Quarterbacks: There are a lot of them! Each week throughout the season, we’ll help you keep the game’s most important position in perspective by ranking the SEC starters 1-16 according to highly scientific processes and/or pure gut-level instinct. Previously: Week 1 … Week 2.

1. Quinn Ewers, Texas

Texas went into Michigan ready and willing for Ewers to let it rip against the defending national champs, and he did … for a half. That’s how long it took for the Longhorns to build a 24-3 lead, and for all of America to grasp that the only prayer the Wolverines had of making up the gap was with the gift of multiple UT turnovers. Ewers throttled down at the break, finishing with the kind of good-not-great stat line (24-for-36, 246 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs) that fails at a glance to convey just how in command he was throughout. After a glitchy start to his career, it’s starting to look like the recruitniks hit the bullseye on the 5-star.

For one thing, Ewers appears as comfortable and unhurried as you’d expect from a guy with 24 starts under his belt in the same system. For another, he looks considerably leaner and more mobile in Year 4 than he did as a freshman. (Admittedly, ditching the sloppy mullet for a more aerodynamic cut might superficially account for some of the “leaner” part.) He is not athletic in the sense that any opposing defense is ever going to worry about him tucking and running for yardage. What he lacks in the speed and agility columns, though, Ewers makes up for with a pro’s feel for some of the subtler tricks of the trade to create the space he needs to operate “out of structure” — finding escape routes, buying time, manipulating traffic in the pocket, and maintaining the footwork and body control to make consistently accurate throws on the move.

Then, of course, there’s his casual arm strength, another a major asset when conditions are not perfect. Although he was relatively restrained on Saturday in terms of throwing downfield (just 2-for-3 on attempts of 20+ air yards, with a long gain of 33), Ewers still flashed his ability to safely deliver both a feathery deep ball and a bullet over the middle even when his footwork is less than pristine. Slow down this under-duress completion to Johntay Cook II in the fourth quarter, and you’ll see he delivered it mid-hop off one foot:

Part of the reason the box score didn’t quite match up with the eye test is that two of his best throws — the first touchdown pass in clip 1 and the 1-footer in clip 2 — were wiped from the books by penalties, leading to a missed field goal and a punt, respectively. (Coincidentally, both negated completions went to Cook, who didn’t record an official reception.) Adjusted for the competition, Ewers’ stat line was still impressive: Both his passer rating (151.6) and Total QBR (89.7) were the best anyone has put up against the Wolverines since Georgia’s Stetson Bennett IV shredded them in the CFP semifinal in 2021. And while the current version of Michigan is very different than the one that brought the confetti down in January, a convincing win in the Big House to snap a 23-game home winning streak ought to speak for itself.

Just keep all that in mind over the next, oh, month or so until the back-to-back October dates against Oklahoma and Georgia that will define Texas’ season. With the big nonconference test out of the way and UT-San Antonio, UL-Monroe and Mississippi State on deck, it might be a while before we get a chance to see Ewers break another sweat.
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(Last week: 2⬆)

2. Carson Beck, Georgia

Last week, Beck overtook Ewers in the top spot following a strong debut against Clemson. This week, Ewers owned the spotlight while Beck took target practice against Tennessee Tech. Am I just going to keep toggling between them based on which one just played a real opponent? Until further notice, probably, yeah. Beck has the upper hand in that department over the next 3 weeks against Kentucky, Alabama and Auburn; Georgia visits Austin on Oct. 18.
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(Last week: 1⬇)

3. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

Dart has opened the season on fire, with his 17 possessions to date against Furman and Middle Tennessee yielding 14 touchdowns, 2 field goals and a missed filed goal — zero punts, zero turnovers. Altogether, he’s 47-for-54 passing for an average of 14.7 yards per attempt, including an SEC-record 30 consecutive completions spanning both games. (Most of the high-percentage variety, but still.) We’ll see if an uptick in competition this week at Wake Forest has any sort of cooling effect.
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(Last week: 4⬆)

