Ah, isn’t it nice?

Spring football is here. More important, it’s here without constant headlines about the pandemic’s impact on the sport. That means we can actually talk, you know, football.

The ever-changing transfer portal will make rosters a bit more fluid than previous years, but if that’s the biggest concern we have in the college football world, life is good. That means we can focus on on-field questions.

Yes, quarterbacks are always a popular topic of discussion. No, I don’t expect to have much post-spring clarity on those undecided jobs (Auburn, Florida, LSU, Mizzou, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt). We can, however, still ask questions about those specific situations.

Here’s 1 question I have for every SEC team this spring:

Alabama — Will we see some backfield separation?

Lost in the shuffle of this eventful offseason for Alabama is that for seemingly the first time in forever, the Tide don’t have some relatively proven returning veteran ready to take over as the lead back. No disrespect to Trey Sanders, but he’d be the first to tell you that his college career, which began with him predicting he’d win the Heisman Trophy as a true freshman, hasn’t gone according to plan.

Sanders is the most experienced back based on career carries at Alabama. Other than him? It’s pretty limited:

  1. Trey Sanders, 102 carries
  2. Roydell Williams, 67 carries
  3. Jase McClellan, 63 carries

Brian Robinson had more carries in 2021 alone than Alabama’s 2022 returning backs have in their careers combined. That could open the door for someone else, especially with Williams and McClellan both returning from knee injuries. True freshman Jamarion Miller should get a chance to get some valuable looks this spring, but this feels like we’re setting up for Alabama to have its first breakout running back via the transfer portal.

Jahmyr Gibbs could be that dude. The Georgia Tech transfer is going to have a massive role in Bill O’Brien’s offense after flashing major potential as an underclassman in the ACC. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a clear backfield pecking order by spring’s end.

Arkansas — How much does Jadon Haselwood’s stock take off?

I’m fascinated to see how the Oklahoma transfer gels with KJ Jefferson. Haselwood won’t be Treylon Burks 2.0, nor should that be the standard. At the same time, Sam Pittman made Haselwood a primary portal target because of Burks’ absence. Pittman recruited Haselwood, a former 5-star recruit and Georgia native, back when he was an assistant on Kirby Smart’s staff, so there was already a rapport there.

“The thing I like about him is how much he matured out of high school. Not that he was immature. He’s a grown man,” Pittman said on The Saturday Down South Podcast. “Physically, mentally, he can handle what we’re gonna ask him to do. He can handle the pressure of what we’re gonna ask him to do. But I think we’re really, really fortunate to have Haselwood on our team because of the loss of Burks … we believe he can be that guy to help us.”

Haselwood never stepped into that No. 1 role in his 3 seasons in Norman. It’s clear that he’ll get that opportunity this spring for an Arkansas team who really didn’t have a reliable No. 2 target in 2021.

Auburn — Will there be any new developments in the QB mess … er, room?

Yeesh. I keep saying this, but here’s all you need to know about the Auburn quarterback situation. Dee Davis, who signed in Auburn’s 2021 class and didn’t play a snap as a true freshman, has been with the program longer than any scholarship quarterback.

  • Robby Ashford, transferred from Oregon in January 2022
  • Zach Calzada, transferred from Texas A&M in January 2022
  • Holden Geriner, 2022 Auburn signee
  • TJ Finley, transferred from LSU in May 2021
  • Dee Davis, 2021 Auburn signee

Crazy, right? On the surface, a program that has 3 Power 5 quarterback transfers has options. But Ashford hasn’t taken a snap, and we’ve seen roughly an entire season’s worth of games against SEC competition for Finley and Calzada, which was underwhelming. Given how Bryan Harsin’s situation developed this offseason, one would think there should be a sense of urgency to get the quarterback situation right in the first year of the post-Bo Nix era.

Will Harsin take a page out of the 2018 Ed Orgeron playbook and make a post-spring decision to add another grad transfer quarterback like JT Daniels? Or will he be sold on someone in that group of 5 emerging as his potential job-saving signal-caller? I’d say the latter has more likelihood, but then again, don’t assume anything with Auburn.

Florida — Is Emory Jones really staying at Florida?

A lot of Florida fans were surprised to see Jones stay in Gainesville after he initially announced he was heading to the transfer portal. My theory on this is that Jones didn’t really like the market for himself after he struggled again in the bowl game, so he decided to stick with a new coach who is known for helping his quarterback cut down on mistakes.

It’s actually not crazy if you think about it. Jones is set to graduate this spring. He can show up in spring doing all the right things, which I expect he will, and rebuild his image. Perhaps we see him shine in a spring game, and then he’ll pick his next school. Alternatively, he could find himself in a backup role and just gamble on Anthony Richardson getting hurt or not picking up Billy Napier’s offense (which shares plenty of similarities to Dan Mullen’s offense). Either way, it appears Jones’ story in Gainesville has another chapter.

Georgia — What’s next with Arik Gilbert?

