Ranking the SEC's offensive play-callers for 2020
After ranking the Southeastern Conference head coaches for the upcoming season a few weeks back, we thought readers would appreciate a rundown of the best offensive minds in the league heading into the 2020 college football season.
Keep in mind, this list set out to rank the 14 coaches who will be calling the vast majority of the plays in the fall. Many of the league’s head coaches have a hand in game-planning and might even call plays from time to time, but these are the 14 coaches who will be making most of the calls on Saturdays. That’s why there are some head coaches listed below along with several offensive coordinators.
Without further ado, here’s how we rank SEC’s offensive play-callers for 2020:
No. 14 Jeff Lebby — Ole Miss
We all know Lane Kiffin will have a heavy hand in the offense in Oxford, which leads me to believe the Rebels will have a quality offense before long, but Lebby will be the one calling plays this fall. Lebby is an up and coming assistant who received some SEC interest before joining Kiffin’s Ole Miss staff. The former UCF OC ran one of the best offenses in the American Athletic Conference in recent seasons and his stock is one expected to quickly rise in the years to come.
No. 13 Todd Fitch — Vanderbilt
Louisiana Tech ran an efficient offense under Fitch in 2019 (the unit ranked No. 1 in 3rd-down conversion rate and 2nd in scoring in Conference USA), but the main reason for ranking Vanderbilt’s new offensive coordinator so low has to do with the fact the Commodores completely turned over their quarterback room this offseason. Nobody has experience. There’s a chance true freshman Ken Seals starts under center, and losing NFL draftee Ke’Shawn Vaughn is likely going to make for a rough season of offense for Vanderbilt.
No. 12 Chad Morris — Auburn
The legendary career of Deshaun Watson continues to prop up the coaching achievements of Morris, despite the fact the former Clemson offensive coordinator left Dabo Swinney’s program before the quarterback accomplished anything of significance in college. We are all well aware of the struggles experienced at Arkansas in recent seasons, but if you dive a bit deeper into Morris’ SMU program, you’ll see that quarterback Ben Hicks broke several school passing marks while with the Mustangs. That looks good on paper, but in reality, Hicks regressed during his college career and proved to be a bust last season in Fayetteville after leaving SMU to reunite with Morris at Arkansas. If Auburn is going to take a step forward this season, Morris will have to do a better job with Bo Nix than he ever proved capable of doing with Hicks.
No. 11 Eli Drinkwitz — Missouri
Drinkwitz’s quick rise in the coaching ranks is due to his offensive acumen and if he can quickly get that side of the ball rolling in Columbia, there’s an outstanding chance Mizzou will return to a bowl game immediately this season. The biggest question I have for Drinkwitz is how much production can he get out of a quarterback room without much college experience and a receiving corps likely to be led by a 3-time transfer in Damon Hazelton Jr. If Drinkwitz struggles to manufacture a passing game, Mizzou’s opponents will be quick to stack the box and force the Tigers to beat them through the air. We’ll quickly find out how creative Missouri’s head coach proves to be and if he can handle both the play-calling duties and head coaching responsibilities in the SEC.
No. 10 Todd Monken — Georgia
Considering how eager Dawg Nation has been to kick offensive coordinators to the curb, it’s been surprising to see how many Georgia fans called out this ranking for Monken after I posted it on Twitter. Those fans might prove to be correct, as I’ve not watched enough NFL games to get a great read on Monken’s offensive system in recent seasons. However, putting Georgia’s OC in the bottom half of this list has more to do with the situation he’s inheriting than anything else. There have been plenty of analysts quick to anoint Jamie Newman as the next great college quarterback, but when you consider all the moving parts around him, I’m not ready to go there. Georgia has all the talent necessary to succeed, but until we see the offense run effectively in Athens, I’m not yet ready to give Monken a higher ranking than No. 10.
No. 9 Steve Sarkisian — Alabama
Sarkisian is a difficult play-caller to grade as he’s had arguably more talent to work with than any coach in the country in recent seasons. Lane Kiffin has even joked that his son could call the plays in Tuscaloosa and the Tide would roll. Sark shouldn’t be downgraded simply because he’s had a ton of great players to work with, but we do know that his Washington and USC programs got better after he left and the Atlanta Falcons offense got much worse when he took over as offensive coordinator.
