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You’ll never guess who leads the SEC in these categories through Week 10
By John Crist
Published:
With the exception of Alabama continuing to dominate in the polls, it’s been a surprising season for the best conference in America.
In the West, supposed contenders like LSU and Ole Miss have turned out to be pretenders. Auburn is actually the Crimson Tide’s biggest threat. As for the East, Tennessee’s rise back to relevance was cratered by a three-game losing skid.
On an individual basis, a handful of preseason All-Americans haven’t lived up to expectations from a numbers perspective. Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly is injured and out for the year. A crazy collection of tailbacks — Leonard Fournette, Nick Chubb and Jalen Hurd specifically — hasn’t produced the statistical monsters most envisioned.
The running back situation in particular is bizarre. Fournette is ninth in the league in rushing yards. Chubb is 10th. Hurd, who walked out on the Volunteers midseason, left Knoxville averaging 3.7 yards per carry.
Clicking through the SEC leaders at CFBStats.com, here are 10 names at the top that I certainly didn’t see coming in 2016.
passing
It’s at least a mild upset that Auburn quarterback Sean White is the top-rated passer in the conference in terms of efficiency rating (159.84).
That being said, White also leads the way with an average of 9.1 yards per pass attempt. Kelly, who’s second at 8.4, has a big arm and an enviable array of pass-catching targets that can create mismatches downfield.
White’s leading receiver, Tony Stevens, only has 24 catches for 408 yards. The plays he does make are big ones, though.
rushing
The aforementioned Fournette and Chubb are tied for 14th with 5 rushing touchdowns. Hurd is tied for 23rd with 3.
Two dual-threat QBs, Alabama’s Jalen Hurts and Texas A&M’s Trevor Knight, are tied for the lead with 10 TDs on the ground. They share the pole position with Kentucky running back Benjamin Snell Jr., who has really come on strong lately.
Scoring four times against lowly New Mexico State back in Week 3 proved to be no fluke. Snell has 5 TDs in his past three games vs. SEC defenses.
receiving
Among players with enough catches to qualify, no receiver averages more yards per reception than Kentucky’s Jeff Badet (24.1).
Not necessarily a home-run threat earlier in his career, Badet averaged 13 yards per catch as a freshman and then 14.8 as a sophomore. Last season, he averaged 9.7 or fewer in four of the 12 games he played.
But as a junior, he has averaged 17 yards per catch or better in seven of nine games. Four times he has averaged 29.7 or more.
all purpose
Usually the league leader in all-purpose yards is a multi-dimensional threat as a rusher, receiver and return man.
But that’s not the case at the three-quarter poll of the season, as Auburn running back Kamryn Pettway leads the way with 1,120 all-purpose yards. It’s mostly one purpose, actually, as 98.8 percent of his yardage has come as a rusher.
Pettway has caught a grand total of 2 passes for 14 yards. He has yet to return a kick or punt. What a runner, though.
tackles
Vanderbilt’s Zach Cunningham is the SEC’s premier linebacker, as evidenced by the fact that he has more tackles than anyone.
But half of Cunningham’s 94 tackles have been assisted, meaning he’s actually second in the league in solo stops with 47. The conference’s leader in solo tackles is Kentucky’s Jordan Jones, who has 58.
Jones is also tied for fifth with 10.0 tackles for loss. He has been hot, too. Almost half of them (4.5) have been in the past two games.
sacks
Tennessee’s Derek Barnett has been a one-man wrecking crew at defensive end and leads the SEC with 9.0 sacks.
We knew Barnett was a fantastic player, so him leading the conference in sacks at this point can’t be considered a shock. However, the fact that Texas A&M pass rusher Myles Garrett isn’t already in double digits is a mystery to some.
While Garrett has been dealing with injury, Barnett has single-handedly carried a Volunteers unit that resembles a M*A*S*H unit.
interceptions
When a lockdown cornerback doesn’t pick off a lot of passes, it’s easy to assume that enemy QBs just never throw the ball his direction.
Many thought that would be the case for Florida’s Teez Tabor, who became the No. 1 cover man in town once Vernon Hargreaves left early for the NFL. Still, Tabor is tied for the league lead with 4 interceptions.
Tabor’s partner in crime at corner, Quincy Wilson, has 3 INTs. Quarterbacks simply can’t ignore one side of the field.
punt returns
Alabama’s Eddie Jackson, recently lost for the season due to a broken leg, still leads the SEC with a punt-return average of an even 23 yards.
However, because a player “must have played in 75 percent of his team’s games and have a minimum of 1.2 punt returns per game played,” Texas A&M’s Christian Kirk doesn’t qualify. He has only returned 9 punts total in nine games.
Still, Kirk has done amazing things. He has averaged 29.3 yards and is the only player nationally to record three punt-return touchdowns.
kickoff returns
Tennessee’s Evan Berry is once again leading the SEC in kick-return average. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it sort of does.
The return game can sometimes be random, with a long return or two inflating season totals. Look no further than Berry’s teammate, Cameron Sutton, who averaged 18.7 yards on punt returns in 2015 but only 3.5 this year before getting hurt.
Berry, on the other hand, has followed up last season’s average of 38.3 yards per kick return with 33.9 in 2016. He’s truly special back there.
field goals
A solid-if-not-spectacular kicker the first two years of his career, Gary Wunderlich of Ole Miss has enjoyed a breakout campaign.
The junior has split the uprights on 16-of-17 field-goal attempts for a conversion rate of 94.1 percent. He’s ahead of Auburn’s Daniel Carlson (90.9), who was most everyone’s selection for first-team All-SEC at Media Days.
However, Wunderlich has taken a step back on extra points. A perfect 83-of-83 coming into 2016, he’s 35-of-37 this season.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
John Crist is an award-winning contributor to Saturday Down South.
