SEC QB Rankings, Week 13: Gunner Stockton is the quintessential Kirby Smart quarterback

Quarterbacks: There are a lot of them! Each week throughout the season, we’ll help you keep the game’s most important position in perspective by ranking the SEC starters 1-16 according to highly scientific processes and/or pure gut-level instinct. Previously: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12.

1. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt

This weekend’s visit from Kentucky will be Pavia’s swan song in Nashville, where he has presided over a remarkable 11-3 home record over the past 2 years. For some context, a win on Saturday (the Commodores are 9.5-point favorites at DraftKings Sportsbook) would leave him in 2nd place on Vandy’s all-time list for home wins behind only the immortal Kyle Shurmur, who was the starting QB in 13 home wins over a 4-year period from 2015-18. It’s a short list of Vanderbilt quarterbacks who have a dozen career wins to their credit, period. Beating Kentucky would also complete the ‘Dores’ first perfect season at home since 1982, ensure a winning record in SEC play for just the 3rd time since World War II, and keep their dwindling Playoff hopes alive heading into the season finale at Tennessee. If they went ahead and retired Pavia’s number at halftime, who would object?

Last week: 1⬌

2. Gunner Stockton, Georgia

If you averaged every Georgia performance of the Kirby Smart era, the result would look a lot like Saturday’s 35-10 romp over Texas. And if you combined every Georgia quarterback in that span into one guy, the result would look a lot like Stockton, whose resemblance to his predecessors could not be more on the nose if he’d been cast to play Generic Kirby Smart Quarterback in a movie. (You couldn’t script a much better name than “Gunner Stockton” for that role, either.) Imagine a version of Jake Fromm with Stetson Bennett IV’s mobility operating the same scheme as Carson Beck, and you’ve conjured Stockton. Average their production through the first 10 games of their respective seasons as QB1, and you’re effectively left with Stockton’s output so far in 2025:

The most notable evolution in Georgia’s offense under Smart is the uptick in screen passes since Mike Bobo’s arrival as offensive coordinator in 2023. More than 30% of Stockton’s attempts this season have been behind the line of scrimmage, per Pro Football Focus, the highest rate in the SEC and roughly twice the rate that Fromm threw behind the line from 2017-19. That accounts for the improved completion percentage and decline in yards per attempt. Otherwise, in terms of total yards, touchdown percentage and efficiency, Stockton is almost eerily par for the course.

If Stockton brings anything new to the table, it’s a week-in, week-out presence as a runner. Already, he’s run more times (79, excluding sacks) for more yards (377) and more first downs (26) than Fromm, Bennett or Beck did in an entire season, and his 8 rushing touchdowns are 2nd only to Bennett’s 10 rushing TDs in 2022 in 15 games. Compared to the rest of the SEC, though, those numbers are squarely in the middle of the pack. As far as opposing defenses are concerned, Stockton might as well be just the latest model of the same guy they’ve been defending for the better part of a decade.

Last week: 3⬆

3. Marcel Reed, Texas A&M

There are bigger comebacks on record, but I defy anyone to verify a more dramatic u-turn in the annals of college football history than the one Reed pulled off in the Aggies’ wild, 31-30 win over South Carolina.

The first half could not have gone much worse. After completing his first 2 passes of the afternoon, Reed proceeded to melt down, missing on 13 of his next 17 attempts; that included 2 interceptions — both costly — and a series of coulda-been picks that repeatedly forced his own receivers to turn into defenders. Meanwhile, there was also the slapstick fumble on which Reed, attempting to salvage an instantly doomed play while in the grasp of elite Carolina edge rusher Dylan Stewart, instead lost control of the ball in a moment of panic; it skittered free, and eventually into the mitts of A&M defensive linemen who returned the loose ball for a touchdown. The Aggies limped into the locker room down 30-3 while Reed’s Heisman stock abruptly plummeted in real time.

In the second half, he was unstoppable, flipping the switch to lead 4 touchdown drives in as many possessions to erase the deficit less than 5 minutes into the 4th quarter. Those drives covered 75, 70, 80 and 98 yards, respectively, on a combined 27 plays. Four of those plays were completions of 25+ yards, 3 of which went for touchdowns; the 4th set up a short TD run on the ensuing play. Incredibly, Reed’s resurgent Heisman odds were slightly better at the end of the day than they’d been at the beginning.

