With the regular season drawing to a close, the time has come to begin discussing SEC superlatives.

Marcus Spears and Greg McElroy tackled the topic of SEC Coach of the Year during Tuesday’s edition of “Thinking Out Loud,” coming up with a few names they felt were deserving of the honor. They began the segment by briefly considering Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher before Spears settled on Florida’s Dan Mullen.

“Mullen would be my guy when you look at where Florida’s program was last year, even outside of football, turmoil,” Spears said. “I think he settled a lot of things there. He also has them better than a 4-8 season last year, and he got (quarterback) Feleipe Franks to play, I think, at the highest possible level we can see Feleipe Franks play at.

“The coaching made a three-game difference this year so far.”

McElroy then brought up Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, who he called a “lock” for Coach of the Year prior to the Wildcats’ two-game losing skid that most recently featured a listless defeat at the hands of Tennessee. Though McElroy said Stoops could reclaim the lead for the honor if Kentucky finishes 9-3, he argued in favor of LSU’s Ed Orgeron.

“I know he got rolled against Alabama, but everybody does. It’s OK. I don’t look at it that way,” McElroy said. “I look at the expectations this team had having to replace a quarterback, having to replace some key pieces on the offense, trying to find a running back — all those other aspects.

“And Ed Orgeron is certainly deserving of Coach of they Year because of how much he has surpassed those expectations and beat teams that have more talent on their roster than LSU does.”

Spears and McElroy also said a case could be made for Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt.

Who do you think deserves to be SEC Coach of the Year?