Gilbert is back with the team after personal issues sidelined him for the 2021 season. His well-documented offseason last year became a popular topic of discussion in the SEC. It’s wild to think that Gilbert, who lived up to his all-world hype as a true freshman at LSU in 2020, is entering his Draft-eligible season. He transferred to Georgia with the intent of making the position tweak of tight end to receiver because of the emerging Darnell Washington. Go figure that Brock Bowers had one of the best seasons we’ve ever seen from a college tight end, and he did it as a true freshman.

Bowers, Washington and Gilbert are all expected to be on Georgia’s 2022 roster, as is decorated 2022 tight end recruit Oscar Delp. The good news for Gilbert is that Bowers will be sidelined for the spring after undergoing labrum surgery. Even though Gilbert is playing a different position, it might do him some good to avoid the side-by-side comp with Bowers. Fingers crossed that Gilbert can get right and have a full spring to get back on track.

It wasn’t that long ago that we were talking about him in this way:

Kentucky — How noticeable will the Rich Scangarello difference be?

The new Kentucky offensive coordinator is expected to run a similar offense to the one we saw become a revelation under Liam Coen in 2021. Like Coen, Scangarello comes from the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McVay coaching tree, so expect to see a whole lot of play-action with varying outside zone run concepts. But this is about how comfortable Will Levis becomes with Scangarello calling plays.

Last year, Kentucky elected not to have a spring game, so we really didn’t get an up-close look at the offense until the fall. It’s not like Levis, a 2021 summer enrollee, would’ve played in it anyway. But this year, we’ll probably hear a lot about Levis’ comfortability and if new receivers Tayvion Robinson and Javon Baker show flashes of being versatile, dynamic options that we typically see in the McVay/Shanahan offense. Scangarello figures to have some tweaks, but don’t expect Kentucky to revert back to the run-heavy Eddie Gran offense after Coen’s group posted the school’s best scoring unit since 2007.

LSU — Will there be any surprises in the QB hierarchy by spring’s end?

Brian Kelly’s first quarterback room is all sorts of deep, especially with the addition of Jayden Daniels from Arizona State, who is expected to enroll at LSU this spring. That means he and ageless Myles Brennan will be the favorites to win the starting job. Garrett Nussmeier is entering his redshirt freshman season, so in all likelihood, he’s facing an uphill climb this spring, as is No. 5 class of 2022 quarterback Walker Howard.

This is how I’d expect the QB depth chart to look after spring:

  • QB1: Jayden Daniels OR Myles Brennan OR Garrett Nussmeier
  • QB2: Walker Howard

Why would Kelly put Nussmeier on that potential QB1 line? He can bounce as an undergraduate and play immediately elsewhere. I’m guessing we’ll see him get plenty of first-team reps even if it feels like Daniels and Brennan are the guys. Anything besides that would be considered a surprise. That includes Kelly naming a starter out of spring. He doesn’t have to do that. Instead, he can facilitate a true battle with Daniels and Brennan both hoping for a banner 2022 to get some NFL eyes on them.

MSU — What does the Charles Cross replacement look like?

As a potential top-10 pick in the NFL Draft, Cross played a huge role in keeping Will Rogers clean in 2021. MSU’s offensive line was much improved in 2021, which allowed Mike Leach’s Air Raid to actually look the part in ways that it didn’t in 2020. It’s such a key piece moving forward. Why? There are too many dominant edge rushers who can win 1-on-1 matchups to be a liability at left tackle.

Nick Jones could be the replacement there after playing right tackle for 74 snaps in the bowl game. He’s not built like Cross at around 300 pounds, but he’s at least a Year 4 guy who showed promise. Percy Lewis is the more likely option there after he enrolled at MSU in January as the No. 3 JUCO offensive tackle. At 6-8, 360 pounds, he’s certainly not lacking size to pass protect, but does he have the quick feet needed to keep Rogers upright?

If neither Jones nor Lewis looks up to the challenge, we could see MSU be a major player in the post-spring transfer portal, though that’s not exactly the easiest sell to an offensive lineman when you’re asking them to pass protect 50 times per game against a bunch of future first-round edge guys. Leach could be dependent on finding Cross’ replacement internally.

Mizzou — Does the Luther Burden hype train get rolling even faster?

To be fair, Mizzou started spring practice in mid-February and we know that the Burden hype train is cruising. Why? This video of Burden catching a simple out route had over 11,000 Twitter views in just a few days:

Burden is going to get all the buzz and understandably so. He signed with Mizzou as the No. 1 receiver in the entire 2022 class. Eli Drinkwitz will put him in spots to succeed early and often. I’d expect to see a few highlight reel moments of Burden this spring, especially as Mizzou tries to establish its downfield passing attack. Last year, Alabama’s Agiye Hall was the receiver who became a spring sensation. Nobody would be surprised to see Burden step into a similar role, though for the sake of Mizzou fans, hopefully he’ll have a bigger immediate impact than Hall had with the Tide in 2021.

