seems like he’s still got some physical and mental growing to do. Can he close the gap?

Arkansas: Austin Allen

Confidence Level: 99 percent

The Skinny: Before spring practice, I categorized this as a quarterback “competition.” An Arkansas beat writer politely explained to me via Twitter that even entering spring, it didn’t seem much like a competition. That proved true as coach Bret Bielema named Allen the starter even before the spring game.

“Raw talent” is a label many are using for Allen, whose brother started the last three seasons for the Razorbacks. Despite his inexperience, it appears that Arkansas coordinator Dan Enos will be able to maintain the rejuvenated passing game he brought to Fayetteville in 2015.

Allen has ticked all the boxes out of spring ball. But he’ll still have something to prove in the regular season.

Auburn: Sean White

Confidence Level: 40 percent

The Skinny: Jeremy Johnson, John Franklin III or even Woody Barrett could win this job, for all I can tell. I don’t have a good read on what coach Gus Malzahn may be thinking here.

Johnson didn’t work out last year and it doesn’t seem like the 6-foot-5, 240-pound ball of potential has learned how to read defenses or avoid head-scratching throws. Franklin III appears to be an excellent runner, but can he manage the deep ball with any degree of accuracy? White seems like a bit of a square peg for a round hole — he’s not a runner, but he’s probably the best passer of the group. And Barrett would need to pick up Malzahn’s offense in a few short weeks in order to start the season opener.

This should be a critical decision for Malzahn, and I don’t expect he’ll make it until late August. I suspect the fall scrimmages will be important factors in that choice. This competition seems far from decided, and the Tigers better hope someone steps up.

Florida: Luke Del Rio

Confidence Level: 95 percent

The Skinny: Coach Jim McElwain made a strong bet on Del Rio, a two-time transfer and a walk-on, when he decided not to give Will Grier the hard sell to return midway through the ’16 season. In retrospect, Grier played excellent ball in the first half of ’15 before getting popped for performance enhancing drugs. And Florida hasn’t experienced good quarterback play for years prior to that.

But the spring game gave us all a better understanding of why McElwain made that bet. Del Rio wouldn’t blow away NFL scouts with a pro day type workout. But he operated the offense at an expert level in that scrimmage, making smart decisions with the ball, accurate throws and demonstrating an understanding of where to throw the ball.

Even better, he still has three years of eligibility remaining. Which is good, because true freshman Feleipe Franks looked far from ready to compete for the job. And true freshman Kyle Trask spent most of high school as a backup. Both of them need more time in the incubator.

Georgia: Greyson Lambert

Confidence Level: 60 percent

The Skinny: Any doubt that this is the most high-profile SEC competition ended during G-Day, when Jacob Eason delighted the crowd of 93,000. Kirby Smart is going to have to do some work getting out the message that it’s unrealistic to expect Eason to be a national championship quarterback immediately as a true freshman.

With Nick Chubb and Sony Michel available in the backfield and the conservative coaching combination of Smart and offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, the feeling here is that Lambert will start the season against a North Carolina team that won 11 regular-season games last year.

Eason benefitted from playing in a no-contact jersey against a vanilla defense comprised mostly of second- and third-team players. In other words, he faced none of the most difficult parts of starting in the SEC as a true freshman. So while it’s obvious he possesses the best arm on the team — and may eventually be one of the best quarterbacks in the conference — it still should be a mild upset if he clambers from third to first on the depth chart by September.

Kentucky: Drew Barker

Confidence Level: 99 percent

The Skinny: JUCO transfer Stephen Johnson is a skinny, fleet-footed kid who managed to slice through the first-team defense pretty thoroughly despite requiring only a two-hand touch to be downed during the spring game.

Still, as soon as Patrick Towles transferred away from Lexington, this was going to be Barker’s team. After some immaturity early in his UK career, Barker is making an earnest effort to transform into a leader. Boom Williams, Jojo Kemp and others should back him up with a strong running game. And if new offensive coordinator Eddie Gran can do something about all the receivers with stone hands, Barker’s job will be easier than we’ve seen a Kentucky QB face in several years.

Back to Johnson: It may serve UK well if the coaches find a way to get him some snaps with the way he runs the football.

LSU: Brandon Harris

Confidence Level: 95 percent

The Skinny: This job was more or less sealed when (before?) Anthony Jennings announced his intention to transfer.

LSU threw the ball with much greater frequency during spring practice, and hoisted out former Purdue quarterback Danny Etling as a stick to push Harris. Whether it’s moving coordinator Cam Cameron from the booth to the field during games or allowing new receiver coach Dameyune Craig to work with the quarterbacks, there’s a full-force scramble to make Harris better.

The Tigers don’t need Harris to be an All-SEC quarterback. He’s playing alongside arguably the SEC’s best offensive line, Heisman Trophy candidate Leonard Fournette in the backfield, an athletic group of receivers and an exciting defense. Harris’ main job is to take care of the football against lesser opponents and occasionally make big plays downfield against teams like Alabama and Florida.

Given that this is Harris’ third season in Baton Rouge, and that the team is depending on his development to such an extent, it’s reasonable to assume at least marginal progress from what was an average season in ’15.

Mississippi State: Nick Fitzgerald

Confidence Level: 35 percent

The Skinny: This may be the most maddening quarterback competition to predict in the SEC. Some wrote off Damien Williams before the spring, but he arguably did the best job of guiding the offense and taking care of the football. Nick Tiano, a redshirt freshman, was the biggest unknown entering spring, but he’s flashed big-play ability.

