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Tua Tagovailoa has opportunity to accomplish SEC QB feat not done since Danny Wuerffel
By Keith Farner
Published:
The SEC has had plenty of teams make the SEC championship and win in back-to-back years. But it’s a rare feat for the same quarterback to do it in that short sequence.
Tua Tagovailoa has a chance this season to accomplish something not done in the SEC since the Heisman Trophy winner did it in 1996. Former Florida great Danny Wuerffel is the last SEC QB to win back-to-back titles in Atlanta, a stat unearthed by Ryan McCrystal.
Of course, there have been some teams to get there in back-to-back years in recent years, most notably Alabama from 2014-16. Jalen Hurts quarterbacked the Crimson Tide in 2016, Jake Coker was at the helm in 2015 and Blake Sims took the wheel in 2014.
In Tennessee’s 1997-98 back-to-back run, Tee Martin took over in 1998 from Peyton Manning in 1997.
It’s a testament to the coaching, player development and depth across several programs that even for the teams that won their divisions in back-to-back years, many did it with different quarterbacks.
Florida, for example, in 2015, did it with a combination of Treon Harris, Austin Appleby and Luke Del Rio. Missouri split its 2013 and 2014 appearances between James Franklin and Maty Mauk. Georgia actually had Aaron Murray in 2011 and 2012, but fell to LSU and Alabama.
If Alabama wins the SEC this year, Tua Tagovailoa will be the first QB with back-to-back SEC titles since Florida’s Danny Wuerffel
— Ryan McCrystal (@Ryan_McCrystal) August 20, 2019
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
