If there’s one thing we know about the SEC, it’s that there’s a fine line between hot-take season and hot-seat season.
One day a program is in the talking season penthouse. By the second weekend in September, the program might as well be in the poor house because all the fans are talking about is when they can pay the coach’s buyout.
Sometimes you’re the windshield. Sometimes you’re the bug.
Find a better example of that than Week 2 in the SEC.
Jeff Lebby was “Left for Dead” Lebby during talking season, coming off a 2-10 record in Year 1 and picked at the bottom of the SEC ahead of Year 2.
On Saturday night, State fans stormed Scott Field in his honor after Lebby’s Bulldogs rallied past defending Big 12 champion Arizona State for a 24-20 victory. Blake Shapen was magnificent, with 3 touchdown throws of 40 yards or more in the inspiring win, including this game-winning 58-yard strike to Brenen Thompson.
Suddenly, Lebby’s portal heavy rebuild looks whippersnapper smart, and well, Lebby’s futures have gone from gloomy and grim to “I told y’all Jeff was building something in Starkville, PAWWWLLL” in one statement Saturday. What a difference a weekend makes.
Meanwhile, in Gainesville, well, I’m tired of writing about it all the time. It’s not just that Billy Napier spent a summer celebrating the culture he’d built and telling anyone who’d listen he’d eliminated “entitlement” and a lack of discipline from the locker room only to lose a game to South Florida thanks to over 100 yards in penalties and a selfish, boneheaded, flat out gross spitting penalty. All of that happened in Saturday’s humiliating 18-16 loss in The Swamp. It’s that Florida spent big-time money assembling this roster and after big-time wins over LSU, Ole Miss, and Florida State to close the season a year ago, the return of a budding star in quarterback DJ Lagway and a superbly talented supporting cast had Gators fans talking College Football Playoff.
PLAYOFFS? Y’all want to talk PLAYOFFS?
How about you look at Florida’s schedule and tell me where you are certain they’ll win another game. I’ll wait.
Or maybe I won’t wait since “The List” waits for no man, not even Arch Manning, who bounced back from his Week 1 stumble at the Shoe to look, well, adequate in a comfortable Texas win over San Jose State. Manning isn’t sniffing Honorable Mention territory on “The List” yet, but it was a step in the right direction.
Speaking of steps in the right direction, I’m not all in on Jackson Arnold the same way I’m all in on John Mateer and Oklahoma just yet, but the change in scenery has done Arnold wonders. Ball State isn’t a good team, but Arnold built off a great performance against Baylor by throwing for 251 yards and 2 touchdowns (with just 4 incompletions) in Auburn’s 42-3 win. A Hugh Freeze offense with balance is a scary thing. And Auburn hasn’t really unleashed Cam Coleman yet. Good times seem just around Toomer’s Corner on the Plains.
If I told y’all the SEC would have at least 5 quarterbacks playing at an elite level in the first 2 weeks of the season and none of them would be Arch Manning or DJ Lagway, would you have believed me? What if I told you the list of the SEC’s best quarterbacks through 2 weeks would also not include LaNorris Sellers of South Carolina (good, not great) or Gunner Stockton of Georgia (middling)? And if you had Parker Livingstone as Arch Manning’s number 1 target?
I wouldn’t have believed me, either.
But “The List” isn’t won in September. Football games, of course, are.
Here are the top 10 players in the SEC through Week 2, with Honorable Mentions (limit 2 per school, sorry Nic Mitchell, you BALLED out) first, of course.
Honorable Mention: Alabama: Germie Bernard, WR; Deontae Lawson, LB. Auburn: Xavier Chaplin, OT; Jackson Arnold, QB. Arkansas: Taylen Green, QB; Xavian Sorey Jr., LB. Florida: Jake Slaughter, C; Bryce Thornton, DB. Georgia: Micah Morris, OG; CJ Allen, LB. Kentucky: Seth McGowan, RB; Jordan Lovett, DB. LSU: Whit Weeks, LB; Patrick Payton, DE. Mississippi State: Brenen Thompson, WR; Blake Shapen, QB. Missouri: Connor Tollison, C; Brett Norfleet, TE. Oklahoma: Jaren Kanak, TE; Febechi Nwaiwu, OG. Ole Miss: Zxavian Harris, DT; Harrison Wallace III, WR. South Carolina: Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, DT, WR; Fred Johnson, LB. Tennessee: Shamurad Umarov, OG; Arion Carter, LB. Texas: Michael Taaffe, S; Anthony Hill Jr., LB. Texas A&M: Trey Zuhn III, OT; Cashius Howell, DE. Vanderbilt: Diego Pavia, QB. Nick Rinaldi, LB.
10. Scooby Williams, LB (Texas A&M)
The senior from Birmingham had 3 tackles and a sack and graded out as one of the top 3 linebackers in the country, per PFF, in the Aggies’ 44-22 win over Utah State. On the season, Williams has 9 tackles, 6 pressures, 2 hurries, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and has allowed just 1 reception on 3 targets in coverage. He’s a 3-down linebacker on a defense that could carry the Aggies to the College Football Playoff.
