Week 3 SEC quarterback rankings: Changes aplenty near the top
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I try and temper my expectations.
With young quarterbacks, that’s not always easy. The sample size is small. Often times early in the season, the competition is not SEC-level.
Yes, Jake Fromm just beat Notre Dame and Shea Patterson just beat UT Martin. Both, however, went in opposite directions on this list. Why? You can still get an idea for how developed a young quarterback is reading a defense and throwing the ball.
I try and keep that all in perspective when I make these rankings. They’re are based on which quarterback I’d want leading my team if I were playing a game tomorrow.
So with that, here are the Week 3 SEC quarterback rankings:
14. Jake Hubenak/Kellen Mond, Texas A&M
Well, that certainly wasn’t the offensive effort Kevin Sumlin was hoping to see against an FCS squad at home. The Aggies were prime sleeper game candidates after the devastating Sunday night loss at UCLA. Still, Mond and Hubenak should’ve been able to stretch the field against a team like Nicholls State. The Aggies’ quarterback issues are obvious and until they get them squared away, they’ll be a liability in SEC play.
13. Feleipe Franks/Malik Zaire, Florida
We didn’t get to see the Gators get that bounce-back victory against Northern Colorado because of Hurricane Irma, so we didn’t see any more out of Franks or Zaire. They figure to pound the rock against Tennessee, so we still might not see a lot of big-time plays from Florida’s signal-caller. For now, it’s hard to move them on this list.
12. Jake Fromm, Georgia
OK, I’ll admit that I was a little too high on Fromm last week. Dropping him three spots after winning at Notre Dame might not make much sense, but that’s more of a reflection on my previous ranking of him. In his first career start, Fromm wasn’t the catalyst, but he showed poise down the stretch.

Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
He led the Bulldogs on to the go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter by making some key throws. Georgia’s defense is still the backbone of this team, and it was the main reason the Bulldogs earned a win in South Bend, but Fromm is showing a solid early understanding of his responsibilities.
11. Quinten Dormady, Tennessee
Honestly, Dormady might deserve a higher spot on this list. His numbers aren’t gaudy (415 passing yards, 4 TDs, 60 percent completion rate), but he made some big-time throws in his first two starts. More important for his own sake, he looked significantly better than Jarrett Guarantano, which I didn’t think he would. Dormady has a major test to pass in The Swamp.
10. Danny Etling, LSU
I’m starting to think Matt Canada knows how to run an offense. For all the criticism about Etling’s inability to stretch the field, he completed passes of at least 27 yards to four different LSU receivers. If he can do that against Mississippi State, the Tigers will roll to an easy win. Let’s see how Etling executes Canada’s offense against a legitimate SEC pass rush before moving him into the top half of this list.
9. Kyle Shurmur, Vanderbilt
Don’t look now, but it appears that Vanderbilt actually has a passing game. In two games, Shurmur has been huge for the Commodores. With teams set on shutting down Ralph Webb, all Shurmur did was make them pay. He has seven touchdown passes (two short of his 2016 total), he completed 76.1 percent of his passes and he only took one sack. He can make a legitimate climb up this list with a solid showing against Kansas State.
8. Stephen Johnson, Kentucky
I know. Johnson was pulled for Drew Barker when Kentucky’s offense was stuck in the mud against Eastern Kentucky. Mark Stoops said that was the plan. But the important thing was that Johnson bounced back and promptly led the Wildcats in the second half.

Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
The competition will get much tougher this week against South Carolina, but through two games, Johnson completed 61.9 percent of his passes and he averaged 9.52 yards per attempt. Kentucky will take that all day.
7. Jarrett Stidham, Auburn
I took a lot of heat for questioning how Stidham would perform against a real pass rush. He answered that question 11 times against Clemson. Yes, not all of that was on him. But some of it was. Stidham couldn’t make plays on the run and Auburn’s offense floundered. For all of that talk about Auburn being ready to take down Alabama with Stidham running the show, Saturday should’ve quieted that for the time being.
6. Drew Lock, Missouri
Jekyll, meet Hyde. Which one is the normal of the two again? I always get that mixed up. Either way, Lock played like he usually does against SEC/Power 5 defenses, which was not well. He completed just 43.8 percent of his passes and threw two interceptions at home against South Carolina. As a result, he poured a bunch of cold water on that red hot start to the season.
5. Austin Allen, Arkansas
Yuck. Saturday was not the showing Allen wanted to put forth against TCU at home. He completed just nine passes, which wasn’t entirely his fault. His receivers got zero separation, and it made for a disastrous afternoon for the Arkansas offense. But there were still too many throws that Allen should’ve made that he didn’t, including one on a pass interference call that could’ve easily been an Arkansas touchdown with an on-target throw. The Hogs have major questions to answer on offense, and a lot of that comes back to their senior signal-caller.
4. Shea Patterson, Ole Miss
By now, hopefully you saw the stat I dug up on Patterson. On Saturday, he became the first SEC quarterback since Johnny Manziel to record consecutive 400-yard passing games. UT Martin or not, that’s some fitting company for the sophomore.

Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
When Ole Miss’ defense couldn’t do much of anything early on, it was Patterson who rallied the troops and carved up the UT Martin secondary. He’s now the nation’s leader in passing yards per game. Patterson can gain a whole lot more supporters if he leads Ole Miss to a high-scoring Pac-12 after dark victory.
3. Jake Bentley, South Carolina
It wasn’t the Big 12-like shootout than many expected in Columbia, but Bentley did his part to make sure South Carolina rolled to a comfortable win after a slow start. Bentley showed poise when things weren’t going his way early. That’s exactly what South Carolina needs to see more of if it’s going to be a legitimate threat to win the East.
2. Nick Fitzgerald, Mississippi State
Fitzgerald might’ve narrowed the gap between him and Hurts. In a game that many (including myself) thought that Mississippi State would struggle to pull away, Fitzgerald led the charge to a blowout win on the road. Through two games, albeit against lesser competition, Fitzgerald is averaging 8.9 yards per carry and he has eight total touchdowns. If he dominates LSU, we could be looking at a new No. 1 next week.
1. Jalen Hurts, Alabama
Hurts wasn’t about to lose the top spot on this list after rushing for 154 yards and a couple scores in a blowout win against Fresno State. I liked that he came out and said that he needed to be better after beating the No. 3 team in the country on a neutral site. That’s the sign of a kid who gets it, but we already knew that. Hurts is fourth in the SEC in rushing and has completed 66.7 percent of his passes. That’s a good sign from the reigning SEC Offensive Player of the Year.
Jekyll is the normal one, Hyde is the monster one.
Not if but when.
Saturday also showed us that teams on auburn’s schedule will have just as hard of a time finding the endzone as we will.And until stidham at least tries to help his o-line out by throwing the ball away he shouldn’t be any higher than 14.
Seriously, how could anyone have Hurts as the best QB in the SEC? If Bama had Patterson as their QB, Bama would be at least 10 times better. How can anyone that says they are a sports writer honestly say that Hurts is the best QB in the SEC lol? He is an average QB on the most talented team in the country. I doubt any QB could put up the numbers Patterson has so far against air. When it comes to the best QB in the SEC, it’s easily Patterson. He has the arm, pen point accuracy, smart, and is a dual threat with his legs. Yes he has only played cupcakes this season, but he did play 3 SEC teams last year after Kelly was hurt. If you have eyes that actually work, it’s easy to see that Patterson is the real deal. Plus it doesn’t hurt that he is throwing to best WR corp in the country.
Patterson has played UT-Martin and South Alabama. He hasn’t played any real competition yet. Cal won’t even be that good of test for him tbh. Wait until he plays Bama then we can talk ab him. I will admit I think he is a top 4 or 5 QB though.
I also agree with you that Hurts is just an average QB on the most talented team in the country and shouldn’t be #1 on this list.
I think hurts is number one on this list. You can say what you want and put your hypotheticals out there but he’s the only QB in the sec to have played top 5 teams and beat them.
Patterson will probably end up top 3 if not number 1 but I get so tired of hearing that another qb would excel on another team. You don’t know that. You don’t know how a player will fit another scheme.
If you guys think your teams qb is better than hurts thats all fine but to say he is a average qb is boderline ignorant and very disrespectful.
I’m going to have to disagree with you about Hurts, he is an average QB, not more, no less. He is an athlete playing QB. We have all seen this type of QB before. I have seen everyone of his games and he makes alot of bad reads and poor throws. But the biggest difference between Hurts and everyone else in the country is that he plays on the most talented team in the country. If Bama had a QB like Patterson or Mayfield, Bama would be pretty much unstoppable. All Hurts has to do is manage the offense for Bama and not make huge mistakes. But like I said, if Bama had the QBs I mentioned, Bama would be able to open their offense up a lot more with their passing attack and teams would have to play them a lot more honestly.
Having a great QB on a decent team can make that team REALLY good, but having a bad QB on a good team can just about kill a team. Bama is so stacked with talent, they can get away with having a QB that is a game manager. How do you think Ole Miss almost beat Bama three years in a row? By have a good team with a really good QB.
Hurts was SEC Offensive Player of the Year last year. He plays in a balanced offense with a top shelf defense. That changes the way the QB position is played. You have to be able to understand that when you assess his play. You obviously don’t have those assessment skills.
Patterson plays for a team with no running game and poor defense. He’s like every offense in the Big 12. Inflated stats to make up for no running game and bad defense. Those who understand that aren’t as stupidly excited about him as you are.
Even with all that talent around him, what exactly has Hurts done against good defenses? He is an average at best passer. Very good college QB, but he would not be the first QB taken if teams could have any QB they wanted from the SEC.
Hurts has sued against some of the top teams in the city get and fished the season with one of the highest completion % and td/int ratio last year not counting what he did on the ground. It can be tough sledding against good defenses and when you’re playing for championships you see more of those better team….
Played*
Man autocorrect was a killer….country not city….
I’m just here to laugh at Stidham. All that hooha about the dude during the offseason was foolish. You can’t put a price on a diamond before its authenticity is confirmed. It’s the other way around.
I hate to repeat my comment from the last QB article, but how on earth do you justify a QB with a 97.5 Total QB rating, a 76.1 completion percentage, and 0 interceptions thrown as anything less than fifth in this conference? By any measure, Shurmur’s clearly one of the best in the conference right now based on statistics. MTSU is a good team (just beat Syracuse on the road), and he carved them up like a Thanksgiving turkey in Game 1. He was even better in Game 2 (but against much weaker competition). To me, a fair ranking of QBs based on productivity and wins going into Week 3 would look like this:
Patterson, Fitzgerald, Hurts, Shurmur, Bentley, Lock, Allen, Fromm, Stidham, Johnson, Etling, Dormady, UF rotation, A&M rotation.
Well, if you want to base it on performance, why do you put Etling so low?
Fitz should go to #1 with a win this weekend. He is not surrounded by a pro bowl team like hurts.
He also has a completion percentage below 60% and now has completed about a year as a starter and has yet to perform well against a defense with a pulse.
At this point in the season I believe the two best QB’s in the league both reside in the State of Mississippi.
Lock has to grow up and quit acting like he’s made of candy. Maybe seeing more pressure will calm him down. Heupel and Hill need to get receivers open or have exit door opened for them.