The college football coaching carousel continues to turn in the third week of December, but its pace has certainly slowed since the beginning of the month.

Many of the coaches looking to change jobs or take a step up in their careers have already done so this offseason, yet many of the SEC’s top coordinators and assistant coaches maintained their current jobs in favor of making a move (at least as of Friday morning).

However, that doesn’t mean they’ll be assistants forever.

Here’s our list of the SEC’s five assistants with the brightest head coaching futures down the road:

Mike Bobo

Bobo has been an offensive assistant with Georgia since 2001, and he’s served as offensive coordinator of the Bulldogs since 2006. His offenses have ranked among the best in the SEC since that time, and he’s coached a number of all-conference quarterbacks while in Athens, including David Greene, Matthew Stafford and Aaron Murray.

The Bulldogs O.C. recently interviewed for the head coaching job at Colorado State, a vacancy created, ironically enough, by Jim McElwain’s move from CSU to take over as the head coach of one of Georgia’s biggest rivals: Florida. No announcement has been made regarding whether Bobo has been offered the job or whether he’ll take it, but it absolutely confirms Bobo is already drawing interest from FBS teams as a legitimate head coaching candidate.

It won’t be much longer before the 40 year old Bobo accepts his first head coaching job, and if his next offense is as successful as some of his offenses have been at UGA, he’ll have a great career as a head man in the FBS.

Lane Kiffin

Kiffin is unique to the rest of this list in that he’s already served as a head coach at both the college and NFL levels. Although those head coaching stints did not amount to much success, Kiffin does remain one of the SEC’s most appealing assistants when considering candidates for future head coaching vacancies.

The fact that he knows what to expect when taking his next head coaching job gives Kiffin a huge advantage over unproven assistants, no matter how touted they may be. And although he left plenty of room for improvement as head coach at Tennessee and Southern Cal, he’s also learned a great deal about coaching and handling himself in the public eye after just one year on Nick Saban’s staff.

It’s clear Kiffin is capable of relating to his players and building a rapport in the locker room with his team. He’s a great recruiter and he comes from a family of successful coaches. He’ll get another shot as a head coach in the FBS, and it’s fair to expect he’ll handle the job much better this time around.

Rhett Lashlee

Lashlee is the young, trendy offensive coordinator of the Auburn Tigers, and it’s only a matter of time before he’s considered for a head coaching gig somewhere at the Division I level. He’s spent the last three years serving as Gus Malzahn’s O.C. at Arkansas State and Auburn, and although Malzahn has a lot of say in how the offense operates, the success of the Tigers spread rushing attack can also be credited to Lashlee’s coaching.

Lashlee is only 31 years old, but he’s already making waves on college football’s coaching landscape. The player who once served as Malzahn’s starting quarterback at the high school level knows the ins and outs of one of the most unorthodox and successful offensive schemes in college football. Teams from around the country will eventually want to enlist Lashlee as the man to bring Malzahn’s offense to their program.

Lashlee may still be too young to take a head coaching job in a power conference, and he said earlier this month he’s not in the market for a head coaching job at this time, but somewhere down the line the timing will be right for Lashlee to make the leap.

Kirby Smart

Smart has been one of the most highly coveted coordinators in all of college football the last handful of years, and he’s pulled his name from consideration for a number of head coaching jobs in that time.

Many schools consider Smart to be one of the most prepared coordinators to make the leap to the head coaching ranks, but it has become apparent that Smart is in no rush to make a move from his job as the D.C. at Alabama. He’s the second-highest paid coordinator in all of college football at $1.35 million annually (behind only Virginia Tech D.C. Bud Foster), and he’s been a part of an unprecedented run of success at Alabama on Saban’s coaching staff.

One would have to imagine Smart will eventually pull the trigger on a head coaching vacancy, but his setup at Alabama is sweet enough to allow him to wait for the perfect opportunity at the perfect time. Whenever that time comes, he’ll bring one of the great defensive minds in all of football to one lucky school, and after years of serving under college football’s premier head coach he could have some tricks up his sleeves when he finally assumes a head coaching role.

Jake Spavital

Spavital is one of the more creative offensive minds in college football, and although he only has two years of experience as a coordinator at Texas A&M, he has all the makings of a future head coach. His Aggie offense has led the SEC in passing in each of his two seasons in College Station, and he’s coached three different quarterbacks in that time without forfeiting much explosiveness in the passing game.

At 29 years old Spavital is among the youngest coordinators in the country, and it’s fair to say he needs a bit more seasoning before making the jump from coordinator to head coach. Nevertheless, he is a great recruiter on the offensive side of the ball and he has built great relationships with many of his players, and those skills should translate whenever he takes over as the head coach of a program.

Spavital still has plenty of learning to do, but he’s already on the radar of most college football programs, making it likely he’ll be considered for future head coach openings around the country. If he continues on the path he’s been on since he began his career as a grad assistant in 2009, he’ll finish his climb to the top sooner than later.