We’re coming off National Signing Day, so naturally many fans are excited about the new players who will be wearing their uniforms, but even the most elite recruits are still unknown commodities.

Of course, many teams still have to put a lot of faith in first-year players who have never seen the field. Just looking at quarterbacks in 2016, you had Alabama (Jalen Hurts), Arkansas (Austin Allen), Georgia (Jacob Eason), Kentucky (Stephen Johnson), Ole Miss (Shea Patterson) and South Carolina (Jake Bentley) all put their eggs in an unfamiliar basket.

That doesn’t include Mississippi State, which was led by first-time starter Nick Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, a few more teams in Florida (Luke Del Rio/Austin Appleby), LSU (Danny Etling) and Texas A&M (Trevor Knight) relied on transfers getting their first taste of SEC football.

When it comes to the most important position on the field, that whopping amount of new blood was more of the exception than the norm, but every team needs a little of that somewhere in its veins for a healthy season.

That’s especially true with players  — and coaches — taking unexpected bounces.

This goes without saying, but just like some fans will be concerned to see that they’ve lost a lot of their production from the previous year, there are also some fans who aren’t exactly thrilled to see a large amount of production coming back from their struggling offense.

Here’s a look at the SEC teams with the lowest percentage of their total yards from 2016 coming back for 2017. Please note that “total yards” isn’t referring to total offense, but rather the combined individual yards passing, rushing and receiving.

LOWEST PERCENTAGE OF OFFENSE RETURNING

SCHOOL PCT TOTAL YDS RETURNING 2016 TOTAL YDS 2017 TOTAL YDS RETURNING
1. Tennessee 25.1% 8,868 2,230
2. Ole Miss 33.3% 9,351 3,118
3. Texas A&M 44.2% 9,388 4,148
4. Kentucky 67.3% 7,882 5,304
5. LSU 69.9% 7,358 5,140
6. Arkansas 72.5% 9,003 6,523
7. Florida 74.9% 7,277 5,452

Not coincidentally, the trio of teams with the lowest mark — Tennessee, Ole Miss and Texas A&M — made up three of the top five in the SEC in total offense last season.

The Vols will be hit the hardest by departures, only getting back a quarter of their production, which is the lowest percentage in the conference by a comfortable margin.

Replacing QB Joshua Dobbs, Alvin Kamara, Jalen Hurd (who transferred midseason) and leading receiver Josh Malone will be a tall task for Tennessee. Entering last season, UT returned about 91 percent of its offensive production, which was second only to LSU and partly explained the high expectations (even by the typical standards in Knoxville).

Ole Miss will only have about a third of its production back with QB Chad Kelly and fellow senior and leading rusher Akeem Judd both gone. On top of that, three of the team’s top four in receiving yards — TE Evan Engram, Damore’ea Stringfellow and Quincy Adeboyejo — will be playing on Sundays.

However, the Rebels’ aerial attack will be loaded with promising youth behind sophomore Shea Patterson, already with three starts under his belt. At his disposal will be Van Jefferson, A.J. Brown and D.K. Metcalf along with upperclassmen DaMarkus Lodge and Markell Pack.

Texas A&M is the only other SEC team that won’t be getting at least 50 percent of its production back. QB Trevor Knight’s time in College Station has expired, and four of the team’s top five in receiving yards will be gone (Josh Reynolds, Ricky Seals-Jones, Speedy Noil and Jeremy Tabuyo).

There’s a big gap in percentage after the Aggies, but how about the teams with the highest percentage?

HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF OFFENSE RETURNING

SCHOOL PCT TOTAL YDS RETURNING 2016 TOTAL YDS 2017 TOTAL YDS RETURNING
1. Vanderbilt 94.9% 7,107 6,743
2. Missouri 89.1% 9,551 8,514
3. Georgia 87.0% 7,516 6,539
4. South Carolina 86.6% 7,289 6,309
5. Auburn 83.1% 7,933 6,595
6. Alabama 78.1% 9,983 7,798
7. Mississippi State 76.8% 8,449 6,489

There’s good news and bad news for the Commodores. The good news is that they bring back about 95 percent of their offensive output from last season. The bad news is that unit ranked 12th in the SEC in total offense.

Nonetheless, QB Kyle Shurmur will be back along with leading rushers Ralph Webb and Khari Blasingame as well as each of the team’s top eight in receiving yards.

The top unit in the SEC last season is next in line at a shade over 89 percent. Missouri’s offense staggered through the middle part of its schedule but still managed to lead the league with 500.5 yards per game.

QB Drew Lock and leading rushers Damarea Crockett (1,000-yard season as a freshman) and Ish Witter will be joined by 1,000-yard receiver J’Mon Moore, Dimetrios Mason, Jonathon Johnson and Emanuel Hall, who all had at least 300 receiving yards and 2 TDs.

Coach Barry Odom could use some help from the other side of the ball, where Mizzou wasn’t its typical, stout self (last in the SEC in total defense).

Georgia isn’t far behind at 87 percent. This is helped by the fact that RBs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel elected to return to Athens for their senior seasons. The Bulldogs will be the only Power 5 team with two running backs that have posted 1,000-yard seasons in their careers.

RB Brian Herrien, who had some impressive performances in the early portion of 2016 on the way to 363 rushing yards and 3 TDs, will only be a sophomore.

Luckily for the Bulldogs, their big loss is also their only one, and that’s leading receiver and dynamic return man Isaiah McKenzie.

As it turns out, three of the four teams with the highest mark — Vanderbilt, Georgia and South Carolina — also occupied three of the four worst rankings in SEC total offense.