I don’t know about you, but I’m itching to talk about actual football instead of realignment.

Lucky for you, reader of this column, we’re right in the middle of Top 25 Week, where that sort of thing is celebrated.

Every year, it feels like we have no shortage of questions in the SEC. But this year, the final year of the 4-team Playoff AND the final year of the 14-team SEC, things feel more jumbled than ever.

Here are the 25 burning questions I have about the SEC in 2023:

25. How will Zach Arnett handle succeeding Mike Leach?

SEC voters apparently don’t think this will go well based on the Bulldogs being picked to finish last in the West. I, however, am an Arnett believer who likes the offensive coordinator hire he made with Kevin Barbay, as well as his self-demotion away from defensive play-calling duties. Arnett is the SEC’s youngest head coach since Lane Kiffin at Tennessee in 2009, and he’s the second-youngest in Power 5. But don’t be surprised if and when he keeps the Bulldogs afloat in the West.

24. Will Dallas Turner be the All-American he was billed as entering 2022?

Don’t get it twisted. Turner was still a really solid player, but last year, I predicted that he’d lead the SEC in sacks instead of Will Anderson. In my defense, I thought with all the attention Anderson would receive on the opposite side that Turner would thrive. He only had 4 sacks and 8 tackles for loss, but there’s a feeling now that Turner could actually be better suited to replace Anderson at JACK linebacker rather than complement him on the opposite side.

23. Can Graham Mertz be better than the guy we saw at Wisconsin?

Because he wasn’t particularly good. The former U.S. Army All-American Bowl MVP never really established himself as the stud the Badgers thought they were getting. Now with Billy Napier at Florida, he’s trying to beat out Jack Miller and ultimately replace the electric but inconsistent Anthony Richardson. Even just being an average SEC quarterback and reaching Austin Appleby levels would be a win for Mertz.

22. What’s next for Luther Burden in the slot?

Much was made about Burden’s role in Mizzou’s offense last year upon his arrival as a decorated 5-star wideout. The lack of touches at times was maddening, but those who watched him realized it wasn’t as simple as lining him up on the outside and trusting that he could get separation. Now, Burden will be playing in the slot the majority of his reps. With Dominic Lovett in that role, he only lined up there 66 times compared to 454 out wide (via PFF). But with Lovett off to Georgia, it made sense to put Burden in that role to perhaps create some mismatches and get him in space.

21. Which of the 10 new offensive coordinators will have the highest post-2023 approval rating?

That’s right. Ten new offensive coordinators. Count ’em:

  • Tommy Rees, Alabama
  • Dan Enos, Arkansas
  • Phil Montgomery, Auburn
  • Mike Bobo, Georgia
  • Liam Coen, Kentucky
  • Kevin Barbay, Mississippi State
  • Kirby Moore, Mizzou
  • Dowell Loggains, South Carolina
  • Joey Halzle, Tennessee
  • Bobby Petrino, Texas A&M

That’s wild. And yeah, Coen is returning to Kentucky while Bobo was an in-house promotion. Still, though. We’ve got loads of new play-callers in the SEC. Who will be 1-and-done? Who will be Broyles Award candidates? Who will divide a fanbase? We’ll find out soon enough.

20. Will Devin Leary pick up where he left off in 2021?

At this time last year, Leary was the ACC Preseason Player of the Year. Then he underwent an unprecedented surgery after a torn pec ended his 2022 season early. The question is if Leary, who transferred to Kentucky to replace Will Levis, will look like the guy who broke Philip Rivers’ single-season touchdown pass record at NC State. Will he be limited at all? Will Kentucky’s revamped offensive line hold up? Can he be the Cats’ first All-SEC quarterback in 16 years? All are legitimate questions.

