There’s a trivia question I love throwing out there because I’m not sure even a diehard SEC fan knows it.

That is, the SEC has had 1 first-round quarterback since the Cam Newton draft in 2011. Who was it?

Johnny Manziel in 2014.

That means in the past 7 drafts, only 1 of the 21 quarterbacks selected in the first round came from the SEC … and it was someone who was out of the league in 2 years.

So yes, while the conference continues to dominate the NFL Draft, it struggles to churn out the blue-chip quarterback prospects. Call it a product of having elite defenses, run-heavy offenses or perhaps just not very good quarterback play, but the 7-year trend is indeed a thing (but at least it’s not as bad as the Big Ten’s first-round QB drought, which somehow goes back to 1995).

I told myself heading into this year that the trend would end in the 2019 NFL Draft. Why? Jarrett Stidham and Drew Lock were first-round quarterbacks. Preseason mock drafts and NFL scouts echoed that:

A lot has changed in the past 2 months since that tweet. Herbert seems to have helped his case to be the top pick in next April’s draft. One can’t say the same for Lock and Stidham.

After watching the seasons that both have had so far, I think it’s looking less and less likely that they’ll come off the board on the draft’s opening night.

I do, however, realize there are obvious excuses that the Lock and Stidham supporters can make.

Without Emanuel Hall, Lock hasn’t been able to do what he does best in SEC play — stretch the field and show off that NFL arm. Certainly it played a part in Lock going nearly a month without a touchdown pass. If Hall returns to his former self and Lock goes on the second-half surge that he went on last year, obviously he’ll get back to some of that preseason draft buzz.

The Lock apologists will also say that in his first year in Derek Dooley’s system, his numbers were destined to take a hit. The guy who set the single-season SEC passing touchdowns record was going to be handing the ball off more than he did last year. That’s a fair point. The pro-Lock crowd will argue that nobody will care about that production dip when the 6-4, gunslinger throws in shorts and wows the NFL scouts.

Who knows? Maybe Lock winds up being this year’s Josh Allen. People point to his disappointing senior season and pick him apart, though there will still be a loud of enough group who believes that his shortcomings can be coached out of him in the NFL.

Lock’s struggles against non-cupcake foes were well-known coming into this year, and it’s not like he moved past that narrative. Completing 48 percent of his passes for 5.2 yards per attempt with a 1-5 touchdown-interception ratio in SEC play only added more ammo to that argument.

Beyond the numbers, though, what’s concerning is how Lock struggles when he faces pressure:

Those are the type of decisions he makes that will terrify people at the next level. There have been plenty of head-scratching throws under pressure for Lock, who is averaging 1.5 interceptions per game vs. Power 5 competition this year.

And the flip side of that is you could easily put together a 2018 montage of NFL throws that Lock made. The dime he threw against Alabama was as impressive as it gets (for a quarterback not facing any pressure), as was the laser touchdown throw he had called back against Georgia.

The problem is you probably could have said the same thing about him last year. With more film on Lock, there are still just as many questions. The numbers still reflect Lock is a quarterback who struggles mightily when the deep ball is taken away.

As for Stidham, a lot of the same preseason questions surrounding his next-level potential are still pertinent. Unlike Lock, it’s not the short passing game or pressure that gives him issues. It’s easy to argue that the system that’s holding him back.

For someone with a rare combination of an NFL arm and accuracy, Stidham is only averaging 8 attempts of at least 10 yards per game. This breakdown should serve as the official “BLAME GUS, NOT JARRETT” pre-draft propaganda:

The issue is that while one can say that coaching is to blame for Stidham’s 2018 setback, he still just hasn’t been very good in Year 2 of this system. It’s not the best look for a preseason Heisman Trophy contender to regress in completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdown passes and quarterback rating.

Let’s face it. Whether it’s entirely because of the system or not, Stidham’s play has regressed. Even if you ignore the numbers, that’s evident. His decision-making isn’t at the level it was at in the latter half of 2017, and it’s not like he’s racking up a bunch of NFL-caliber throws in this gadget offense.

That’s the problem with the situation Lock and Stidham came back to. Preseason buzz equals more eyes, which equals more magnified shortcomings.

Is that to say that all first-round quarterbacks achieve that feat because they were perfect in their pre-draft seasons? Of course not. Allen, Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen were far from that. You don’t have to put up numbers like Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson to fit the first-round mold in today’s NFL.

But coming off a year in which a 21st century record 5 quarterbacks were selected in the first round, conventional wisdom suggests fewer teams will be in the market for their franchise guy. Teams might go after quarterbacks with fewer flaws like Herbert, Will Grier or Dwayne Haskins, all of whom helped themselves with their play in 2018.

Lock and Stidham are trending in the wrong direction heading into the home stretch of the season (yes, that’s true even though Lock put up big numbers against Memphis last week). For what it’s worth, neither Mel Kiper Jr. nor Todd McShay listed the SEC quarterbacks on their latest big boards. Take that for what it is, but after seeing offseason mock draft after mock draft with both listed, that’s at least something.

Maybe that changes when both inevitably ball out at the Combine. At least for now, though, it looks like the SEC’s first-round quarterback woes will continue for another year.

You know, until Tua Tagovailoa is draft-eligible.