The SEC isn’t losing a group of quarterbacks as prolific as the one that departed the conference following the 2013 season.

Still, the returning players at the position won’t leave other conferences shaking in their boots.

On the plus side, young developing quarterbacks across the SEC should have an opportunity to compete for a starting job this spring, or at least position themselves for significant playing time should the first man get hurt or struggle.

Here are the Top 10 returning SEC quarterbacks ranked by their passing yards in 2015.

Player ’15 Class School ’14 Passing Yards TDs/INTs
1. Dak Prescott Senior Mississippi State 3,449 27/11
2. Patrick Towles Junior Kentucky 2,718 14/9
3. Maty Mauk Junior Missouri 2,648 25/13
4. Brandon Allen Senior Arkansas 2,285 20/5
5. Anthony Jennings Junior LSU 1,611 11/7
6. Kyle Allen Sophomore Texas A&M 1,322 16/7
7. Joshua Dobbs Junior Tennessee 1,206 9/6
8. Treon Harris Sophomore Florida 1,019 9/4
9. Johnny McCrary Sophomore Vanderbilt 985 9/8
10. Patton Robinette Junior Vanderbilt 454 3/3

This list does not include any players from Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and Georgia, all of which should be ranked as Top 25 teams entering the season. Each of those teams has the potential to unearth a strong starter in ’15, to varying degrees of certainty, starting with Auburn’s Jeremy Johnson.

It’s a little startling that the second-best returning quarterback by passing yards is Patrick Towles of Kentucky. Towles played some nice games last season, but he’s a long way from being a good college quarterback and isn’t assured to start for the Wildcats this fall.

His place near the top of the list is emblematic of the uncertainty at the position in the SEC in the last year or so. Many programs hope to get some clarity at quarterback during spring practice.

Missouri has to hope that Maty Mauk can top 3,000 yards this season and fulfill some of the expectations on him entering what was a slightly disappointing sophomore season.

Then there are several young players who enter spring practice as the favorites to start at their respective schools: LSU’s Anthony Jennings, Texas A&M’s Kyle Allen, Tennessee’s Joshua Dobbs and Vanderbilt’s Johnny McCrary. Allen and Dobbs, especially, could put together strong seasons in ’15 and even make a run at All-SEC.

Just two players on this list — Mississippi State’s Heisman hopeful Dak Prescott and Arkansas’ game manager Brandon Allen — are seniors. So the SEC should be more experienced at quarterback heading into the 2016 season, assuming some of the 10 players on this list perform well enough this fall to retain their starting jobs.