Ranking the Top 10 SEC quarterbacks entering the 2016 season
By far the game’s most important position was woefully underrepresented a few weeks ago at SEC Media Days.
Only three of the 42 players invited to Hoover, Ala., line up at quarterback, which says a lot about the current crop of signal callers. Half of the conference’s 14 teams are yet to name a starter.
To repeat what I was told at The Wynfrey Hotel by CBS Sports college football analyst Gary Danielson, this is a difficult league to break into for a QB. Not only are defensive linemen bigger and defensive backs faster, but expectations are higher and leashes shorter. There is a lack of experience overall under center.
The three passers on hand for Media Days were Chad Kelly of Ole Miss, Joshua Dobbs of Tennessee and Trevor Knight of Texas A&M. Knight was at Media Days in 2015, albeit Big 12 Media Days. He was still at Oklahoma.
Aside from that trio, our Top 10 quarterbacks for the 2016 campaign required an awful lot of speculation.
10. Drew Lock, Missouri: Originally a four-star recruit from the Show Me State, he was thrown to the wolves as a true freshman once Maty Mauk flamed out of the Tigers program for off-the-field issues. The highlights were few and far between, although Lock did chuck it for 244 yards and a touchdown to beat BYU and stop a four-game losing streak. Mizzou can’t possibly be as bad offensively in 2016, so there may be good things ahead for the 6-foot-4, 205-pounder.
9. Kyle Shurmur, Vanderbilt: Finally wrestling the starting job away from the now-departed Johnny McCrary, like Lock, Shurmur was overmatched in the SEC a year ago right out of high school. He was 13-of-26 for 166 yards with 2 TDs and 0 INTs in a 21-17 defeat of Kentucky, although he went a dreadful 3-of-12 for 19 yards and a pick seven days later against Texas A&M. However, coach Derek Mason has expressed confidence in him, and not having to look over his shoulder any longer should be a positive.
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8. Drew Barker, Kentucky: Throw Patrick Towles into the purgatory of passers chewed up and permanently spit out by defenses in this conference, but at least Barker had a chance to redshirt for a season before taking over in Lexington. Formerly the No. 1 QB recruit in the Bluegrass State, he was a serviceable 16-of-29 for 129 yards in a 58-10 beatdown of Charlotte. The 6-of-22 he put together the following week vs. Louisville can’t be repeated, though.
7. Austin Allen, Arkansas: If he turns out to be anything like his older brother, the highly underrated Brandon Allen, then the Razorbacks could continue their ascent in the SEC West. Reports out of Fayetteville suggest that Austin Allen has just as much arm and a little more mobility inside and outside the pocket. That being said, Brandon Allen became a great player in part due to all the experience he accumulated, while his younger sibling is yet to throw a pass that matters.
6. Luke Del Rio, Florida: The son of Oakland Raiders coach Jack Del Rio, he is nothing if not well-traveled. After starting his college career at Alabama, he transferred to Oregon State and completed 8-of-18 passes for the Beavers in 2014 without a touchdown or an interception. Del Rio will more than likely get the Week 1 nod over fellow transfer Austin Appleby and the freshman duo of Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask, probably because he is the safest choice.
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5. Jacob Eason, Georgia: Here come the boo birds from anyone not sentimentally attached to Athens, as Eason is only a few months removed from dominating at a prep program not exactly considered a powerhouse in Lake Stevens, Wash. But the five-star phenom proved that he can spin it with an eye-opening performance in the G-Day Game after just a few weeks of spring practice. He’s the most gifted Bulldogs passer since Matthew Stafford, with similar upside.
4. Brandon Harris, LSU: The fact that the much-maligned Harris comes in at No. 4 may be the loudest statement when evaluating this year’s SEC quarterbacks. Most everyone in and out of Baton Rouge believes that he’s single-handedly holding the Tigers back from being something special offensively, as Leonard Fournette is an all-timer in the backfield and both Malachi Dupre and Travin Dural will catch passes in the NFL. We’ve seen flashes, so now it’s time for consistency.
3. Trevor Knight, Texas A&M: If the former apple of Katy Perry’s eye never plays another game at the college level, he’ll always be a recognizable name in the conference for the way he lit up Alabama in a Sugar Bowl upset as a freshman. Following that magical moment, Knight endured more misses than hits at Oklahoma and rightfully lost his job to the sensational Baker Mayfield. But it only took Knight one offseason in College Station to gain the confidence of coach Kevin Sumlin and his new teammates.