19. Will Lane Kiffin get a marquee win?

Kiffin has been exactly what Ole Miss could’ve hoped for. I won’t deny that. What I will mention is a pretty alarming stat. In his career as a head coach, he’s 1-19 against Power 5 teams who won at least 9 regular season games. The first and only time he recorded such a win was when he was at USC in 2011 and he beat Oregon. Can Kiffin finally beat Alabama? Or maybe he’ll take down LSU? Either would be his most impressive win as a head coach.

18. Can any SEC head coach get fired?

You’ll notice that I used the word “can” there. I say that because we need to talk about these buyouts. With half the SEC coaches making at least $9 million annually, we’ve got some ballooned buyouts. Don’t put a coach on a hot seat if you don’t know his buyout. Like, Jimbo Fisher getting $76.8 million from A&M to not work isn’t happening. Personally, I don’t think either Florida’s Billy Napier getting a $31 million buyout or recently-extended Eli Drinkwitz at Missouri getting $20 million to not work makes sense. The guy with the most approachable buyout might actually be Sam Pittman, who has been in nothing but good standing with Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek. Consider that a reminder that while conventional wisdom always suggests an SEC coach will be fired, this year might be more complicated than that.

17. Can Quinshon Judkins avoid the sophomore slump?

I love Judkins’ game and hope that we get to see him do his thing every Saturday for Ole Miss. Herschel Walker was the only SEC true freshman who ran for more yards than Judkins. But there is some history that indicates that stud freshman backs in the SEC often struggle to stay healthy in Year 2. Judkins’ workload was the highest among Power 5 freshmen in 6 years. Will Kiffin dial it back a touch to preserve his best player? And if he does, will it take away from his ability to wear down a defense? Time will tell.

16. Is Maason Smith about to be the second coming of Jalen Carter?

If there’s anybody in the SEC who has a chance to do so, it’s Smith. After missing all but 1 series of 2022 with a torn ACL he suffered celebrating a teammate’s defensive stand, Smith is back. Two different coaching staffs at LSU heaped praise onto Smith and have hinted that he’s about to become the next big thing. That’s saying a lot for someone with 5 career starts. But his explosiveness at his size could be the difference in LSU winning the SEC.

15. What’s next for Harold Perkins as more of a traditional linebacker?

Much has been made of the decision to have Perkins in more of a traditional linebacker role instead of sticking him on the edge. It’ll be interesting to see how he plays off the aforementioned Smith, as well as third-team All-America defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo. Perkins was a revelation as a true freshman for LSU. It’s why he’s a no-doubter preseason All-American entering 2023. But if he disappears a couple weeks in a row, we’ll likely hear calls to just line him up on the edge and let him pin his ears back as a pass-rusher.

14. How will we feel about Texas and Oklahoma at the end of their last non-SEC seasons?

It can change in a hurry. We didn’t really have much indication that A&M was going to be a threat in the SEC after 2011, and then Johnny Manziel happened in Year 1 in the SEC in 2012. Maybe the Longhorns will win the Big 12 in their final year and Oklahoma’s bounce-back year will lead to a New Year’s 6 bowl berth. What are the odds that the SEC adds a pair of top-15 teams? Alternatively, what are the odds that one of them actually moves on from their head coach? We probably shouldn’t rule out either scenario.

13. Is the South Carolina we saw in late-November going to show up in 2023?

I spent all day with Shane Beamer in Nashville, and if I had a nickel for every time he was asked about the momentum built by beating Tennessee and Clemson, well, I could’ve had his new $6.5 million contract. The question is if South Carolina turned the page or if it just got hot at the right time after a middling season. If the Gamecocks are that team, they’ll have a better showing against Georgia and they’ll end the strange 4-year Mizzou losing streak. If they aren’t that team, we probably won’t refer to that late-2022 surge as “momentous.”

