SEC QB Power Rankings, Week 3: Austin Simmons is poised for a huge season at Mizzou
By Ethan Stone
Published:
It was another exciting week in the SEC, with several guys turning in electric performances. It’s safe to say there is plenty of talent in the SEC at the most-important position in sports.
Let’s rank some SEC quarterbacks. Check out previous rankings below!
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Week 2 |
16. KJ Jackson, Arkansas
Arkansas is beyond cooked.
KJ Jackson looked nowhere near prepared for Saturday night’s trip to Salt Lake City, and the game got so out of hand that AJ Hill entered in the 4th quarter already down multiple possessions. Utah players said after the game that there were obvious tells from the Arkansas offense, making it easy to guess the Razorbacks’ next move. That’s… not ideal entering Week 3 of the Ryan Silverfield era.
Silverfield confirmed Monday that Jackson will be Arkansas starter moving forward.
Last Week: 15
15. Jared Curtis, Vanderbilt
Finally! Clark Lea confirmed on Tuesday that Jared Curtis, a former 5-star and the No. 1 prospect in Vanderbilt football history, will be considered the Commodores starter moving forward. The Commodores don’t plan on playing 2 quarterbacks against NC State, per Lea.
Curtis was 14-of-22 with 3 combined touchdowns (2 rushing, 1 passing) and 0 turnovers with some flashes. Scrambling to his left, Curtis fit an accurate pass to Walter Taylor for his lone passing touchdown of the day, probably the most impressive play of Vandy’s season thus far. Not really saying much, but I digress.
I’m excited to see what Curtis can do against the Wolfpack.
Last Week: N/A
14. Kenny Minchey, Kentucky
Alabama’s defense is the real deal. Kenny Minchey didn’t have much time to do anything in his second career start behind an O-line that was being manhandled — especially in the 2nd half. That said, I was slightly disappointed in the performance we got out of the Notre Dame transfer on Saturday.
Probably the most concerning aspect of Minchey’s game moving forward is his arm strength, which is going to limit how much Kentucky can do down the field against a good portion of the SEC. It showed against a competent defense. Additionally, Minchey’s mobility was wholly uninspiring — he took 4 sacks and currently sits at -2 rushing yards on the year.
Last Week: 13 (-1)
13. Byrum Brown, Auburn
Byrum Brown did what he was supposed to against Southern Miss after an uninspiring Auburn debut against Baylor. Florida will be his toughest test to date. As alluded to last week, I’m not out on Brown quite yet — Florida at Auburn will tell us a lot about the South Florida transfer.
Last Week: 14 (+1)
12. John Mateer, Oklahoma
The excuses are over for John Mateer.
Accuracy is important. Mateer is not an accurate quarterback.
That was the takeaway from Oklahoma‘s brutal afternoon at the Big House, where the Sooners lost to Michigan 17-10. Mateer is healthy — fully recovered from a thumb injury he suffered at the start of last year — and puked on his shoes in his big prove-it game.
Trell Harris was open on a crucial 3rd-and-9 that resulted in a poorly thrown ball and Michigan interception, which set up what would be the game-winning play for the Wolverines. Mateer missed tunnel screens and slants. The stat line is just ugly: the senior finished 17-of-33 for 189 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 pick.
Mateer’s good and bad comes in waves. He still has arm talent and mobility, it just doesn’t do much good if he doesn’t fix the accuracy issues that have only gotten worse since his 2024 season at Washington State. Mateer will have some good games and he’ll have some bad ones. This one was agonizingly painful to watch and very telling for Oklahoma’s offense.
Last Week: 9 (-3)
11. Marcel Reed, Texas A&M
Marcel Reed still struggles in the pocket. His lone turnover against Arizona State is proof of that, among many more questionable throws from Week 2.
The Aggies QB finished Saturday’s 48-20 win over Arizona State 15-of-25 for 163 yards, 3 touchdowns and the aforementioned interception. A touch pass to Isaiah Horton was definitely his highlight of the day, but there was a lot of bad to take with the good. Mike Elko’s evaluation told the story: “Up and down.”
That’s the Marcel Reed experience.
Last Week: 12 (+1)
10. Keelon Russell, Alabama
Want to know why some Alabama fans think so highly of Keelon Russell? Other than possessing an arm that can rifle just about any throw, it’s his rare ability to make plays like this:
Russell is still young enough to make Alabama fans sweat through some of these, too. Russell threw 2 interceptions and lost a fumble on Saturday and is now up to 4 turnovers on the season.
These consistency issues don’t worry me. Not yet. None of this is unfixable for Kalen DeBoer and Co. The reality of the situation is that Russell is not a finished product, but his talent will be on display with each passing week.
Last Week: 11 (+1)
9. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
LaNorris Sellers’ Week 2 performance was nowhere near as bad as the box score made it out to be. The South Carolina quarterback played in windy and rainy conditions, and his receivers finished the game with plenty of drops — including a few that would have been touchdowns. Sellers’ lone interception of the night was thrown a little high but should have been caught as it hit Mazeo Bennett directly in the hands.
Sellers didn’t show much in the run game in Week 1, but that changed in Week 2. The Gamecocks QB was impressive on the ground, to say the least — he totaled 119 yards and 1 touchdown on 7 carries, including a 58-yard score that took at defender’s ankles.