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2. Joshua Dobbs, Tennessee: With Jalen Hurd leading the way and Alvin Kamara providing a quality change of pace, Dobbs gives the Volunteers a three-headed monster in the running game. Needless to say, his ability to deliver the football downfield is questionable at best, even coming off a TD-to-INT ratio a year ago of 15-to-5. His average of 6.7 yards per passing attempt in 2015 was actually the lowest of his career, plus his completion percentage of 59.6 needs to spike, too.
1. Chad Kelly, Ole Miss: There have only been three seasons of 4,000-plus yards passing in the illustrious history of the SEC, and Kelly already owns one of them (4,042). Tim Couch (4,275) and Johnny Manziel (4,114) managed to do it just once, so Kelly can become the first in conference annals to cross that plateau multiple times. Long on confidence and also an effective scrambler, he’s the premier player in the league at the position by a country-wide margin.
MISSING THE CUT
Cooper Bateman, Alabama: He’s probably the guy in Tuscaloosa, although we keep hearing chatter about Blake Barnett, David Cornwell and even Jalen Hurts.
Nick Fitzgerald, Mississippi State: Expecting him to be anything close to what Dak Prescott was the last two years is borderline unfair.
John Franklin III, Auburn: Maybe he’s the next Nick Marshall, or maybe he’s just a receiver throwing passes like he was at Florida State.
Brandon McIlwain, South Carolina: Beating out a former walk-on like Perry Orth shouldn’t be hard for a four-star recruit, but he’s a wait-and-see case.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
First off, you said that Brandan Mcllwain (a true freshman) is a “wait-and-see case”. By that logic shouldn’t Eason be in the same boat? I’m not saying that Eason won’t be a great QB in this league, but I don’t think he will be phenomenal for 2016. Second, look for Luke Del Rio and Austin Allen to really have good years and crack into that top five. Third, once Bama names their QB he’ll probably end up around 8/9. I don’t see Lock, Shurmer or Barker being good at all. Just my thoughts.
Noted. Rankings are meant to change from week to week. But heading into fall camp, this is how I see it. Techically, we’re all wait-and-see cases. You never know: I might forget how to spell tomorrow.
Haha, point made.
Got’cha John~~
Good point
This is a sad, sad list. I would actually take Sean White over anyone on this list except Dobbs and Kelly. Eason may turn out good…but you just don’t know until they get thrown into the fire.
Agree with everything you said EXCEPT the part about Sean White….please
You take you chances with White and I’ll take about 8 different QBs before I even think about him.
it will be interesting to see john franklin this year. i saw him play on that netflix series and he looks pretty tough. he threw some bombs that were right on the money. so, auburn might have found a diamond in the rough.
I really, really don’t want Cooper Bateman to back into the job at Bama. Barnett needs to get it locked up in fall camp. Bateman looked lost and timid last year against OM, and he has no long ball. Cornwell hasn’t won it yet, so he won’t. Hurts may end up the best of them but he just won’t be ready enough to convince Nick Saban this year. I think Lane Kiffin can get Barnett ready enough for Nick to go with a redshirt freshman.
First off, how in the hell is Jacob Eason on this list? But since you do, then you should have Shea Patterson ranked in front of him because Patterson was ranked higher than Eason and Patterson showed it on the field when he looked headed and shoulders better than Eason in the Army All American game.
Where is BamaTime? I need some help here BamaTime! Is it just me or does armyguy007 say everything with absolute certainty? Shea Patterson is a great prospect. So is Eason. I’ll take my guy over your guy. I’d like to hear what our fellow SDS visitors think… Eason or Patterson, everyone?
Armyguy is the biggest homer on the boards. The only players better then ole miss starters are the ole miss backups according to Armyguy.
Bamatime- You still pretending to be in the Army? What is it MOS? I was in the army for 9 years and can spot a fake from a mile away.
I maybe a homer but ur definitely the biggest troll. Tackman is the biggest idiot. What I said is fact, Patterson was the higher rated QB and even a blind person saw just how much better Patterson was than Eason when they played against one another.
Good for you for serving. I have been in for 18 years. No reason to try to talk about someone’s career when we are talking sports on a football board. Because if we went like that I would have to say that it would be my guess that you probably got chaptered out for being overweight. 9 years calling it quits probably not your choice……Now back to sports. You are beyond a homer as everything you say is defensive if it’s not Ole miss as the best. You post your opinion as if it’s a fact because you say it……Nobody cares how the two QBs did in a high school all american game.
I focused on the likely starters at each program. Kind of hard to put Patterson on this list when the best-case scenario is him not taking a meaningful snap all season long. Doesn’t mean he won’t be way up there next year when the job is surely is.