12. How significant is Alabama’s offensive shift back to the ground game?

Murderball is getting ready to return to Tuscaloosa. At least that’s what we’ve been told will be the emphasis with new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. How much of that is quarterback-related and how much of that is just a desire to lean on the areas where Alabama should have an advantage? I’d argue a little bit of both. What we do know is that Alabama ran the ball well last year by virtue of finishing No. 30 in America in rushing yards/game and No. 4 in yards/carry. The problem was it finished No. 82 in carries. It’s been 6 years since Alabama finished in the top half of FBS in carries/game. My bet is that changes this year.

11. How do Will Rogers and KJ Jefferson handle significant scheme changes?

We need to be talking about this more. The SEC’s 2 most experienced quarterbacks — at least in terms of facing SEC competition — are both transitioning to more pro-style schemes. Jefferson will even take some snaps under center in the Dan Enos offense at Arkansas. It’ll be less tempo than the Kendal Briles scheme, and Jefferson will be asked to make more decisions post-snap. Rogers will shift away from the 1-of-1 Mike Leach Air Raid and instead get more of a pistol-focused offense under Barbay at MSU. He’ll get to stretch the field more … and he won’t throw the ball 50 times per game. It’ll be interesting to see their first month in their new offenses and how they progress.

10. Will Billy Napier rise above Florida’s lowest season of expectations since the pre-Steve Spurrier era?

Since Year 1 of the Spurrier era, here are all the seasons that Florida started unranked in the AP Top 25:

  • 1990 (Year 1 of Spurrier)
  • 2003 (picked to finish 3rd in East)
  • 2014 (picked to finish 3rd in East)
  • 2015 (picked to finish 5th in East)
  • 2018 (picked to finish 3rd in East)

Just add 2023 to that list. The oddsmakers have Florida’s regular season win total at 5.5, and it was picked to finish 5th in the East. Yeah, that’s telling. Part of it is the schedule, which includes regular season bookends against 2-time defending Pac-12 champ Utah and preseason top-10 team Florida State. But yeah, the lack of a splashy quarterback addition coupled with the questions on defense with new 20-something defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong have expectations low. Perhaps that’s just what Napier needs.

9. Can Brock Bowers solidify himself as the G.O.A.T. of college football tight ends?

I did a full breakdown of this on The Saturday Down South Podcast earlier in the offseason, but here’s the gist. I believe Bowers could never play another college down and still be worthy of Mount Rushmore status (top 4) among the sport’s tight ends. If the Georgia All-American simply repeats his performance from the last 2 years before heading off to the NFL, I believe Bowers is the best tight end in college football history. He already has more career receiving touchdowns than Vernon Davis and Kellen Winslow Sr. combined. Bowers has more career receiving yards than the great Keith Jackson and he’s 97 scrimmage yards from passing Ozzie Newsome. G.O.A.T. status awaits.

8. Will a new QB1 at Georgia or Alabama become a star?

It’s strange to ask, but I’ll fire away — who left bigger shoes to fill between Stetson Bennett IV and Bryce Young? Both, I’d argue, were their program’s best quarterback ever. Now, both have to be replaced. Early indications suggest that Carson Beck has a better shot of becoming a star, but think about this. The last 4 Alabama starting quarterbacks (Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones, Bryce Young) went on to at least earn a Heisman Trophy invite. Whoever wins the Alabama starting job has sky-high expectations, but perhaps also has the most favorable path to stardom, even if that aforementioned shift back to a more balanced offense exists. I’d bet Alabama or Georgia will send a quarterback to New York.

7. Is Hugh Freeze exactly what the doctor ordered for Auburn?

So far, so good. Freeze recruited his tail off, both at the high school level and in the transfer portal. That was obviously needed after the struggles Bryan Harsin endured as a newcomer to the region. Can Freeze get Auburn back on the right side of the win column after it suffered consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1998-99? Freeze’s return to the SEC was one of the most intriguing storylines of the offseason. If he even produces an 8-4 regular season, the Tigers will have a much different vibe heading into the new 12-team Playoff era in 2024.