4. Jalen Milroe, Alabama

You wouldn’t know it from the final score, but Alabama’s 42-16 win over South Florida was a bona fide nail-biter well into the fourth quarter, despite Milroe’s best efforts. Instead, most of the blame fell on a reshuffled offensive line, which earned the scorn in the absence of starting left tackle Kadyn Proctor. With Proctor sidelined by a shoulder injury, the starting five was a wreck, allowing 11 pressures (including 3 sacks), committing 6 holding penalties and jumping offsides 3 times. Penalties wiped out a long completion and a long Milroe touchdown run in the first half that would have given the Crimson Tide some breathing room, and the extension of its struggles into the second half visibly set the home crowd on edge.

For Milroe’s part, although he accounted for 4 of Alabama’s 6 touchdowns as a rusher or passer, it was a mostly forgettable night. He was 2-for-8 passing under pressure, finished with 2 net rushing yards after subtracting for sacks, and reopened a can of worms Bama thought it had closed when he fumbled away a rare snap from under center at the USF 2-yard line. His only contribution to the late flurry of haymakers that put the game out of reach was a short, routine throw that freshman phenom Ryan Williams took the distance to open the flood gates; the Tide’s subsequent 2 touchdowns were on handoffs. This offense has so much explosiveness, but still a lot to clean up this weekend at Wisconsin before Georgia comes to town on Sept. 28.
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(Last week: 3⬇)

5. Brady Cook, Missouri

For a guy who dropped back 39 times in a 38-0 win, Cook had an uneventful outing against Buffalo, averaging a meh 6.3 yards per attempt without a touchdown pass or a sack. (He did thrown an interception in the second half, snapping a streak of 21 consecutive quarters without a pick going back to last year.) Instead, his most memorable moment in the pocket came on one of the few occasions that he left it, on a 31-yard scramble capped by a hurdle into the end zone. Up next: A more interesting challenge against a ranked version of Boston College.
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(Last week: 5⬌)

6. Nico Iamaleava, Tennessee

Iamaleava accounted for 276 total yards and 3 touchdowns in a 51-10 romp over NC State, which goes a long way toward putting his 2 interceptions against the Wolfpack in perspective. Yes, 1 of those picks was responsible for the Wolfpack’s only touchdown … in a game Tennessee was leading 37-3 late in the third quarter. Meanwhile, in the competitive portion of the evening he was doing things like this:

https://twitter.com/AllVolReport/status/1833139573737558305/

I’d tap the brakes on any Heisman hype until the Vols visit Oklahoma in a couple of weeks, Iamaleava’s first notable road test: That completion was 1 of only 2 of 10+ air yards on 8 attempts. But while he remains a work in progress, at this fledgling stage of his career, the progress remains highly encouraging.
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(Last week: 6⬌)

7. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU

Nussmeier’s first start in Tiger Stadium was productive, yielding 302 yards and 6 touchdowns on 27-of-37 passing in a routine, 44-21 win over Nicholls State. Up next: His first true road start, at South Carolina, where the Gamecocks’ ferocious pass rush will put him and his NFL-ready tackles to an actual test.
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(Last week: 7⬌)

8. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt

Vandy pulled off the rare feat of finishing with more points (55) than offensive snaps (53) in a blowout win over Alcorn State, a win so effortless that Pavia barely had to break a sweat: He finished just 10-for-13 for 83 yards, adding another 51 on the ground. At one point in the fourth quarter, the Commodores scored 3 touchdowns in a span of 5 plays from scrimmage — none of them involving Pavia — courtesy of a 56-yard TD run on offense, a punt return TD following a 3-and-out on Alcorn’s ensuing possession, and a pick-6 by the defense on the first play of the possession after that. Usually that’s the sort of sequence that goes against Vandy, so we’re all still adjusting here.
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(Last week: 10⬆)