That’s quite the journey just to balance the ledger against a 20-point underdog. I wonder what the reaction would have been if Reed had delivered the exact same performance, but in reverse — shock-and-awe in the first half, followed by a stunning collapse in the second — or in a more random order, generating a series of back-and-forth swings in momentum rather than a couple of sustained waves with an obvious turning point. Or if, say, South Carolina’s offense had taken advantage of the botched trick play Texas A&M ran on 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line on its last full possession, which resulted in another slapstick fumble and, briefly, a game-winning opportunity for the Gamecocks. (That play is the sudden spike you see in Carolina’s win probability near the end.) Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’m of the mind that the only thing more impressive than the drama of rallying from a seemingly insurmountable deficit is never putting yourself in the position of facing one in the first place.

Last week: 4⬆

4. Ty Simpson, Alabama

Last week, I praised Simpson’s steady hand and allergy to turnovers for a team that seemed to thrive the thinner the margin for error. Right on cue, he served up the costliest mistake of his season, a pick-6 INT with a free rusher in his lap that set off the upset siren in an eventual 23-21 loss to Oklahoma.

That was the first of 2 uncharacteristic giveaways against the Sooners, both of which came under pressure. The 2nd was the result of a blindside sack that jarred the ball loose at the end of the 3rd quarter; Oklahoma recovered the fumble inside the Bama 30-yard line, setting up a go-ahead field goal that proved to be the winning points. Simpson was hardly the biggest goat on an afternoon when an inconsistent o-line, anemic ground game and shambolic special teams all conspired to blow a game in which Alabama ran up a nearly 200-yard advantage in total offense. But to the extent that Simpson’s Heisman case rested on his reputation for transcending the Tide’s shortcomings — or at least not making them worse — it’s safe to say that case is officially closed until further notice.

Last week: 2⬇

5. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss

By all rights this should have been one of the chillest weeks in the history of Ole Miss football, with an open date on deck to bask in the 10-1 Rebels’ success before wrapping up the regular season in the Egg Bowl. Instead, they’ve spent their week off embroiled in the ongoing saga of Lane Kiffin‘s courtship by LSU and Florida. The prospect of any coach potentially bailing on a top-5 outfit in the midst of a Playoff run seems like a textbook case of galaxy brain run amok – to fulfill your ultimate goal of winning a championship, you have no choice but to consider abandoning a team currently competing for a championship? But, you know, look around. If you expect decision-making at the executive level in college football or, like, America at large to align with common sense in the year 2025, I don’t know what to tell you. All I know is that, regardless of where he’s ultimately employed in 2026, if Kiffin doesn’t feel obligated to do everything he can to give the best Ole Miss team in living memory the best possible chance to max out what might be the best opportunity the program going to get at national relevance, what a sorry state of affairs for the sport.

Last week: 5⬌

6. Joey Aguilar, Tennessee

Interceptions ranked at the top of the list of preseason concerns over Aguilar’s game, based on his an FBS-worst 14 INTs in 2024 at Appalachian State. He hasn’t been quite as interception-prone as a Vol, but it’s close: With 2 picks Saturday in a 42-9 win over New Mexico State, Aguilar has now thrown 10 INTs this year in 320 attempts, a rate of 3.1%; that’s only slightly off last year’s pace of 3.6% at App. State. Half of those picks have come in Tennessee’s 3 losses against Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma, including the season-defining, coast-to-coast pick-6 at Bama that’s going to haunt the offseason in Knoxville if Tennessee goes on to finish 9-3. Still, given the dramatic uptick in big plays this season compared to last year’s defensively-driven, 10-2 CFP run, here’s guessing Vols fans will still take him over Nico Iamaleava in a heartbeat.

Last week: 6⬌

7. Taylen Green, Arkansas

Arkansas’ 23-22 loss at LSU was familiar in many ways, marking the Razorbacks’ 7th loss by single digits and the 4th in which they led in the 4th quarter. For once, though, Green can’t lay a close loss at the feet of the defense. The offense botched opportunity after opportunity in Baton Rouge, committing 2 turnovers inside the LSU 25-yard line and failing to punch it in the end zone on a crucial goal-line sequence in the the 3rd quarter. Between those 3 possessions and what turned out to be their last one, which ended on a missed go-ahead field goal attempt in the 4th, the Hogs racked up 242 yards on drives that yielded no points.