6. Will Spencer Rattler put it all together and be that guy with Dowell Loggains?

I find myself asking repeatedly this offseason — who is Spencer Rattler? All reports internally at South Carolina suggest that Rattler isn’t the guy many think he is, and that his Year 5 in college will be when he puts together a full season of brilliance. He’ll have another new offensive coordinator with Loggains, who got rave reviews from Connor Shaw, Alshon Jeffery and Jay Cutler. Still, Loggains has never called plays at the college level. His relationship with Rattler, who put together arguably the best single-game performance of any quarterback last year against Tennessee, could determine how his roller coaster career is defined.

5. Can Joe Milton be more than Tennessee’s Uncle Rico and hold off Nico Iamaleava?

We know that Milton can throw a football over those mountains. Lord knows it’s fantastic content to see some of the things he can do with a football. But more important for Milton is whether he can hold down a starting job in what’ll be his third opportunity at the Power 5 level. He looked the part last year, albeit in a limited sample size. Doing so as the week-to-week starter is entirely different, especially knowing that a decorated 5-star quarterback is waiting behind him. If Milton can simply be the guy for the entire regular season and keep Tennessee’s high-octane offense afloat, that’d be a major feather in Josh Heupel’s growing cap.

4. Is Brian Kelly about to ascend to the next level?

I’d argue he took another step last year. Beating Alabama and winning the West in Year 1 quieted a whole lot of people who said that “it was a Kelly thing, not a Notre Dame thing.” A Kelly thing is that he’s got 6 consecutive seasons of double-digit wins, and this team could be his best of the bunch. No, LSU wasn’t picked to win the West, but you could argue that LSU has the fewest personnel questions of anyone in the SEC, including Georgia. If Kelly leads LSU to an SEC title in Year 2, it will quiet any lingering doubt about his status as a top-5 coach in the sport.

3. How will the Jimbo Fisher-Bobby Petrino marriage work?

I nearly put this No. 1, but then I thought to myself, “No, Connor. This is a 5-7 team and it isn’t more intriguing than dynasties on the line.” But consider that my way of saying I’m here for ANY way this Petrino-Fisher relationship ends up. If 2 guys who haven’t had to answer to anyone on the offensive side of the ball in 20 years can get along swimmingly, that’ll give us an exciting A&M offense that’s loaded with weapons. If the relationship is rocky, well, we’re about to get some awkward, must-see Fisher press conferences. Either way, those of us without any sort of rooting interest are winners.

2. Does Alabama have another title run in it?

If you want to put this question at No. 1 for the entire country, I’d have no argument. Here’s why this is pivotal. If there’s ever a time for Alabama to show that it isn’t done yet, now is it. Since Alabama became what it is today, it had 3 instances of not being picked to win the SEC (2009, 2012 and 2015). What happened those 3 years? The Tide won the SEC and national titles. These are the lowest preseason expectations we’ve seen for an Alabama team since 2009. If they really do feel, as JC Latham said, “disrespected,” this is the perfect preamble to win another title under Nick Saban. Since he’s been at Alabama, they’ve never gone 3 seasons without a ring. Anything less than that this year would feel like the Tide’s run of dominance is finally slowing down.

1. Is Georgia going to become the first team to 3-peat since the first Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration?

Duh. You knew we were getting here. Two is incredible. Three is iconic. Three is the thing that no college football program has done since 1936 Minnesota, which is even more incredible when you consider that we often had split national champs in the 20th century. For Georgia to reach 3 in a row in the Playoff era would simply be the best team accomplishment in the history of the sport. Of course, that’ll be easier said than done. It hasn’t been an ideal offseason for the Dawgs, with 14 driving-related citations since the tragedy that took the lives of 2 members of the Georgia program the night following the championship parade. Anything short of another title and the natural public reaction will point to a lack of focus after an eventful offseason.

But if Georgia pulls off something that hasn’t happened since a year after Babe Ruth retired, the only question we’ll be asking is where to put Smart’s statue outside Sanford Stadium.