Three years ago, I asked the question.

Will we ever see an SEC quarterback class quite like the one that went into the 2020 NFL Draft?

After all, it had Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa and — don’t judge me for this — Jake Fromm. At the time, it was historic. It was the first time since the AFL/NFL merger in 1967 that saw the SEC have 2 quarterbacks drafted in Round 1. It ended the SEC’s drought of 0 first-round quarterbacks from 2015-19, too.

Three years later, I’ve got an answer to that question.

Yes, and it’s happening in 2023.

Actually, the SEC’s 2023 quarterback class looks like a lock to surpass the 2020 group. Bryce Young, Anthony Richardson and Will Levis are all expected to be picked in the front half of the first round. If that happens, it would mark the first occasion in which the SEC had 3 quarterbacks drafted in the first round. Three weeks away from the NFL Draft with the NFL Combine and pro days in the rearview mirror, it’d be stunning to see anything but that scenario play out.

But wait, there’s more!

In Todd McShay’s latest mock draft, which came out on Tuesday, here was where he had SEC quarterbacks coming off the board:

  • No. 2 Houston Texans — Bryce Young, Alabama
  • No. 3 Indianapolis Colts (trade) — Anthony Richardson, Florida
  • No. 14 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (trade) — Will Levis, Kentucky
  • No. 23 Minnesota Vikings — Hendon Hooker, Tennessee

That’s right. Hooker is now also in that Round 1 discussion. The former Tennessee star continues to be a hot topic of conversation as he works his way back from a torn ACL. McShay offered up this explanation for including Hooker in his mock draft for the first time:

“The Vikings have quietly been putting in some work on this QB class. Despite the team’s 13-win season, Kirk Cousins was just 23rd in QBR at 49.9. Plus, he’s turning 35 this summer and will be entering the final year of his deal. Sitting behind Cousins for a year to learn the pro game and fully recover from a torn ACL could be the perfect setup for Hooker, who led the nation in QBR last season before the injury (89.5).

Hooker is accurate to every level of the field but really thrives throwing deep. Some scouts might be wary of drafting a 25-year-old QB, but he has the talent to lead an NFL offense. I’ve talked to folks with a few teams that even have Hooker above Levis on their internal boards. He has interviewed really well this spring, and the tape is phenomenal…”

So let me get this straight.

There’s a chance that we see not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 SEC quarterbacks in Round 1?!? Mercy. If you thought the conference flexed about having 4 consecutive national champs, buddy, brace yourselves for the idea of 4 SEC quarterbacks in the first round.

Here are all the instances with a conference having 3 quarterbacks selected in the first round since the merger:

  • 2012 Big 12
    • No. 2, Robert Griffin III, Baylor
    • No. 8, Ryan Tannehill, A&M
    • No. 22, Brandon Weeden, Oklahoma State

Yep. That’s the entire list.

Go figure that the year the Big 12 did that, it was A&M’s last year in the conference. It’s hard to flex about conference strength when one of the teams involved is bolting for greener pastures.

In other words, no conference has been set up better to flex about its quarterback prospects quite like what the SEC is gearing up for. After the decade that preceded the aforementioned 2020 NFL Draft, it’s fair to call this a total 180.

In the entire 2010s decade, here are the SEC quarterbacks who were selected in Round 1:

  • 2010: No. 25, Tim Tebow, Florida
  •  2011: No. 1, Cam Newton, Auburn
  • 2014: No. 22, Johnny Manziel, A&M

That’s wild. In the 2020s, the SEC already matched that total with Burrow, Tagovailoa and Mac Jones in 2021. All signs point to the SEC matching its entire 2010s total in first-round quarterbacks in 2023 alone.

So what’s at the root of that turnaround? And is it sustainable?

Coaching, really. It helps when places like Georgia, LSU and Tennessee have all gone through pretty drastic offensive transformations in the past few years. And while UGA is still waiting on a first-round QB to end the drought that dates to Matthew Stafford in 2009, schools like Alabama fully embracing a pass-first offense already yielded 2 first-round quarterbacks in the 2020s. That number will go to 3 when Young inevitably comes off the board somewhere in the first few picks.

Much like how the SEC only had 1 first-round quarterback in the next 2 years after the historic 2020 class, it’s fair to expect that the conference isn’t about to start cranking out multiple first-round quarterbacks on a yearly basis. Nobody does.

But unlike a few years ago, it now feels silly to wonder if the SEC can ever replicate such a historic year for its quarterbacks in the NFL Draft. Perhaps it’s the byproduct of the increasing similarities between college and NFL offenses. With how similar they’ve become, sure, why not default to the conference with the most elite teams and the most NFL Draft prospects? It makes sense.

It also makes sense to say that the SEC is in the midst of a golden age with its quarterback play, both at the collegiate level and how it’s being evaluated at the NFL level.

There’s no question about that.