9. Conner Weigman, Texas A&M

A&M remains on high alert until further notice following Weigman’s 12-of-30, 2-interception meltdown against Notre Dame in Week 1, which looks even worse following the Fighting Irish’s subsequent flop against Northern Illinois in Week 2. But the Aggies can breathe slightly easier this week after opening up a can on McNeese State: The offense scored on its first 8 offensive possessions in a 52-10 blowout, a welcome turnaround regardless of the competition. (See the Rankings’ official policy concerning big numbers vs. FCS opponents: Dropping half-a-hundred on a random patsy always beats not dropping half-a-hundred on a random patsy.) For his part, Weigman finished 11-for-14 against the Cowboys for 125 yards, 2 touchdowns and the top overall PFF grade (97.7) of any FBS quarterback over the weekend.

Next up on the reassurance/redemption tour: At Florida for the SEC opener, where he desperately needs to prove in a hostile environment that he’s still on the right track.
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(Last week: 11⬆)

10. Taylen Green, Arkansas

The good news: Green’s eye-opening athleticism was on full display at Oklahoma State, where he accounted for 477 total yards. The not-so-good news: It took him 63 plays as a passer/rusher to put up that number, an average of a relatively pedestrian 7.6 yards per play, while his recklessness was also on display. He put the ball on the ground twice, missed open receivers, and served up a pick-6 that got the Cowboys on the board in an eventual 39-31 loss in double overtime.

https://twitter.com/big12studios/status/1832512008136049144/

We don’t have enough space here to go into forensic detail about how Arkansas managed to lose a game it thoroughly dominated statistically — just for starters, the Razorbacks outgained Oklahoma State by 263 yards of total offense and nearly 2 full yards per play — but suffice to say that 3 giveaways and 4 scoreless trips inside the OSU 30-yard line adds up to a significant swing. The preseason read on Green remains in force: A 6-6, 230-pound specimen with wheels, he’s going to do some “wow” stuff on a weekly basis, and some stuff that makes you groan. For a team that’s now 3-10 in 1-score games since the start of the 2022 season, the margin is thin.
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(Last week: 12⬆)

11. Jackson Arnold, Oklahoma

The first 2 games on Oklahoma’s schedule, home dates against Temple and Houston, were supposed to be gimmes that allowed Arnold to settle into a high-pressure role with a minimum of drama before hitting the SEC gauntlet. So much for that. Coming off a lukewarm stat line in Week 1, Arnold was ice-cold Saturday in a sluggish, 16-12 win over Houston, averaging a meager 5.4 yards per attempt on what he himself described as “just a bad night in general.” He led 1 sustained scoring drive against the Cougars, an 81-yard march for a touchdown in the first half; otherwise, OU’s only other points came as the result of 1) a muffed punt that set up the offense in a goal-to-go situation early in the game, and 2) a safety by the defense that gave the Sooners a field-goal-proof, 4-point lead late in the fourth quarter.

The rest of the night was Punt City. Excluding the long touchdown drive, Oklahoma’s other 10 non-short-field possessions yielded 138 yards (including penalties), 8 punts, a missed field goal and an interception.

https://twitter.com/UHCougarFB/status/1832600682513195253/

The “Heisman or bust” curve for Oklahoma quarterbacks established in the Lincoln Riley years is an unfair standard with Riley long gone. But the Sooners are invested in Arnold, the gem of their 2023 recruiting class, who is clearly in a ride-or-die position as the starter. Brent Venables effectively banked his tenure on his prized recruit when he let his incumbent, Dillon Gabriel, portal out last December; he’d love nothing more than to insist “2-0 is 2-0,” chalk up Arnold’s early struggles to growing pains, and hope his precocious talent bears out ASAP. As it stands, a 37.5 QBR against a team that was picked to finish 15th in the Big 12 and lost its opener by 20 points to UNLV isn’t going to cut it with a steep conference slate looming.
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(Last week: 8⬇)

12. Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway, Florida

Billy Napier told reporters Monday that Mertz and Lagway will both play in this weekend’s SEC opener against Texas A&M. I think I speak for virtually the entire outside world when I say: Why, man?

https://twitter.com/GatorsFB/status/1832588602750202030/

The question does not need to be litigated or dragged out. It’s not even a question.

