Ranking the SEC's starting quarterbacks this season
With the season approaching and the preview material coming out left and right, Athlon Sports released this week a projected ranking of the SEC's best quarterbacks in 2015.
Athlon said that factors such as career production, pro potential, offensive system and supporting cast were all taken into account in the rankings, but in the end, production won out over potential at the top of the list.
According to Athlon, Mississippi State senior Dak Prescott, among the Heisman front-runners heading into the season, will be the best QB in the SEC this year. That doesn't come as much of a surprise given that he racked up 4,435 yards and 41 touchdowns last season, but there's plenty of high-end talent behind him ready to vie for the top spot on the list this season.
At No. 2 is Auburn's Jeremy Johnson, another Heisman candidate but one who has actually started only two games after serving as backup to Nick Marshall. The junior has thrown for 858 yards and nine TDs in spot duty over the past two seasons, but the expectations are extremely high for Johnson this year as he takes over Gus Malzahn's high-powered offense.
Behind the top two come the youngsters (relatively speaking): Tennessee's Josh Dobbs, Texas A&M's Kyle Allen and Missouri's Maty Mauk are ranked third through fifth, respectively. Each of the three arrived as either a four-star or (in Allen's case) five-star recruit, and each took over as starter last year while flashing immense potential that should turn into consistent, high-end production going forward.
Lesser-known Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen and Kentucky quarterback Patrick Towles are ranked sixth and seventh, respectively -- just ahead of three quarterbacks who have garnered much more attention this offseason in Alabama's Jake Coker, Georgia's Brice Ramsey and Ole Miss' Chad Kelly. All three are the presumptive favorites in their schools' quarterback competitions, but how well they will produce or whether they will even start remain unanswered questions.
Even bigger questions plague the bottom of the list, though, which features Florida redshirt freshman Will Grier, LSU's combo of Anthony Jennings and Brandon Harris (who are vying with each other for the starting job), South Carolina's Connor Mitch and Vanderbilt's Wade Freebeck. All but Grier have seen some playing time in the past but with little meaningful success, so it's no surprise that they come in behind the more established or higher-upside players above them on the list.
But keep in mind that this is a projection; nobody knows what sort of production Alabama will get out of the quarterback position, for example, or whether Allen might improve on his freshman year and put up huge, Heisman-caliber numbers under coach Kevin Sumlin.
The proof, as always, will be on the field.
The full list is as follows:
1. Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
2. Jeremy Johnson, Auburn
3. Josh Dobbs, Tennessee
4. Kyle Allen, Texas A&M
5. Maty Mauk, Missouri
6. Brandon Allen, Arkansas
7. Patrick Towles, Kentucky
8. Jake Coker, Alabama
9. Brice Ramsey, Georgia
10. Chad Kelly, Ole Miss
11. Will Grier, Florida
12. Brandon Harris/Anthony Jennings, LSU
13. Connor Mitch, South Carolina
14. Wade Freebeck, Vanderbilt