4 true freshmen providing light at end of SEC’s quarterback tunnel
By John Crist
Published:
Back at Media Days in July, voters made LSU’s Brandon Harris a preseason third-team All-SEC selection at quarterback.
That’s right, Brandon Harris. The same Brandon Harris who seemed to single-handedly be holding back the Tigers offensively. The same Brandon Harris who completed 6-of-19 passes in last year’s 30-16 loss at Alabama.
The same Brandon Harris who started the 2016 campaign by laying an egg at neutral-site Lambeau Field — sorry, “neutral-site” Lambeau Field considering the opponent — against Wisconsin with 2 interceptions. The same Brandon Harris who started 1-of-4 for 8 yards at home against Jacksonville State(!) before being benched.
The same Brandon Harris who hasn’t thrown a pass since for the Bayou Bengals and, assuming all the voodoo worked, never will again.
According to the print, radio and television people who cover the best conference in America for a living and are the conduit to you, the fans, that Brandon Harris was the third-best QB available during the voting process.
That was the state of the game’s most important position coming into the season. There was Chad Kelly of Ole Miss, who was unquestionably — at least back then — the premier passer in the league. There was Joshua Dobbs of Tennessee, who was limited in terms of arm talent but made up the difference with running ability.
Neither Kelly nor Dobbs will be back in 2017. Both disappointed to some degree as seniors, battling injuries and ineffectiveness.
However, somewhat miraculously, there appears to be light at the end of this very long, very dark tunnel. Four true freshman signal callers were at the controls in Week 11, and all bring hope for the future.
Alabama’s Jalen Hurts has been a revelation and taken the Crimson Tide to a new level — not that they needed it — with his dual-threat abilities. Georgia’s Jacob Eason has a Howitzer attached to his right shoulder. South Carolina’s Jake Bentley is long on moxie. Ole Miss’s Shea Patterson might be the next Johnny Football.
The future is now under center in the SEC. We can only hope that Brandon Harris is comfortably, mercifully in the past.
the killer
In their storied history, the Tide had never seen a player throw for 300 yards and run for 100 more in the same game.
Hurts became the first to do it Saturday against Mississippi State, completing 28-of-37 passes for 347 yards, running 11 times for an even 100 and accounting for 5 total touchdowns. ‘Bama crushed the Bulldogs as a result, 51-3.
Quickly wrestling the starting job away this year from redshirt freshman Blake Barnett — who was more heavily recruited, by the way — Hurts has answered the scariest question in college football: “How good could a Nick Saban-coached team be if he ever had a difference maker at quarterback.” Well, borderline-unbeatable good.
Like Hannibal Lecter, Hurts does what he does with his pulse never getting above 85. This son of a coach is positively unflappable.
the prototype
Like Hurts, Eason took over for a less-effective QB with more experience — in this case, Greyson Lambert — in a hurry.
But unlike Hurts, Eason has been asked to carry too much of the offensive load. While Hurts is surrounded by the most talented roster in the country by leaps and bounds, Georgia is rebuilding a bit under first-year coach Kirby Smart.
The blocking up front hasn’t been consistent. The running game hasn’t lived up to the hype. The receiving corps hasn’t picked up the slack. Nevertheless, Eason beat Missouri with a last-minute TD pass — one of the throws of the year in the conference — and would’ve done the same to Tennessee if not for a hundred-to-one Hail Mary.
With better protection and bigger targets, Eason could deliver lightning bolts from the pocket like a red and black-clad Zeus.
the kid
You’ve probably heard already that Bentley should still be in high school. He sped up graduation in order to get to Columbia a year earlier.
When South Carolina began its season, coach Will Muschamp ping-ponged back and forth between low-floor senior Perry Orth and high-ceiling freshman Brandon McIlwain. The Gamecocks went nowhere fast with either of them.
So in Week 8, fresh off a bye and with seven extra days to prepare, Muschamp gave Bentley — not even the most heralded passer in his own recruiting class; that was McIlwain — a shot. He won his first three starts and put together a TD-to-INT ratio of 6-to-0 in the process. The youngster made all the throws Orth and McIlwain couldn’t.
There’s no shame in Saturday’s loss at Florida. The Gators have chomped their fair share of QBs. Bentley never quit, though.
the clone
With Kelly sidelined due to a torn knee, Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze rolled the dice and pulled the redshirt off Patterson’s back.
The No. 1 quarterback for the class of 2016 — even ahead of the aforementioned Eason — Patterson paid immediate dividends with a come-from-behind victory at Texas A&M. He put a handful of “Wow!” plays on tape, too.
It took a while for Freeze to open up the playbook, but when it was all said and done, Patterson was 25-of-42 passing for 338 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. When you couple his frenetic footwork with a similar body type, he drew immediate comparisons to former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.
A lot of Rebels fans thought this was foolish. Patterson quickly silenced them. Now they can’t wait for more of the same next week at Vanderbilt.
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.
John Crist is an award-winning contributor to Saturday Down South.