We’ll never know how Alabama would have fared had Kiffin been around to call the plays in the 2016 National Championship Game but many believe the Crimson Tide would have won that game. This fall should give us a much better indication of the caliber of play-caller Nick Saban has running the Alabama offense after losing several key players to the NFL.
No. 8 Steve Ensminger — LSU
This ranking is likely going to cause outrage from LSU fans, but I can’t put Ensminger much higher until he proves last season wasn’t an outlier. If you study his career as a coordinator, that’s exactly what 2019’s results appear to be. Outside of last fall, Ensminger’s units have been middle of the road against quality competition. If Myles Brennan lives up to the hype this fall, Ensminger will rise up this list in a hurry, but until we see the LSU offense without Joe Burrow and Joe Brady leading the Tigers’ passing attack, this spot fits for Ed Orgeron’s coordinator.
No. 7 Mike Bobo — South Carolina
After what feels like a dozen offensive coordinator hires during his head coaching career, Will Muschamp might have finally found the right fit by hiring Bobo. The Gamecocks have not lacked quarterback talent during Muschamp’s tenure but have failed time and again to develop it. On the other hand, Bobo helped develop Aaron Murray, a quarterback lacking elite traits, and turned him into one of the most productive passers in SEC history. While it’s accurate to note that Bobo always had talent to work with under Mark Richt, Georgia’s offense never recovered from his departure and it ultimately led to Richt’s dismissal. Now that he’s back in the league, Bobo might manage to save his new boss’ job.
No. 6 Kendal Briles — Arkansas
Briles’ ability to get his offenses up to speed immediately is impressive. That characteristic should have Razorbacks fans excited for the coming season after 2 seasons of failures on that side of the ball. There aren’t many coaches who could have jumped from Baylor to FAU to Houston to FSU in consecutive seasons and experienced the level of success Briles had at the first 3 programs before the Willie Taggart era came to a screeching halt in Tallahassee. Things didn’t go according to plan for Briles last season, but if he can work around an average offensive line in 2020, the Razorbacks have enough firepower to make some noise on offense next season in Fayetteville.
No. 5 Jimbo Fisher — Texas A&M
This selection might surprise many for being too low, but I don’t see why some rate Fisher as 1 of the 3 best head coaches in the league. Certainly not based on anything he’s done since 2014. In my view, he’s not even been one of the better play-callers in the league since his arrival. That’s not to say Texas A&M won’t reach new heights under Fisher, but I’m not giving him the benefit of the doubt until he actually proves it. Kellen Mond didn’t play any better as a junior, which is also a red flag to me. If Mond isn’t one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC in 2020, it might be time to stop considering Fisher one of the best developers of the position in the SEC.
No. 4 Eddie Gran — Kentucky
It’s impossible to ignore the job Gran has done in recent seasons running Kentucky’s offense. Right now, there are coaches from across the country cutting up film of his running schemes and studying how Kentucky has had success running the ball in the nation’s toughest conference with little to no threat of a passing game. Kentucky didn’t crater after losing every passer on the depth chart last season. Instead, the team flourished after starting 2-3, and finishing 6-2 with Lynn Bowden under center is a credit to the coaching in Lexington and might not be an achievement we see again in the SEC for some time. Last season’s results came after the Kentucky staff helped develop Benny Snell into the school’s all-time leading rusher and scorer in just three seasons of play.
No. 3 Jim Chaney — Tennessee
Outside of Dan Mullen, no offensive-minded coach has been as consistent in recent SEC history as Chaney. There’s a reason he’s one of the highest-paid assistants in the nation, he is very adaptable to his personnel and has produced at a high level far more often than not. Many Georgia fans learned last season how valuable an assistant Chaney proved to be when the Bulldogs offense took a step back following his departure to Rocky Top. Butch Jones experienced the same thing during his run in Knoxville. Under Chaney’s guidance, several college quarterbacks have played their best football, and considering the importance of that position, Tennessee’s offensive coordinator deserves a spot in the top 3 on this list.