Last week: 7⬌

8. John Mateer, Oklahoma

Mateer was mostly along for the ride in the Sooners’ 23-21 upset at Alabama, finishing with a season-low 161 scrimmage yards and declining to even attempt a pass of 20+ air yards, per PFF. Oklahoma’s 4 scoring drives in Tuscaloosa covered 23 yards (for a field goal set up by a big punt return); 31 yards (a short-field touchdown following a muffed punt); 41 yards (another field goal, this one from 52 yards to open the 3rd quarter); and 22 yards (yet another field goal, set up by a strip sack by the defense). Altogether, OU’s 212 total yards for the game represented its fewest in a win since a 2001 victory over Texas, which not coincidentally also featured a memorable defensive touchdown.

Still, Mateer made key plays with both his arm and legs to advance the effort, didn’t do anything to hurt it. The upshot is that the Sooners remain improbably but squarely on the Playoff track at 8-2. They will be favored in their last 2 games against Missouri and LSU, both of which will likely be starting backup quarterbacks. (See below.) Looking ahead to the postseason, the outlook for winning a hypothetical road Playoff game with an attack that currently ranks next-to-last in the SEC in total offense vs. Power 4 opponents is not very encouraging. But given how distant the possibility of crashing the field seemed just a couple weeks ago, Sooners fans will be more than happy to cross that bridge when they come to it.

Last week: 9⬆

9. Arch Manning, Texas

Texas still has a chance to salvage a modicum of self-respect and/or momentum heading into the offseason against Arkansas and (especially) Texas A&M in Austin. But the story of Manning’s underwhelming debut as QB1 can be largely told by his struggles on the road. Saturday’s loss at Georgia dropped the Longhorns to 2-3 in true road games on the year, with both wins coming in overtime escapes against a couple of basement dwellers, Kentucky and Mississippi State. It didn’t help, either, that Manning spent so much of his time in those games stuck in comeback mode. Of the 11 regulation touchdowns Texas scored on the road, 8 came with the ‘Horns already trailing by double digits, including all 5 TDs in their 3 losses.

Last week: 8⬇

10. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina

Sellers reliably makes a play or two per game that remind you what he’s capable of when it all comes together. Against Texas A&M, it was a flawless, 51-yard dime to Vandrevius Jacobs for the opening strike in what would quickly escalate into a major upset in progress.

Welcome to the endzone 📍 pic.twitter.com/iVW1SaGLQj

— South Carolina Football (@GamecockFB) November 15, 2025

Otherwise, as usual, it was just kinda meh. The Gamecocks’ other big play of the first half, an 80-yard touchdown pass to Nyck Harbor, was a routine throw just past the sticks that Harbor turned into a viral highlight via YAC. After halftime, the offense did nothing whatsoever to alter the momentum of A&M’s furious 2nd-half comeback, and Carolina’s final possession with a chance to salvage a game-winning field-goal attempt ended with Sellers taking back-to-back sacks on 2nd and 3rd down and scrambling futilely out of bounds 10 yards short of the line to gain on 4th — the story of his sophomore campaign, in 3 plays.

Last week: 10⬌

11. Cutter Boley, Kentucky

Boley’s first start, a 35-13 loss to South Carolina in Week 4, was a disaster. Since, he’s been cromulent almost every time out, turning a QBR rating of 78.0 or better in 5 of the past 6 games. (The exception: A 10-3 win at Auburn in Week 10.) A 3-game November winning streak has 5-5 Kentucky a win away from bowl eligibility with Vanderbilt and Louisville on deck. That might or might not be enough to save Mark Stoops‘ job, but considering the state of affairs a month ago, the fact that it’s still in doubt at this late hour should be all the endorsement Boley needs to remain QB1 for the foreseeable future.

