Top 10 in-state SEC quarterbacks of all time
Some won a Heisman Trophy. Some won a national championship. Some did both.
All of them chose to play college football in their home state.
Here are the 10 greatest in-state recruits to play quarterback in the SEC:
10. Jared Lorenzen, Kentucky
The Hefty Lefty was much more than just a clever nickname.
Lorenzen, from Fort Thomas, Ky., briefly held Kentucky’s record for career touchdown passes (78) and still holds the Wildcats’ career record for total yards (10,637).
9. Tommy Hodson, LSU
Hodson grew up 45 miles southwest of New Orleans, La., and arrived in Baton Rouge in 1985, more than a decade after Bert Jones, and soon began rewriting LSU’s record book.
He became the first SEC quarterback to throw for 9,000 career yards and still holds the Tigers’ career records for passing yards (9,115) and touchdown passes (69).
8. David Greene, Georgia
Greene, who arrived from suburban Atlanta, left with 72 career touchdown passes — 14th in SEC history.
Greene isn’t Georgia’s career leader — outsider Aaron Murray is with an SEC-best 121 — but his total would rank No. 1 at seven other SEC programs.
7. A.J. McCarron, Alabama
McCarron, who starred at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Mobile, Ala., came to Alabama along with Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy and led the Tide to back-to-back national championships in 2011 and 2012.
In 2012, McCarron threw a school-record 30 touchdown passes against just three interceptions. He left in 2013 with 36 career wins, most in Alabama history.
T5. Andre Woodson, Tim Couch, Kentucky
It’s almost impossible to separate the two homegrown Wildcats.
Couch, from Leslie County High in Hyden, Ky., still holds the SEC’s single-season record for passing yards, throwing for 4,275 in 1998.
Before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, Couch, in two-plus seasons in Lexington, threw 74 career touchdown passes. It was a school record … until Woodson broke it.
Woodson, from North Hardin High near Fort Knox, Ky., threw an SEC-record 40 touchdown passes as a senior in 2007. That, too, broke Couch’s Kentucky record. He finished with 79 career TD tosses, most in Kentucky history and seventh in SEC history.
4. Danny Wuerffel, Florida
Some Gators fans will insist he’s the program’s greatest in-state quarterback, not Tebow. Their credentials are similar.
Wuerffel, from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., also won a Heisman Trophy and a national championship. He set the SEC single-season record with 39 touchdown passes in 1996, a total that still ranks second.
He’s also second in SEC history with 114 career touchdown passes, the most any in-state quarterback recruit threw.
3. Archie Manning, Ole Miss
Manning, from Drew, Miss., set the standard for SEC quarterbacks, not just homegrown ones.
The game has changed so much that comparing numbers no longer does him justice.
But it took modern quarterbacks like Eli Manning and Johnny Manziel to break his school and SEC records.
2. Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M
Other quarterbacks threw for more yards, but Manziel was among the most dominant offensive forces in SEC history.
It’s hard to believe now that Manziel was just a three-star prospect coming out of Kerrville, Texas in the Class of 2011.
In his only two years as a starter, Manziel won the Heisman Trophy, beat Alabama, broke Archie Manning’s decades-old single-game record for total yards and Cam Newton’s more recent single-season mark.
Statistically, the SEC has never seen anybody quite like him. He left College Station with 9,989 total yards, tied with Eli Manning for 10th best in league history.
Had he played a third season, he would have obliterated Aaron Murray’s career mark for total yards (13,562) too.
His 37 touchdown passes in 2013 are tied for third-most in SEC history.
1. Tim Tebow, Florida
In a three-year span, Tebow sandwiched two national championships around a Heisman Trophy season. He starred on the 2008 championship team, considered the greatest of the SEC’s national champions.
Tebow, from Jacksonville, Fla., set the stage for Cam Newton at Auburn, in terms of redefining the look and physicality of an SEC quarterback.
Other SEC quarterbacks posted bigger passing numbers, but he still ranks fourth all-time with 88 career touchdowns. And he threw just 16 career interceptions — three fewer than Danny Wuerffel, for instance, threw during his championship season in 1996.
Some have taken it a step farther and suggested that Tebow was the greatest college football quarterback of all time. He ranked second behind Roger Staubach on this Football Writers Association of America all-time team.