No. 2 Dan Mullen — Florida
There has not been a more consistent offensive mind in the SEC over the past 15 years than Mullen. The Gators reached the pinnacle of college football during his first run in Gainesville and he was the driving force of the best run in Mississippi State history before returning to Florida and immediately fixing the mess inherited from Jim McElwain. There might not be a better argument for Mullen’s offensive prowess than the careers of recent SEC quarterbacks Nick Fitzgerald and Feleipe Franks. How those QBs performed, in addition to the entire offense around those players, with Mullen as their coach compared to their careers without him shows how big of an impact a great coach can have on a unit.
No. 1 Mike Leach — Mississippi State
Detractors will be quick to say Leach has proven very little in the SEC, which isn’t even accurate — he served as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator and helped develop Tim Couch into the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. But after a few decades of calling his own plays, it’s safe to say there aren’t many offensive minds at any level of football that are better than Mississippi State’s coach. We’ll see how quickly the Bulldogs can adapt to the new offense in Starkville without having the opportunity to iron out the wrinkles during spring camp and likely starting a quarterback who just arrived on campus, but if any coach can get his players up to speed in a hurry, it’s Leach.
Lol
Soooo Mullen’s offense is lauded as elite/genius while using Franks as a positive example and not recognizing Trask until an injury ? It was plainly obvious that UF improved AFTER Franks went down and Trask stepped in. How could an offensive guru not recognize the difference in QB?
Oh and obviously Franks still has a year left.. What happens if he comes close or meets/exceeds his offensive numbers at UF while playing for an inferior Arkansas?
And Mullet the genius still has no running game.
When Kylin Hill leaves, will Mike Leach still be number 1? And to Kylin, see ya!
There is too much here that I disagree to even get started. It is just someone’s opinion though. Overall, it does seem like a strong group.
I don’t get the logic here. It looks like your premise would be the equivalent of stating that if there were 13 world class chess players and me playing in a tournament where each of us would play 8 matches, and the top two would then play in the grand championship match, and if I get to replace all my pawns with queens, while they have to put pawns on the board in place of bishops and their queen, that when I easily go 8-0 and then win the grand champion over a Kasparov, that my chess calling was better than any of the other 13 world class players.
How do you even discern between the play-calling of the OCs? Most of them use the same generic plays used by all but Army, Navy, Air Force, and Georgia Southern. The stick route, the mesh, the all verts, the inside zone, the stretch, 90% of every play run in college football is in 126 playbooks.
If the Leach calls for the Z Shallow pass, and it gains 12 yards as the ball just clears the hands of the leaping defender, while Fitch calls the same play, and the pass is batted down by the Jack end, does this make Leach a better play-caller, or does it really just show that one QB is more talented or one opposing 9-technique end has a higher vertical jump?
I don’t really get your point. Are you somehiw trying to argue that play calling doesn’t matter or isn’t a skill? I don’t really see that as the case, look at LSU and Joe Brady last year. There’s a reason guys like Leach and Mullen have good offenses every year and guys like Tim Beck have struggling offenses no matter where they are: some are good at gameplanning and calling plays and others aren’t.
I get your example of one play working for Leach that may not work for someone else, but I can also find someone who voted for Mondale in 1984 or a time when a 16 seed beat a 1 in the NCAA Tournament. Anything can happen in one sample, but after the thousands of reps that take place in a season the results won’t be so fluky.
So, to answer your question, I think the premise of this article is who would do the best if all were given the same offense. It’s obviously inexact and subjective, but I don’t think it’s egregious. And yeah, the guy who made elite offenses for over two decades at UK, OU, and then TTU and Wazzu is a pretty good choice.
Mike Leach? C’mon
Dan Mullen? Really?
Do people just forget the Tajh Boyd era at Clemson? Sure he didn’t win a title but his stats are very comparable to Watson’s and in some cases better. He also improved every year under Morris. People just talk about Watson but he was only there one year with him..