With all due respect to the savvy veteran stylings of Mertz, who sat out the Gators’ 45-7 win over Samford recovering from a concussion suffered in the season-opener, Lagway is clearly the future. Based on his 456-yard, 3-touchdown debut on Saturday, he’s also the present.

After looking listless and juiceless in their Week 1 flop against Miami, the Gators were explosive, averaging 24.5 yards per completion against the Bulldogs with 9 passes that gained 20+ yards.

https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1832562866672615721/

Sure, it was at the expense of Samford. It was also the most fun Florida fans have had watching their team since Anthony Richardson declared early for the draft, if not longer. Where Mertz represented a predictable, risk-averse march to mediocrity, at best, Lagway represents a vision for the offense that puts butts in the seats and has the potential to salvage Napier’s job simply by being a vision, even if the results don’t come right away against serious competition. The results weren’t exactly coming with Mertz at the wheel, either.

Why prolong the inevitable? Florida is not a threat to win more than 6 or 7 games against its nightmare of a schedule regardless of who’s taking the snaps. No one in Gainesville is worried about the obvious downside of handing the keys to a true freshman. The real concern now is the thought that Napier might be too stubborn to change course even when the ship is already going under.
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(Last week: 15⬆)

13. Blake Shapen, Mississippi State

Mississippi State’s offense spent the first half of its Week 2 trip to Arizona State loitering aimlessly, falling into a 30-3 hole as most of the viewing audience passed out on the couch with visions of the Sun Devils cashing in a Shapen fumble for a touchdown dancing in their heads. The Bulldogs rallied in the second half, scoring touchdowns on 3 of their 4 offensive possessions after halftime with Shapen going 7-for-9 for 153 yards and 2 touchdowns on the scoring drives. (The second of which, a short toss that shifty WR Kevin Coleman took 80 yards after making a man miss in the open field, cut the margin to 30-23 with 5:27 left to play.) Alas, the comeback fizzled when ASU ran it down the defense’s throat on a clock-killing final possession. Frankly, with the season Mississippi State likely has ahead, resilience in the face of an apparently hopeless situation is a quality Shapen is going to have draw on often.
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(Last week: 14⬆)

14. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina

Sellers was on the right side of a 31-6 final score in his first SEC start, so delving too deeply into the details of his 11-for-15, 159-yard stat line is beside the point. Air-mail interception notwithstanding, he looked better in the Gamecocks’ win over Kentucky than he did in his Week 1 debut against Old Dominion, so let’s chalk it up as moving in the right direction. The real pressing question concerning the passing game: Where is Nyck Harbor?
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(Last week: 16⬆)

15. Payton Thorne, Auburn

Thorne looked like a new man in Auburn’s opener, throwing for 322 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 73-3 slaughter of Alabama A&M. In Saturday’s 21-14 loss to Cal, he looked like he same guy Auburn fans remembered from 2023, serving up a grim reminder of why they desperately hoped Hugh Freeze would upgrade the position via the portal over the offseason. After a fast start, Thorne — a 6th-year senior making his 40th career start for a power conference team — looked like a reckless, wet-behind-the-ears rookie the rest of the way, throwing 4 interceptions in a span of 16 attempts over the final 3 quarters. (Read that again for emphasis: 4 interceptions. In 16 attempts.) Per PFF, 3 of the INTs came from a clean pocket, including both of the back-to-back, game-clinching picks on the Tigers’ last 2 offensive snaps with the game still within reach.

It could have been worse: A 5th INT, an apparent pick-6 on the opening series, was overturned on review, thus salvaging one of the Tigers’ two successful drives on the day.

