Way-too-early quarterback projections for 2017 in the SEC West

Coming into 2016, there were five true freshman quarterbacks in the SEC alone rated higher than Alabama’s Jalen Hurts by recruiting services.

Shea Patterson of Ole Miss and Jacob Eason of Georgia were five-star prospects, while Feleipe Franks of Florida, Jarrett Guarantano of Tennessee and Brandon McIlwain of South Carolina were four-star signees.

Nevertheless, while the aforementioned passers dealt with various highs and lows — Franks and Guarantano redshirted — Hurts has taken the Crimson Tide to the next level with his dual-threat abilities. Not only has he guided ‘Bama to an undefeated record, but he was recently named the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year.

As the Tide continue to separate themselves from the rest of the league, most of their rivals have to play catch-up at the game’s most important position. Hurts will be at the controls in Tuscaloosa for at least two more seasons.

Here’s a snapshot of each team in the West division at QB for 2017. Program by program, is there reason for optimism or cause or concern?

Alabama

The Crimson Tide are forced to reload on both sides of the ball on an annual basis, but it looks like quarterback is secure for now.

Hurts has completed 65.3 percent of his passes and assembled a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 22-to-9, and he’s done so with a Hannibal Lecter-like calm — “his pulse never got above 85” — in the face of chaos.

While ‘Bama continually fed the ball to Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry in 2015, this year the ground game has become much more multiple. What’s made the Tide as dangerous as ever is Hurts when he decides to keep it on read-option calls. He gets to the edge in a flash and turns the corner in explosive fashion.

That being said, coach Nick Saban needs to settle on a backup. Blake Barnett, Cooper Bateman and David Cornwell have all transferred.

Arkansas

Another pleasant surprise under center in the SEC this year, Austin Allen took over for his older brother and exceeded expectations.

He finished the regular season as the third-rated passer in the conference, connecting on 61.4 percent of his throws and posting a TD-to-INT ratio of 23-to-12. In his first seven games, Allen (below) recorded multiple scores through the air.

Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

However, Allen appeared to hit the wall on the back end of the schedule. Losing three of his final five starts, he only fired 5 touchdowns against 6 picks. He also took a tremendous amount of punishment week after week — despite some pretty good blockers in front of him — that might have caught up to him in the end.

Even if Allen returns in 2017, his top three pass catchers don’t. Drew Morgan, Keon Hatcher and Jeremy Sprinkle are all out of eligibility.

Auburn

In Week 1 against Clemson, coach Gus Malzahn unveiled a three-headed monster at quarterback that failed spectacularly.

Fortunately, he turned away from both Jeremy Johnson and John Franklin III. He then handed the keys to Sean White, who ended up having the best passer efficiency rating in the conference for a good stretch of the season.

White has a high floor and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, but he also has a low ceiling and isn’t going to deliver very many highlight-reel plays. Malzahn’s offense tends to work best with a speed demon — Cam Newton, Nick Marshall, etc. — that can contribute as a runner and then make big throws over the top.

Even if White is the incumbent, JUCO transfer Jarrett Stidham has more arm talent. In one season at Baylor, he threw 12 TDs on only 109 attempts.

LSU

The Brandon Harris experiment mercifully came to an end. His lack of development contributed to Les Miles being shown the door.

Interim coach Ed Orgeron rolled with Danny Etling the rest of the way, and the Purdue transfer did enough to help Orgeron earn the job on a full-time basis. Etling will be a senior in 2017 and presumably lead the offense again.

That being said, the Tigers need to find their QB of the future — hiring offensive coordinator Matt Canada away from Pittsburgh is a good start — if Orgeron has any chance of modernizing an archaic system. The Bayou Bengals failed to sign a quarterback of note in either of the last two recruiting classes.

Four-star prospect Myles Brennan has been a bit wishy-washy lately, but the New Orleans native will likely head to Baton Rouge.

Ole Miss

Unquestionably, Chad Kelly was the premier player in the league taking snaps in shotgun formation when the season started.

At times, Kelly looked like a Heisman candidate and carved up — for a half or so, anyway — the likes of Florida State and Alabama. Still, he was at least partially responsible for the Rebels blowing leads due to sacks and turnovers.

Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Coach Hugh Freeze pulled the redshirt off Patterson (above) after Kelly tore his ACL, and Patterson paid immediate dividends with a come-from-behind victory at Texas A&M. He wasn’t able to carry that momentum into his next two starts, though. Losses to Vanderbilt and Mississippi State dropped the Rebs to 5-7 and out of bowl contention.

Needless to say, this is Patterson’s team. But with offensive coordinator Dan Werner now gone, the approach could be altered a bit.

Mississippi State

In his first start taking over for the legendary Dak Prescott, Nick Fitzgerald was benched after two series in an upset loss to South Alabama.

Yanked again two weeks later against LSU, Fitzgerald finally took firm grasp of the job in Week 4 and put up spectacular numbers the rest of the way. He’s tied for first in the SEC with 35 total touchdowns.

Fitzgerald is still somewhat limited as a passer, although he did go north of 300 yards through the air — topping out at 417 vs. Samford — on three occasions. Where he truly excelled was in the running game, as he’s third in the conference with 1,243 yards on the ground. He’s averaging an even 7 yards per carry.

It remains to be seen if Fitzgerald can become a more effective distributor from the pocket. But as a runner, he’s already a monster.

Texas A&M

With all the comings and goings at quarterback in College Station the last year or so, it’s hard to keep up with the depth chart.

In the end, Trevor Knight’s transfer from Oklahoma didn’t really get the Aggies anywhere. After debuting at No. 4 in the original College Football Playoff rankings, A&M lost three of four and fell out of the polls altogether.

It wasn’t all Knight’s fault, of course. He dealt with injuries down the stretch, plus he got less and less support from his teammates on the defensive side of the ball. When Knight was shelved, Jake Hubenak — another transfer, naturally — didn’t do much to suggest that he’s primed for a big senior campaign in 2017.

Three-star signee Nick Starkel redshirted as a freshman. Kellen Mond, a four-star commit for 2017, could be heard from, too.

John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.