Then also consider Kelly Bryant. He opted not to take a grad transfer to Ark when Morris was HC because he saw the mess that Ark was in due to Morris.
What? Kelly Bryant didn’t play for Morris so that isn’t even an argument lol
He played for Clemson when Morris was OC. That is the argument lol
Uh no he wasn’t lol
Kelly Bryant was there 2015-2018. Morris was there 2011-2014.
Bryant kinda ruined his career by going to Missouri. He almost picked Auburn. Would I rather have had him last season? I don’t know. But he didn’t make a great choice imo.
C21 I am happy he flopped! Right now New HC is killing it in recruiting for Missouri. This is a huge improvement in recruiting ranking from last time and from Odom who failed to improved the recruiting ranking and the win-loss record. I am looking forward to his first season and he should get Missouri to 8 wins or more.
Chad Morris Did Not Create Arky’s Mess…You can blame a 300 pounder named Bielema for that one. Chad Morris Inherited a Dumpster-Fire created by a Coach with a 40 Yrs. Ago Offense.
It was good, but most people remember Morris for the past five years, and they haven’t been very good. His offense was downright putrid at Arkansas. The playcalling and constant QB shifting were all bad looks. He’s going to have to prove himself at this point.
It was better than good. All sec 3 years. Holds multiple records at Clemson as well.
Past 5 years? At SMU, he took a 1 win team to a bowl game in his 3rd year. Also went from 127th in total offense to top 15..
He was in over his head at Arkansas but for the majority of his career he has been a successful play caller. Even at Arkansas he showed flashes. You can’t base someone’s career on 2 out of 9 seasons. That would be like saying, Ed O is a terrible HC because of Ole Miss.
Acc* not sec
Funny thing is you sound just like Arkansas fans a couple years ago when we hired chaf morris and everyone was giving us crap for it lol
At the time it was a good hire though. It just didn’t work out. Some coaches are better off being coordinators than head coaches. Morris, Muschamp, Steele, Chizik, etc.
Morris was never a good hire for Arkansas. Most people thought it was a reach and they were right.
Seems like he’s not so good as a HC. OC is where he belongs.
LSUSMC – a lot of people that it was a great hire. From people close to the program, to national media. Just search “Arkansas hires morris” and you’ll see. He has recruiting ties to Texas and was running a spread, something Arkansas hadn’t been doing. It just didn’t work out.
Really? Auburn fans you will be shocked when Missouri will have a better record than your school this fall.
I think everybody would be shocked by that.. 6 wins is the ceiling for Missouri. Don’t think auburn is winning less than that.
Wde0012 You kidding? Drinkwitz went 12-1 at Appalachian State with 2* and 3* players and he got just about no help and set up his offense there. The previous HC never came into contact to Drinkwitz. Also he is killing it in recruiting and getting better offensive coaches than the one missouri had last year. All offensive coaches were replaced. Now he is improving the recruiting ranks that the previous HC could not do it after winning 8-4. Missouri is going to win at least 8 regular games. He is Missouri best hired since Dan Devine!
Also, In his introduction speech he said something like this “we will not be rebuilding”. So, it must be something he can get the team to win 8 or more regular season games and be competitive in just about all games. I believe he will be winning 8 or more regular season games this fall. Going 6-6 would be classified as a rebuilt.
This is so laughable it hurts..
You’re saying Drinkwitz didn’t have any help? He was left with a loaded roster for that conference. It would take a complete meltdown to not win 10 games..
Recruiting for this year is not going to help him win any games this fall. He is also 30th nationally and 8th in the SEC with a bunch of 3 stars. App States roster might be better than that lol
Missouri won 6 games last year not 8.. Going 6-6 this year will be considered good for Missouri this year
I recall Taj Boyd at Clemson…running Chad Morris’ Offense. Guys…Most People have forgotten that ole Dabo was close to getting Fired in 2010(before bringing in Chad Morris). That Offense Made Clemson an Attractive Destination. A Receiver named Sammy Watkins showed the football world what a talented Wideout can do with that Offense…then the Talent Began to Arrive. It was definitely not because of the divine-personality of Dabo…What a fake !
