After years of so-so, SEC has bright future at QB position
By Corey Long
Published:
While quarterback play hasn’t been as bad as some would have you believe, it certainly hasn’t been inspiring. NFL scouts haven’t been impressed with the recent of crop of SEC quarterbacks either. Since 2014, only six SEC quarterbacks have been selected and only one in the first round (Johnny Manziel).
However, there appear to be some good times ahead with a promising group of young arms coming into the conference that give me some reasons to believe that the SEC’s future is bright at the position.
1) Well-traveled gunslingers: In 2015 Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly proved he had the chops to perform against a pretty tough schedule. He removed the doubts that followed him from Clemson to junior college to Oxford. He enters 2016 as a darkhorse Heisman candidate by some.
In the SEC East Florida quarterback Luke Del Rio did enough in the team’s spring game to head into the fall as the No. 1 quarterback. Del Rio started his career in Tuscaloosa and made a pit stop at Oregon State before joining the Gators and now he hopes to take the next step and bring some respectability to Jim McElwain’s offense.
Also former Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight will try to bring some stability back to Texas A&M after the Aggies had two former five-star quarterback prospects leave the program in the offseason. Knight looked impressive in the spring game.
2) Exciting young arms: Ole Miss’ Shea Patterson and Georgia’s Jacob Eason were Nos. 1 and 2 on nearly every top quarterback rankings list for the class of 2016. Eason arrived on campus with a ton of expectations and his performance in the spring game did not temper those in the least.
Whereas Eason will likely get thrown into the starting lineup very early this season, Patterson should be able to spend 2016 as Kelly’s apprentice. He’ll likely play backup minutes to get proper seasoning before taking over in 2017. Eason and Patterson aren’t the only promising young guns out there.
Tennessee’s Jarrett Guarantano, Alabama’s Jalen Hurts and South Carolina’s Brandon McIlwain could be fun to watch in the near future. Also keep an eye on Florida’s Kyle Trask, who might enter the season as the No. 2 and appears well ahead of four-star prospect Feleipe Franks.
3) Promising recruits: Alabama persuaded four-star prospect Tua Tagovalioa to go 4,322 miles from his home of Honolulu, Hawaii to make a verbal commitment to the Crimson Tide.
LSU, tired of wasting its NFL-quality stable of wide receiver prospects, has commitments from four-star quarterback Lowell Narcisse and three-star prospect Myles Brennan in hopes that one can actually throw a good forward pass (and maybe convince the coaches to actually call passing plays). Auburn has an early commitment from 2018 top prospect Joey Gatewood.
All kinds of top talent could be infiltrating the conference over the next few years.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