Either of those two players could inject themselves into the conversation when the real decision-making time arrives, along with Elijah Staley.

I’m still going to predict Nick Fitzgerald, although without a high degree of confidence. Fitzgerald played very well in the 2015 spring game and played in eight games last year. He also attempted the most passes of the four quarterbacks this spring, with the caveat that he also threw the most interceptions in the team’s three scrimmages.

No one has won this job yet. But with a better fall camp, Fitzgerald is in position to claim it.

Missouri: Drew Lock

Confidence Level: 95 percent

The Skinny: New coach Barry Odom and coordinator Josh Heupel have yet to declare Lock the starter, keeping alive Marvin Zanders. But the dismissal of Maty Mauk and Eddie Printz’s decision to transfer are what escalated Zanders from fourth team to in the competition.

Lock looked strong during spring practice — much like he did in fall practice in 2015. He’ll have to find a way to transfer that confidence and comfort from the practice field to actual games. Even with the offensive issues surrounding him, he didn’t look ready for the pressure of real games when Mauk’s off-field issues forced him into action in ’15.

Zanders can’t be dismissed yet. He seems like a hard-nosed player, and his running and improvisational abilities were familiar to Mizzou during Mauk’s time in the program. Still, it would be a shock to see anyone other than Lock behind center at West Virginia on Sept. 3.

Ole Miss: Chad Kelly

Confidence Level: 99 percent

The Skinny: Kelly’s absence this spring gave Ole Miss a great opportunity to jump-start Shea Patterson’s development. The No. 1 pro-style quarterback in the 2016 class, he’s facing much different circumstances than his peer Jacob Eason. While Patterson reportedly looked great for a true freshman, there’s not a chance he overtakes Chad Kelly as the team’s starter unless Kelly gets hurt again.

The big question for Kelly is whether he can again chase 4,000 yards and compete for a West Division title without Laquon Treadwell and Cody Core. The Rebels are very deep at receiver, but must replace left tackle Laremy Tunsil — likely with true freshman Greg Little.

South Carolina: Brandon McIlwain

Confidence Level: 35 percent

The Skinny: The quarterback position in Columbia, S.C., is such a cluster that I wrote this section before making my prediction and confidence level because I honestly had no inkling off the top of my head.

Perry Orth and Lorenzo Nunez each missed the spring game due to injury. Nunez mostly is an athlete playing quarterback and Orth may be the team’s best passer, but neither are going to compete for All-SEC honors any time soon.

Brandon McIlwain got plenty of reps as a true freshman and early enrollee. His running ability seems to fit well in coordinator Kurt Roper’s system. Connor Mitch started two games last year before suffering his own injuries. He did nothing to inspire Gamecocks fans to hope he seizes the job this year.

Perhaps the most intriguing player is Jake Bentley, son of new South Carolina assistant coach Bobby Bentley. He plans to skip his final year of high school and enroll.

The fact that a high school junior who has never practiced with the Gamecocks is a legitimate part of the quarterback competition should be a statement in itself.

Tennessee: Joshua Dobbs

Confidence Level: 99 percent

The Skinny: Quinten Dormady is looking more and more like a viable replacement for Dobbs after the ’16 season, though one suspects that Jarrett Guarantano will make it an honest competition for that role when he arrives this summer.

Dobbs may be a sure thing as Tennessee’s starter and likely as the best running quarterback in the SEC. But he’s got to get better at going through his progressions and throwing accurately downfield. That may have been the one missing element to last year’s UT team. Get that right this fall and Tennessee could find itself playing for championships.

Texas A&M: Trevor Knight

Confidence Level: 99 percent

The Skinny: Jake Hubenak started the bowl game against Louisville, played competent football and then stayed in College Station even as Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray went elsewhere. Still, coach Kevin Sumlin broke from usual protocol and named Trevor Knight, a recent arrival, as the starter after spring practice.

That’s an entertaining development for a number of reasons. From the outside, it seems that Sumlin is trying to be a more assertive and decisive head coach this year. Also, Hubenak seems to be an infinitely more likable backup than we’ve seen in College Station the last few years — both from a personality standpoint and a skill standpoint. Texas A&M wouldn’t need to panic if the team found itself in his hands again at some point this year.

Knight may never be the quarterback who shredded Alabama for 348 yards and 4 touchdowns during the 2014 Sugar Bowl — at least not on an every-game basis. But the Aggies don’t need a superhero, especially not with Christian Kirk, Josh Reynolds, Speedy Noil and others out wide. He and Noel Mazzone both are new, but Knight is a college veteran and Mazzone has been here before, so many times. Expect a bunch of quick-hit, easy throws that allow those wideouts to make plays after the catch, mixed with some effective runs by Knight.

Vanderbilt: Kyle Shurmur

Confidence Level: 90 percent

The Skinny: The quarterback position has been a disaster since Derek Mason arrived in Nashville. The team’s quarterbacks spent 2014 playing hot potato due to both injury and poor performance. The coaching staff came across as indecisive and the offense as unstable.

With that narrative, Vandy hired Andy Ludwig as offensive coordinator prior to last season. The ‘Dores exited spring thinking that they’d found a starter in Patton Robinette, who promptly quit the sport in favor of concentrating on grad school. That led to more instability at the position.

Shurmur threw 103 passes during the second half of last season as a 6-foot-4 true freshman, giving Vanderbilt fans hope that he’d become the quarterback of the future. After what seemed like a genuine competition this spring, Shurmur finally managed to pull away and will enter the fall as a heavy favorite to start once again.