Here’s the breakdown of Sideshow Dan the Clown’s “offensive genius” against Kirby Smart’s defenses:
*2008: 31 points (the only win MuLLLen’s offense has ever had against a Smart defense)
**2009: 3 points
2010: 10 points
2011: 7 points
2012: 7 points
2013: 7 points
2014: 20 points
2015: 6 points
***2017: 3 points
****2018: 17 points
2019: 17 points
*Cousin Eddie as Floriduh’s OC and Kirby as Bama’s DC
**MuLLLen as MSU HC
***Kirby as Georgia’s HC
****Sideshow Dan as FU’s HC
Almost none of these games were close contests. 2014 and 2019 are the closest, but in both those games Bama and Georgia staked out early leads that put the game away by the 3rd quarter, with the last points being scored in garbage time.
Yep… that Dan MuLLLen sure is some kind of offensive genius.
So what does that make Kirby Smart on defense? Sideshow Dan is after all, 1-10 against Kirby Smart’s defenses on the field, and has never actually fielded his own team to beat a Kirby Smart defense. There he’s 0-10.
Just something to think about, FU fans and idiot pundits who keep telling us MuLLLen is a better coach than Kirby because he “took MSU to 8-straight bowls” without, you know, the context that shows us there are far more bowls now than when Jackie Sherrill was the coach at MSU. You know Jackie Sherrill, the MSU coach who actually won his division once, something Sideshow Dan the Clown has never done and something Kirby’s done three times in a row, the most in a row since Spurrier did it in the 90’s?
But yeah Michael Wayne Bratton, that Cousin Eddie took a 5-7 MSU team to a bowl because there were too many bowls and not enough good teams to keep some meaningless streak alive means he’s a better coach than a guy who whips his tail on the field AND the recruiting trail.
I agree with keeping Monken in the lower half until he shows it on the stat sheet and scoreboard. I’d definitely have Bobo over Chaney though. We should revisit this post season and include the defensive and special teams sides as well. Smart near the top on defense and hopefully doesn’t show up on special teams…
No, apparently defensive coaching prowess isn’t to be acknowledged and if you don’t have a successful reputation for offensive playcalling then you’re just dumb guy who’s good at recruiting and nothing more, despite your decade of defensive acumen.
This article is about playcallers. But obviously, Kirby is a good defensive mind.
That said, the line of thinking that Kirby is superior to Mullen without considering roster talent disparities and, in the case of Florida, roster talent gaps, is laughable.
In all seriousness, I think the next 5-10 years of the Florida-Georgia rivalry will produce some fantastic games.
Need some good kickers to make them exciting.
I’m far from totally sold on Drinkwitz as a SEC head coach, or that Mizzou will be any good in 2020 (or whenever CFB is next played)…but I do think he’s a pretty good play caller. I understand there are a lot of big names ahead of him, so I don’t really mind the initial ranking, but this is one area I do expect him to exceed expectations. He has been both a good and creative playcaller in the past, and I doubt that magically changes in CoMo.
Agree with you and more. He got to where he’s at by attacking success without the top athletes in the nation, in fact he had inferior attacking players and still won the offensive side of the ball. Read what he is saying about the Missouri offense recent history and near future, he is right on. He will have at least an average SEC quarterback, at least average receivers, and one top 5 league running back. I’m thinking at least average offensive linemen. No way he drops below 6th place in league offensive production.
“There might not be a better argument for Mullen’s offensive prowess than the careers of recent SEC quarterbacks Nick Fitzgerald and Feleipe Franks.”
Lol wut? You had guys like Alex Smith and Tim Tebow to choose from and you picked the two dumbest passers he’s coached?
I think his point was to choose one guy who wasn’t very good before he got there and then improved significantly, and another guy who was productive under his coaching, then not so hot after he left.
Hm, ok.
I think that was the point. Fitz was a nobody that nobody else wanted ….and Franks was damaged goods after his failed year as a starter under Mac.
