As we move deeper into the college football offseason, Saturday Down South is looking back to last season and ahead to next season all in one fell swoop by ranking the conference’s top returning players.

Among the SEC’s 14 starting quarterbacks in 2014 (the one player for each team who made the most starts), nine are returning to school for the 2015 season.

It’s no secret that quarterback has become the most important position on the field, so SDS ranked the nine returning starters throughout the conference.

Here’s our list:

9. Anthony Jennings, LSU: Jennings engineered the SEC’s worst passing offense in 2014, averaging shy of 163 yards per game through the air, more than 16 yards behind every other team in the conference. The Tigers had NFL prospects along the offensive line, one of the deepest stables of tailbacks in the conference and a few explosive wideouts, yet Jennings failed miserably to make it all work for the five-loss Bayou Bengals.

8. Treon Harris, Florida: To be fair to Harris, he was a true freshman who was thrust into the starting lineup mid-season for a program facing difficult expectations, but even after considering all those variables it’s tough to call his rookie campaign anything more than dreadful. The games Florida won in the second half of the season were largely due to defense and the run game, meaning if Florida ever actually had to use Harris as a passer it was indicative of bad things to come. However, if given the chance to start for a full season in 2015 Harris could begin to show improvements.

7. Johnny McCrary/Patton Robinette, Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt started four different quarterbacks during the 2014 season, three of which are returning to school this year. McCrary and Robinette appear to be the team’s primary options, as McCrary, a freshman in 2014, showed improvements as the season progressed and Robinette, perhaps the most seasoned of the bunch, is always battling one injury or another. Whoever starts more games in 2015 may be better equipped to win than in 2014, but the ‘Dores will still lack star power at the position more than most other teams in the SEC.

6. Patrick Towles, Kentucky: Towles, a first-year starter for UK as a redshirt sophomore, excelled in the first half of the season in the Cats’ Air Raid offense, leading the team to a 5-1 mark. However, during a six-game losing skid to close the season his play dropped off significantly, and he threw five of his nine interceptions on the year in his final four games. Towles was asked to do a lot as the leader of a young offense, and with five of the top 100 receivers in the 2014 recruiting class returning with experience, he should be able to take the next step in 2015.

5. Brandon Allen, Arkansas: Allen has never been regarded as a playmaker, but with both his 1,000-yard tailbacks returning for 2015 he won’t have to do anything more than be a game-manager, a role he excelled in as Arkansas won seven games in 2015. He’s especially admirable when it comes to protecting the football, throwing just five interceptions in 13 games last year including just one in his final six games of the season.

4. Kyle Allen, Texas A&M: Allen was another true freshman thrust into a starting role midseason after Kenny Hill’s struggles on and off the field began affecting the Aggies’ season, and although it took him a few weeks to get comfortable by the end of the season he appeared poised and prepared enough to be a starter in the conference. A&M has a deeper stable of explosive wideouts than any other team in the conference, and if Allen continues to grow at the rate we’ve seen he could lead one of the nation’s best offenses in 2015.

3. Maty Mauk, Missouri: Mauk spent much of the 2014 season scrambling from sideline to sideline in the backfield looking to make plays outside the pocket. Whether this was due to his own happy feet in the pocket or a lack of protection, it ultimately ended up limiting the Tigers passing game severely. Mauk is one of the most experienced returning starters in the conference, and he’s certainly capable of making plays on the run with a less-than-stellar group of receivers, but he’ll need to show more poise in the pocket if he hopes to take the next step next season.

2. Joshua Dobbs, Tennessee: Dobbs turned Tennessee’s season around in 2014 when he took over as the starter in the second half of the year. The Vols were 3-5 in games he did not start, but an impressive 4-1 with him under center. His mobility helped compensate for a lackluster offensive line, and his ability to rapidly build rapport with a ton of underclassmen at the skill positions indicates the Tennessee offense could burst on the scene with a full season of Dobbs in 2015.

1. Dak Prescott, Mississippi State: Prescott was voted the first-team All-SEC quarterback by the coaches and the media in 2014, and he finished in the top 10 in the Heisman voting while finishing in the top 3 of the Davey O’Brien Award voting. He also led an under-the-radar Mississippi State program to only its second 1o-win season since World War II, so it’s easy to see why he’s ranked No. 1 on this list. He likely would have been drafted in this spring’s NFL Draft, but wanted one more year with head coach Dan Mullen to work on his game before taking the leap to the pros. That maturity, intelligence (he’s already earned his undergraduate degree), talent and athleticism makes him a no-brainer to top this list.