Ole Miss — Will we see 2020 levels of offensive-defensive imbalance?

The big offseason storyline of Ole Miss’ 2021 offseason was that the defense finally felt like it could compete with Lane Kiffin and Jeff Lebby’s high-powered offseason. That continued into the regular season when Ole Miss posted its best regular-season win total in program history, thanks in part to its significant defensive improvement.

With DJ Durkin off to Texas A&M, are we about to see Ole Miss revert to 2020 levels? That group lost a lot, including the likes of Sam Williams and Chance Campbell, both of whom were invaluable front-7 guys who harassed SEC backfields. The good news is that Ole Miss actually returns 68% of last year’s defensive production, including the versatile Otis Reese and AJ Finley to lead the secondary, which also got an underrated addition of Iowa State transfer Isheem Young. We should also see more of freakish defensive linemen JJ Pegues (Auburn transfer) and Tywone Malone (9 snaps as a true freshman), who should be a force when he’s not hitting dingers for the Ole Miss baseball team:

Even if the offense looks superior in spring ball, the defense should be in position to avoid those 2020 flashbacks.

South Carolina — Can anything stop the good vibes?

It would take several key injuries for South Carolina to lose all the post-mayo momentum it has. Shane Beamer is riding high into the spring thanks to the offseason addition of QB Spencer Rattler. The former projected No. 1 overall pick is hoping to have a second life in Columbia after losing his job at Oklahoma to Caleb Williams. But for a program that hasn’t had a quarterback earn All-SEC honors or get drafted since joining the conference, Rattler’s addition was monumental.

Beyond that, South Carolina fans should be fired up about this promising offense, which looked much better down the stretch in 2021. Jaheim Bell’s emergence was huge as a hybrid receiver/tight end. That’s partially why the addition of Oklahoma tight end Austin Stogner made so much sense. That’s for an offense who was already set to return leading receiver Josh Vann and promising young tailback MarShawn Lloyd.

South Carolina and Tennessee are the ultimate “good vibes” teams this offseason after their Year 1 coaches exceeded expectations. All signs point to that continuing into fall.

Tennessee — Who’s the leader of that defense?

I admittedly spent all offseason talking about how many key defensive pieces Tennessee lost via the transfer portal in the wake of the Jeremy Pruitt fallout. What I overlooked was just how key Alontae Taylor and Matthew Butler were for elevating the floor of the post-Pruitt defense. Now, though, they’re gone. The question is who will be the guy to command respect and provide the stability needed?

The good news is that the Vols return Byron Young, Jeremy Banks and Tyler Baron in the front 7. Baron had briefly entered the transfer portal, but returned to the Vols. It’s been well documented that Josh Heupel’s offense isn’t exactly known for playing complementary football. It’s home run plays and 3-and-outs. It’s somewhat inevitable that it’ll undergo some rough stretches, much like we saw in the bowl game. Having a veteran or 2 to keep the ship afloat during those tough moments will be key for that group if it wants to avoid a step back in 2022.

Texas A&M — How mobile will Max Johnson and Haynes King be?

Ah, you thought my big question would be who emerges as the starter? Nah. Jimbo Fisher doesn’t work like that. That starter might not come out until the Aggies are in game week heading into the 2022 opener. But what will be interesting is what we see in the mobility department from King and Johnson.

King is coming off a broken leg. His athleticism was a huge part of his game, which was why he entered 2021 as one of the more intriguing quarterbacks in the country.

How much will we see that mobility throughout spring? It remains to be seen. One would think that would be a key factor in determining A&M’s starter. If King doesn’t have that same mobility, obviously that opens Johnson’s door that much more.

And with Johnson, we really didn’t see his mobility a whole lot at LSU. That wasn’t the offense. Perhaps it should’ve been. We’ll never know. It’s not that Johnson is immobile, but he can’t do the things beyond the line of scrimmage that King can, at least when he’s at full strength. It’ll be interesting to see if those 2 look like they’re on the same level as runners during spring ball.

Vanderbilt — Will Mike Wright and Ken Seals both stick around through the spring?

You have to love it when a team signs 3 quarterbacks in the same class. That’s what Vandy did by adding 3 signal-callers in 2022. Under Armour All-American quarterback AJ Swann is the only one of them who’s already enrolled. My guess is that he’ll have a legitimate chance to step into a backup role and potentially start games as a true freshman.

Seals staying at Vandy was a bit of a surprise after Wright took over as the starter down the stretch. It wasn’t like Wright was a game-changer at the position, but he did have more success stringing together scoring drives. If Wright emerges as the clear favorite out of camp, could that mean Seals is on the move with 3 years of eligibility left? Or on the flip side, could Wright bolt if Seals reclaims the job he won out of camp last year before injuries and poor play opened the door for Wright?

Clark Lea would prefer to avoid a scenario in which he had 1 starter with 3 true freshmen as understudies.