Then you should have just said that this list is ranking the top 10 STARTING QBs in the SEC, not the top 10 QBs in the SEC. Because if you list the top 10 QBs in the SEC and put Eason in that list, then you have to put Patterson in front of Eason. At least if ur going off their rankings and what they did on the field when they played one another. Patterson looked like he was ready made for college while Eason looked like he needed a red shirt year to get ready for college ball.
Armyguy007, if you’re words could be converted to an image, it would be a picture of a big ol’ bag of douches.
*your words.
Armyguy is going to argue you in the ground because you left a Ole Miss player off the list. Don’t worry about it because if you put him anywhere but Number 1 he would say he was to low….
Did you leave the MSST QB out(likely Fitzy but we dont know, just bc they wont put up the numbers Dak did? Because they could put of half of what dak did and easily be better than the last three on your list. Do you think our QB play will be that bad or is there just too much uncertainty there? Thanks
Because no player in the SEC last year had more of a load on his shoulders than Prescott. He was the Alpha and the Omega of everything they did for so long. It’s just impossible to predict what the new starter will be able to do in Starkville.
Gotcha
I bet Kelly took more loads on his face.
How can you SDS guys seriously rank a player who has NEVER PLAYED A DOWN OF SEC FOOTBALL? This Jacob Eason thing is worse than last years Jeremy-Johnson-is-the-next-Heisman-winner.
Crist, you lose all credibility.
Did you not understand that one quarterback from each school was chosen? The ranking system was not to say that Jacob Eason is automatically already better than Lock, Barker, Bateman etc, but that the likelihood of Eason starting is 5th most likely in the SEC right now. Eason’s only competition is a noodle arm Greyson Lambert and an interception machine in Brice Ramsey. He doesn’t have to put up much to the coaches to win the job at Georgia, whereas some of the other “lower ranked” starters on this list have quite the battle ahead of them in fall camp.
Let’s see…14 schools, 10 quarterbacks.
By your definition, a walk-on that started one game last year and was terrible deserves to be ranked higher than an incoming five-star phenom expected to be a first-round draft pick one day. Use your imagination just a little bit. The recruiting services are wrong from time to time, which is understandable given what they’re evaluating, but they’re usually pretty accurate. Eason’s potential is undeniable. We’ll see if he realizes it or not.
A new QB at Georgia matches well with a first time head coach. At least with a new coach, no one has their hooks in him forcing him to play this one or that one. I think at Georgia this season, we may see the very best QB playing, which will be refreshing.
The quarterback noted for Kentucky was 1 for 14 against Louisville in the second half. That was for a total of minus one year.
I pity the players noted in positions 9 and 10.
Imo..im a huge TN fan but dont think Dobbs has enuf talent to be #2. Sure, he is great at running with the ball when needed, but his completions need much work and I see Eason as possibly the best SEC east QB as far completions.
Enuf? Really?
Just stop man. The kid hasn’t played a down yet. We don’t need Vols jumping on the Eason hype train also. Dobbs has earned the right to be second on this list. He has to be a better passer, but he has every other quality/intangible that you want in a QB. Not to mention he is the only QB in SEC history to throw for over 300 and run for over 100 in a game, twice.
I would agree with Chad Kelly being number 1 Pre-season. IMO, he can only go down if his supporting castes are up to par.
Josh Dobbs as number 2 — I think he has a lot of potential but hasn’t shown what some of the others have shown. 3-5 but not two. He’s one dimensional for the most part. I think he’s a great guy but he hasn’t been able to throw the long ball.
Jacob Eason — #5 for Pre-season. He’s never played a down of college football. I’m not saying he won’t be good but we’ve all seen great HS players never materialize at the college level. He should be 7-10
as Ark fan — Austin Allen, word is he’ll be better than his brother but until he proves it but he’s at least a 4-6 IMO.
Just curious. Who are the QB’s you would put ahead of Dobbs, besides Kelly? Dobbs passing has to improve, but he has won big games. Won every bowl game he has played in. Is the only QB in SEC history to throw for over 300 and run for over 100 in a game, twice. You can argue that there are QB’s with better passing ability, but Dobbs track record and list of accomplishment is much better than anyone on this list besides Kelly. Del Rio, Knight, Allen, and Eason have never played one snap in the SEC and Harris isn’t good through the air either and is a worse runner and decision maker than Dobbs. So, I am really curious who you would put ahead of Dobbs, besides Kelly.
Lynn, I only hope that Austin is half as good as his brother. We need a strong Quarterback for the next 3 building years~~
As this list indicates, the SEC may very well be in some type of rebuilding mode.