9. Vicari Swain, DB/Returner (South Carolina)
Last week, Swain changed the football game for the Gamecocks with a gargantuan return to help South Carolina pull away a tough Virginia Tech team. For an encore, Swain returned 2 punts for touchdowns in South Carolina’s 38-10 win over South Carolina State this past weekend.
Swain is now the first player in South Carolina history to return 2 punts for touchdowns in a game, and his 3 touchdown returns this year have tied a single-season record. That’s not bad for Week 2, and it gets Swain a spot on “The List.”
8. Kewan Lacy, RB (Ole Miss)
With Austin Simmons in a blender in his first SEC start, Lacy bailed the Rebels offense out with 138 hard-fought yards and a touchdown in Ole Miss’s 30-23 win in Lexington this weekend. Lacy leads the SEC in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns through 2 weeks and is moving quietly into “list fixture” status.
7. Will Whitson, DE (Mississippi State)
Sadly, this will be the last week that Will Whitson appears in the list, as injured players are removed from the list after missing either 2 games or suffering a season-ending injury. Whitson was dominating Arizona State with 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and a sack when he left the game with an injury in the first half. Whitson walked off under his own power, but did not return, and Jeff Lebby confirmed the grim news earlier this week that Whitson’s season is over. That’s a brutal blow for a player who wasn’t even among the top 300 players in the transfer portal, but was delivering on the field, leading the SEC in pressures (8) through 2 weeks and delivering 2 sacks and 3 tackles for loss. Get well soon, Will.
6. Beau Pribula, QB (Missouri)
The first of 3 quarterbacks to make the list this week (we know, boooring!!), Pribula’s majestic performance in leading Missouri to a Border War rally and win over Kansas left Penn State fans wondering if they chose the right quarterback. After backing up Drew Allar a season ago, Pribula showed he’s ready for the big time on Saturday, throwing for 334 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 42-31 Mizzou win. What impressed “The List” most, though, was how Pribula bounced back from adversity. After he fumbled in the first quarter, Missouri trailed 21-6. No matter. Pribula stayed the course, dropping dimes and protecting the football.
Pribula’s passer rating through 2 games is a staggering 188 and he’s now thrown 7 touchdowns with just 1 turnover (0 interceptions). That’s big-time, “List” worthy stuff.
5. Alex Afari Jr., LB (Kentucky)
What stands out about Afari is his ability to play all 3 downs with great technique and discipline. He has 20 tackles and has missed just 1 in 2 games. He’s allowed just 2 receptions on 7 targets in coverage. He has a sack, 2 tackles for loss, and registered a pressure on Saturday, headlining a Kentucky defense that consistently had Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons confused and hurried. Big Blue didn’t get enough from their defense for that to matter, in the end, but Afari warrants top 5 status in Week 2.
4. John Mateer, QB (Oklahoma)
For the second consecutive season, a Washington State transfer sure looks like an All-American at his new location. Mateer was magnificent on Saturday in Oklahoma’s 24-13 manhandling of Michigan. All Brent Venables has been asking for is a competent offense. Mateer is giving them more than that (51-71, 662 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT, 98 yards rushing, 3 TD) early on this season. He’s giving them a weapon, a difference maker that can help Venables, who has built a salty defense in Norman, win games at the margins. There’s a long way to go, and in truth, we don’t know how good anyone Oklahoma has played yet will be. But “The List” knows “it” when we see it, and Mateer has “it.”
3. Garrett Nussmeier, QB (LSU)
Nussmeier’s offensive line was a concern in Week 2, and the loss of center Braelin Moore certainly compounded matters on Saturday. Without time to challenge Louisiana Tech downfield, Nussmeier battled and took what the defense gave him, throwing for 237 yards and a touchdown in the win. The rather pedestrian numbers drop him from the top spot this week, but he remains in the top 5 as we’re just 1 week removed from a classic Nussmeier performance against a tenacious Clemson defense in one of the toughest environments in college football. Could Nussmeier’s “List” ceiling be limited by offensive line issues? Time will tell. It’s also possible the group will come together. Either way, Nussmeier is going to make smart decisions. With a Blake Baker defense, that might be sufficient this season.
2. Mansoor Delane, DB (LSU)
Delane has surrendered a stingy 2 receptions on 12 targets this season, a dominant 16% completion percentage against in 2 games. He’s also been solid in run support, and has yet to miss a tackle. He grades out as LSU’s best defender through 2 games, per PFF, an impressive accomplishment on a defense that’s been outstanding early this season. Is DBU finally back in Baton Rouge?
1. Dylan Stewart, Edge (South Carolina)
For the second-consecutive season, Stewart will spend at least 1 week atop “the List” after registering 2 tackles for loss, 2 pressures, 2 hurries, and a quarterback sack in just a half of duty against South Carolina State. On the season, Stewart’s 7 pressures are tied for second in the SEC. He’s also garnered 4 quarterback hurries, 2 sacks, and 4 tackles for loss. He’s done all that against double teams on 45% of snaps played, a number that is already opening things up for teammates, like edge rusher Bryan Thomas Jr., who feasted with 4 pressures, 2 tackles for loss, a sack and a quarterback hurry on Saturday. In other words, Stewart is doing what dominant players do: making teams scheme to stop him — and making his team better at football as a result.
Neil Blackmon covers SEC football and basketball for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
