Athlon Sports ranked the 128 potential FBS starting quarterbacks for the 2016 season prior to spring practice.

That’s a pretty big undertaking, and a largely subjective one, considering many of these quarterbacks have yet to play a down for their schools.

Still yet, it is fun to think about where quarterbacks rank in comparison to their peers, and Athlon Sports does give an explanation for their ranking of each player.

Here’s where the 14 SEC quarterbacks landed on the list:

  • 104. Kyle Shurmur, Vanderbilt
  • 100. Perry Orth, South Carolina
  • 83. Nick Fitzgerald, Mississippi State
  • 82. Luke Del Rio, Florida
  • 75. Drew Lock, Mizzou
  • 65. John Franklin, Auburn
  • 64. Drew Barker, Kentucky
  • 63. Austin Allen, Arkansas
  • 53. Trevor Knight, Texas A&M
  • 50. Blake Barnett, Alabama
  • 47. Brandon Harris, LSU
  • 46. Jacob Eason, Georgia
  • 12. Joshua Dobbs, Tennessee
  • 6. Chad Kelly, Ole Miss

Some quick thoughts on those rankings:

  • It’s no surprise to those of us that follow the SEC, but the expectations for Joshua Dobbs and Chad Kelly will be through the roof this season.
  • Jacob Eason is highly regarded and likely a future star of the league, but to place him as third best QB in the SEC and near the top third of all of the QBs in college football as a true freshman seems optimistic given the steep learning curve from high school ball.
  • Athlon likes John Franklin to come in and take the job away from Jeremy Johnson and Sean White at Auburn.
  • Austin Allen received a pretty favorable rating without much to back it. Perhaps they’re giving him some credit for his brother’s work for the Razorbacks?
  • Nick Fitzgerald has looked pretty good in spot play behind Dak Prescott, and I’d suspect most Mississippi State fans expect him to perform better than his spot on this list.