To get to the SEC as a play-caller, you must already be an A-grade offensive mind. I would say there are 7 play-callers tied for 1st and 7 play-callers just a tiny bit behind tied for 8th. The difference between best and worst in this league is like the difference between Pete Maravich and Johnny Neumann as a basketball scorer.
Jimbo Fisher, Dan Mullen, Mike Leach Are Proven Multi-year Play Callers. Chad Morris is also, but the Arkansas “Experiment” sort of soured a lot
of people on him. So there’s not much more to say on this group. So These Offensive Coordinator’s Call the Plays They Want…Whenever they Want.
The Second-Group…Well, these Offensive Coordinators are Employed by Defensive-Minded Head Coaches that Generally Restrict Their Freedom of Play-Calling. When Your Employers Name is Kirby Smart, Jeremy Pruitt, Will Muschamp…We All Know that the Total-Freedom of Calling the Plays does not really exist.
The other OC’s have done respectable jobs in prior years, and we’ll see in December how they fare in 2020. *Drinkwitz has a High ceiling at Mizzou…with the right talent.
You are correct
So the second best offensive play-caller in the SEC for 2020 is a coach who’s went a combined 1-10 against the coach who is likely the best defensive play-caller in the SEC. That being Kirby Smart.
Not to mention in those 10 loses Mullen’s play-calling has produced 20 points only once.
The latest example of Mullen being over-hyped and over-rated.
The only place mullen and the turds beat Kirby and the DAWGS
SDS articles
Chad Morris all the way back at #12?? Even if he’s not a great play caller, he’s gonna get credit because we’ve got a pretty good offense. And Leach at #1. It’s a joke right?
Chad Morris is going to be the straw that get’s Gus fired. Bet.
I bet not
Not…FrozenHawg…Get Over It. Bielema Destroyed Your Program….not Chad. He Inherited it & then discovered How Really Bad It Was.
Leach will be okay but not worth as number 1. Drinkwitz is going to have a balance attack while Leach is letting his quarterback sling it out all day long each game!
UT Vols Offense Ranking all Teams
2019 – 97
2018 – 110
2017 – 119
2016 – 24
What’s the difference? In 2016, Dobbs was QB. Since then? Guranatano
Funny how most puppy fans are so quick to try and put Mullen down and call him a clown and other names. They are so defensive and insecure they try to deny reality.
If an article were written about defensive minds and Kirby would be high up there on that list not a single Gator fan would come in claiming he was a clown and no good.
But that’s the difference between an obnoxious, delusional, and insecure fanbase and Gator Nation.
Your 3 year run will soon be over fools
In 2019, Appalachian State was ranked #9 in the country in offense. The only P5 schools ahead of them were Oklahoma, Clemson, Ohio state, Alabama, and LSU.
I realize there’s much to prove at Mizzou in the SEC, but going from 9th in the country to 11th in the SEC just seems ridiculous to me.
Every time Missouri get someone proven they shoot it down and say it is Missouri! I understood about Odom and Dooley they made a fool out of me for believing they are going to be good and successful. Now I am glad both are good and all the offensive coaches are gone. Drinkwitz made a major upgrade in all the offensive coaches and the HC position as well.
You rank the Pirate number 1 and have Lebby/Lane bringing up the rear? Where is the Hotty Toddy outrage? Hmmm. Maybe they are still hung over from last Saturday night.
Let’s see, you have Monken who is proven in not only college, but the NFL also, #10 and Leach who has never played a top 20 defense in college #1 ? Not to mention the difference in talent, Head scratcher !
Monken has coached on the NFL and college, how proven he is we’ll have to wait and see. 2018 Record 5–11 with OC at Tampa Bay, 2019 Record 6–10 OC at Clevland and 13-25 as a head coach. He has plenty of coaching experience results not so much. But hey this could be the year.
Gotta Wait on Monken & Jamie Newman. No Spring Ball…It’s gonna be Rusty at first…kinda like that Ice Cream called Rocky-Road. Flashes of Brillance, but Steady, not sure ? Hopefully the Offense Meshes. We’ll See.