Sellers dropped 2 spots in the rankings this week not necessarily because of his outing against Towson, but because 2 quarterbacks below him took some massive jumps. South Carolina opens SEC play on Saturday against Mississippi State.
Last Week: 7 (-2)
8. Sam Leavitt, LSU
Throwing 3 interceptions against Louisiana Tech is a problem no matter how you spin it.
What’s worse, 2 of Leavitt’s 3 interceptions were thrown in the red zone — and they were ugly. Both missed their intended receiver (the first was thrown in front while the other was behind) and both were fired into a crowded area of the field. Then there’s the other interception — a gross overthrow that never had a chance.
While Leavitt is a good scrambler, his processing is still a question mark. That’s a concerning development after a strong debut against Clemson. Leavitt escaped taking a sack against the Tigers, but he took 5 of them against Louisiana Tech. He is exciting, absolutely, but he still has a lot to prove as an SEC quarterback — starting this week on the road at Ole Miss.
Last Week: 5 (-3)
7. Aaron Philo, Florida
Aaron Philo’s start to the season has been… surprising? Impressive? He certainly looks the part.
Philo is sitting at 76.5% completions on the year, second in the SEC behind only Gunner Stockton at 87.5%. Philo has benefited greatly from his familiarity with Gators OC Buster Faulkner while spreading the love to an elite unit of skill position players such as receivers Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson and RB Jadan Baugh.
Admittedly, Philo has shredded FAU and Campbell. Not exactly world-beaters. We’ll know this week at Auburn, then, if Philo is for real or not.
Last Week: 6 (-1)
6. Faizon Brandon, Tennessee
This answer from Tennessee offensive tackle David Sanders tells you everything you need to know about Vols QB Faizon Brandon.
“He’s not shaking, he’s not stuttering. He’s saying it clear as day so we can understand what he’s saying,” Sanders said Tuesday regarding Brandon’s presence in the huddle. “He’s looking us in our eyes like, ‘Let’s go, let’s get this. It’s 4th-and-2, we’re going to go get it.'”
That’s not really all that impressive until you remember we’re talking about an 18-year-old competing in his second-ever college football game. Brandon is so, so mature for a true freshman.
Brandon’s pocket awareness is so far ahead of where it should be, and he doesn’t force anything — but when he lets it rip, you understand why he was the No. 1 prospect in the county coming out of high school. He has accumulated 7 touchdowns (5 passing, 2 rushing) with 0 turnovers and won his first road start by 3 touchdowns. Finally, Brandon leads all SEC quarterbacks in total QBR and is 3rd behind only Kamario Taylor and Gunner Stockton in EPA.
Folks, 6th still might be too low.
Last Week: 10 (+4)
5. Austin Simmons, Mizzou
Aside from Kamario Taylor, no quarterback impressed more than Austin Simmons in Week 2. The Mizzou quarterback helped the Tigers rip rival Kansas to shreds Friday night, collecting 292 yards and 3 touchdown passes with 0 turnovers. Simmons is currently 3rd in the SEC at 11.3 yards per attempt, and he joins Gunner Stockton, Jared Curtis and Faizon Brandon as the only QBs on this list with 0 turnovers through the first 2 weeks of the season.
The word that best describes Simmons’ game is smooth. He looks so much more comfortable at Mizzou than he did to start last year at Ole Miss, and he’s going to push for a higher spot in these rankings sooner rather than later.
Last Week: 8 (+3)
4. Arch Manning, Texas
Nothing about Arch Manning’s Week 2 performance against Ohio State was perfect, but he led 3 long-medium touchdown drives in crunch time to replace the Buckeyes as the No. 1 team in the country. That’s significant, and I refuse to drop him for it.
Last Week: 4 (-)
3. Kamario Taylor, Mississippi State
Kamario Taylor took the hype dial and turned it up to an 11 with his outing against Minnesota.
Taylor just keeps getting better and better. He had an exceptional throw on the run that practically teleported to its receiver for a touchdown, and he was accurate downfield. All the stuff we saw that was so exciting in Week 2, he did it and a little more against the Golden Gophers.
Time for SEC play.
Last Week: 3 (-)
2. Gunner Stockton, Georgia
Here’s a crazy stat: 25% of Gunner Stockton’s pass attempts have resulted in a touchdown so far this season. That’s 8 touchdowns on 32 attempts with 4 drops. Stockton has completed 87.5% of his passes for 436 yards and 8 touchdowns compared to last year’s start against 2 cupcake opponents, in which he completed 69% of his passes for 417 yards and 2 touchdowns across 26 more attempts. He’s taking “efficiency” to a whole different level so far this season.
We’ve already seen what Stockton can do, and those numbers are impressive against anybody. Stockton is in for a massive year.
Last Week: 2 (-)
1. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss
Trinidad Chambliss wrapped up Week 2’s matchup against Charlotte by the end of the 2nd quarter, finishing up with 3 incompletions on 26 attempts with 2 touchdowns and 0 turnovers. Who expected anything different? He’s still Trinidad Chambliss, and he’s still the SEC’s best quarterback.
Lane Kiffin and the LSU Tigers await.
Last Week: 1 (-)
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Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