A miserable afternoon by any standard, but for a veteran player who was already the walking definition of “embattled” prior to the season, self-immolating in one of the more winnable games on the schedule was a worst-case scenario. Auburn made a real effort over the offseason to improve an underwhelming surrounding cast, essentially rebuilding the wide receiver rotation from scratch with multiple transfers and a pair of blue-chip freshmen, Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson, all of whom contributed to the good vibes in the opener. The Tigers were double-digit favorites against Cal largely based on that sense of optimism. (Thorne said after the game that he received messages on Venmo requesting money to cover lost bets.) The vibes turned to ash in a matter of hours Saturday, and it’s hard to imagine them returning as long as Thorne remains QB1. At the moment, Auburn will be lucky to be favored again in SEC play, up to and including a Nov. 2 date against Vanderbilt.

The situation is not as cut-and-dry as sending a struggling incumbent to the bench. Neither of Thorne’s understudies, redshirt freshman Hank Brown and true freshman Walker White, has taken a meaningful college snap. In that context, there’s something to be said for sticking with a well-season vet, however uninspiring. But that something is usually along the lines of “at least we trust the guy who’s played a ton not to turn the ball over.” When you can’t even say that anymore, it’s time consider that reality is making the decision for you.
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(Last week: 13⬇)

16. Brock Vandagriff, Kentucky

Vandagriff’s first career start, a 31-0 win over Southern Miss in Week 1, was called on account of lightning midway through the third quarter. His second start was a nightmare. Looking more like a deer in the headlights than an aspiring pro, Vandagriff froze up in a 31-6 loss to South Carolina, finishing 3-for-11 passing for 30 yards in a performance that was as dire in real time as it was on paper. His passer rating (35.2), overall PFF grade (28.8) and Total QBR (an incredible 1.2, out of a possible 100) ranked dead last among Week 2 starters nationally in all 3 categories.

https://twitter.com/GamecockFB/status/1832544957455815043/

(If you’re wondering, a 1.2 QBR score is not the worst on record, although it is close to the worst in SEC play: Out of 3,238 entries by SEC quarterbacks in the QBR database, only one — Ole Miss’ Robert Lane — has fared worse, posting a 1.1 in a November 2004 loss at Arkansas. If the name “Robert Lane” rings a bell, you are true champion of Remembering Some Guys.)

Although Vandagriff was a wild card coming into the season, in his case that label tended to imply optimism: A big-time talent finally getting his shot. At Georgia, he was a major prospect who was widely regarded as the heir apparent to Carson Beck; if Beck had opted to go pro last winter, Vandagriff was the presumptive favorite (from the outside, anyway) to succeed him as the face of the no. 1 team in the country. Of the many questions that followed him to Kentucky, is this guy even playable? wasn’t one of them. But it certainly is now. The 25-point margin against South Carolina represented Kentucky’s most lopsided loss against an unranked opponent since 2017, in a game UK was favored to win.

Vandagriff’s collapse puts Mark Stoops in a bind. Pulling the plug on a big-ticket transfer after a single game, even a catastrophic one, isn’t tenable. Clearly, though, neither was Vandagriff’s play against the Gamecocks. In his defense, he was under pressure from a relentless Carolina pass rush on nearly two-thirds of his drop-backs, resulting in 3 sacks, multiple hits and a fumble. His offensive line was flagged for 6 penalties, wiping out multiple positive plays and repeatedly putting the Wildcats behind the sticks. Still, per PFF he was only 2-for-5 passing for 28 yards when kept clean, and wasn’t pressured on the pick-6 that ended his afternoon at the start of the fourth quarter (see above).

At this time last week, Kentucky’s upcoming tilt with Georgia in Lexington promised the intrigue of a former blue-chip striving to make good on his long-awaited opportunity against his old team. Based on the initial returns on Saturday, it’s shaping up more like a pending bloodbath. The Wildcats bet the house on Vandagriff, but if they decided to trot out Rutgers transfer Gavin Wimsatt to take his lumps instead, who could blame them?
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(Last week: 9⬇)