Last week: 12⬆

12. Garrett Nussmeier or Michael Van Buren Jr., LSU

Van Buren went the distance Saturday in his first start as a Tiger, a come-from-behind, 23-22 win over Arkansas that was forgotten the second the clock hit triple zeroes. He’s in line to start again this weekend in an even more ephemeral date against Western Kentucky, pending Nussmeier’s status after he aggravated an abdominal injury that had reportedly bothered him all season prior to his benching in the Tigers’ Week 11 loss at Alabama. More important at this point, Van Buren followed up the win by expressing his love for Baton Rouge and pledging to stay to compete for the full-time job under the next head coach.

Last week: 11⬇

13. Blake Shapen, Mississippi State

Defying calls to bench his 6th-year starter in favor of dynamic freshman Kamario Taylor, Jeff Lebby preserved the the status quo for a must-win game at Missouri to reach bowl eligibility. He was rewarded with one of Shapen’s worst outings as a Bulldog in a deflating, 49-27 loss. Looking exhausted and possibly hurt, Shapen came in at or near season lows for completion percentage (57.6), yards per attempt (6.0), passer rating (96.1) and QBR (36.3) while serving up 2 pick-6 INTs in the 2nd half that turned a competitive game into a laugher.

Afterwards, Lebby attributed the decision to stick with the vet to Shapen’s “decision-making and having the ability to not waste a play” in a tough road environment. Fair enough. With 2 weeks to prepare for the Egg Bowl and little hope of earning that elusive 6th win either way, the question at this point is pretty much academic.

Last week: 13⬌

14. DJ Lagway, Florida

Like most Florida fans, Lagway sounded well past ready to be done with the 2025 season following a 34-24 loss at Ole Miss, describing the past 3 months as “emotionally draining” in what a local reporter described as “a monotone voice, (while) staring at the bricks on the back of the wall.” After an encouraging opening half in Oxford, the Gators did nothing in the 2nd, when their only trip into Rebels territory ended on a tip-drill interception.

At 3-7, bowl eligibility is off the table, leaving only desultory rivalry dates against Tennessee and Florida State to endure before the big decision about Lagway’s future becomes the first order of business for the new head coach. Maybe that decision has already been made, on one end or the other. If not, a strong finish against the Vols and Noles – however unlikely – could still give both sides something to consider.

Last week: 15⬆

15. Matt Zollers, Missouri

Mizzou fans are still holding out hope that they have not seen the last of Beau Pribula this season. But despite “early optimism” that Pribula has made enough progress rehabbing the ankle injury that’s sidelined him the past few game to potentially start this weekend against Oklahoma, Eli Drinkwitz tapped the brakes, telling reporters he expects Zollers to get the nod for the 3rd Saturday in a row. Either way, after leaning heavily on a resurgent ground game in Week 12 against the SEC’s worst rushing defense, Mississippi State, the Tigers will need more from whomever is behind center against the Sooners to make up the difference opposite the SEC’s best rushing defense in Norman.

Last week: 16⬆

16. Deuce Knight, Auburn

What a journey it’s been at this position. Jackson Arnold‘s doomed tenure as QB1 officially ended with the end of Hugh Freeze‘s doomed tenure as head coach. The next man up, Stanford transfer Ashton Daniels, looked like a keeper his last time out, when he led the Tigers to a season-high 38 points in a shootout loss at Vanderbilt in Week 11. Under NCAA rules, however, keeping him means sitting him: The trip to Nashville was Daniels’ 3rd appearance of the season, leaving only 1 more before he burns his redshirt and, with it, his final year of eligibility. (He did not redshirt in any of his 3 seasons at Stanford, where he started 20 games.) Wisely, coaches have opted not to waste that appearance on a glorified scrimmage against an FCS patsy. Instead, Daniels will skip this weekend’s game against Mercer and return to the lineup for the Iron Bowl, thereby preserving another year on campus (and the paycheck that comes with it) in 2026.

That leaves Knight, 5-star gem of the Tigers’ 2025 recruiting class, who’s due for the first meaningful action of his career against the Bears. His debut will also serve as an audition – if not for the chance to start against Alabama, then to get a leg up on the competition for QB1 next year under a new head coach. Whether that competition will involve Daniels or an incoming transfer, or both, will be up to the next administration. For now, all he can do is look the part against the No. 6 team in the latest FCS rankings.

Last week: n/a