My post-spring SEC QB rankings going into 2024

It’s not a fun year to be an unproven SEC quarterback.

In most years, you could push yourself to sneak an unproven quarterback into the top 5 heading into a season. The quarterback rankings are different at the start of a season than at the end of the season. If I wanted to predict how quarterbacks would finish, I would have to seriously consider guys like Nico Iamaleava and Garrett Nussmeier as top-3 options.

But that’s not how it works.

My SEC quarterback rankings are based on who each of these players will be when they take the field tomorrow. For five of them, the last time they were on the field was during a New Year’s 6 Bowl/Playoff semi-final. Yes, that matters. It matters when they were a driving force behind those respective runs to eleven seasons.

In other words, don’t tell me your team’s unproven quarterback is worth starting for those guys. That’s not really a debate for these rankings.

Another thing I’m going to do is, instead of outlining why one quarterback is ahead of the other – which is something readers have already made up their minds about and are just coming here to see if my opinion aligns with that – I’ll only mention the 1. what I like about each quarterback.

16. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt

One thing I like – Pavia led New Mexico State to more wins against SEC competition (Auburn) than Vandy in 2023.

15. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina

One thing I like – Besides the fact that he has the same specs as my favorite athlete of all time (former Chicago Bull Horace Grant), I like that he’s had such a good start to his career that he’s locked in as South Carolina’s QB1 because he has never thrown a pass against FBS. competition.

14. Blake Shapen, Mississippi State

One thing I like – The transfer from Baylor is Mississippi State’s best deep-ball passer since Dak Prescott, having completed 22 passes of 40 yards over the past two seasons, which was No. 2 in the Big 12 behind only Dillon Gabriel.

13. Payton Thorne, Auburn

One thing I like – He has an overhauled receiving room with five-star freshman Cam Coleman, Penn State transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith (1,721 career yards, 11 TDs) and Georgia State transfer Robert Lewis (1,323 career yards, 14 TDs), which simply needs to be improved on a passing game that could not be viewed in 2023.

12. Taylen Green, Arkansas

One thing I like – He’s a true 6-6 dual-threat quarterback who will learn under Bobby Petrino, who recently led the Texas A&M offense to a double-digit scoring improvement even as injuries forced three different quarterbacks to start multiple games.

11. Brock Vandagriff, Kentucky

One thing I like – Vandagriff is a former five-star recruit who spent three years behind Stetson Bennett IV and Carson Beck, and he’s learned how to run a pro-style offense under Todd Monken and Mike Bobo, meaning if there’s ever anyone who needs to be well taken care of be like a first starter, it is Vandagriff.

10. Jackson Arnold, Okla

One thing I like – Arnold is a year removed from being named the 2022-2023 Gatorade National Player of the Year, and while the turnovers in the Alamo Bowl made the difference in the outcome, it’s hard not to be optimistic about the offense’s dual-threat ability which has one of the best reception rooms in America.

9. Graham Mertz, Florida

One thing I like – You thought I was going to say completion percentage, didn’t you? No. In games against teams that finished in the AP Poll, Mertz was No. 10 in FBS in QB rating, which was a big improvement for someone who had never cracked the top 70 in that metric.

8. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU

One thing I like – He’s a gun-toted quarterback who wasn’t necessarily forced into bad habits by starting early in his career, and in limited reps in 2023, that maturation was evident.

7. Nico Iamaleava, Tenn

One thing I like – After giving Iowa’s decorated defense its worst defensive day of the 2023 season, the former No. 2 overall recruit enters his first season as QB1 for Josh Heupel, who has had five of his six starting quarterbacks total at least 32 touchdowns as head coach had it produced. .

6. Conner Weigman, Texas A&M

One thing I like – In 8 games as a starter, he has a TD-INT ratio of 16-2 and in the games he started and finished, he had a QB rating of at least 158.2 in 5 of 7 opportunities. Mind you, half of that was as a true freshman with Jimbo Fisher as his primary play-caller.

5. Brady Cook, Mizzou

One thing I like – The only Power 5 quarterbacks to have more 40-yard completions than Cook were four guys drafted in the top 12, and 31 TD Dillon Gabriel passes away after breaking the all-time FBS touchdown pass record.

4. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

One thing I like – After having a big difference in production against quality competition in 2022, Dart came back and improved greatly against FBS teams with a winning record. In those 2023 games, he was No. 8 in QB rating, averaged 9.7 yards/attempt and added an average of 39 rushing yards to lead Ole Miss to the first 11-win season in program history .

3. Jalen Milroe, Alabama

One thing I like – No returning player finished higher in the 2023 Heisman Trophy voting than Milroe, who produced 28 touchdowns (18 passing, 10 rushing) and had just 4 interceptions in the 11 games after the benching, 5 of which came against teams that finished in the AP . Opinion poll.

2. Quinn Ewers, Texas

One thing I like – After leading Texas to its first Big 12 title since 2009, Ewers will be a preseason Heisman favorite due to his breakout season, but more importantly, he will be a Year 3 starter in a Steve Sarkisian offense that yields four starting offensive linemen.

1. Carson Beck, Georgia

One thing I like – In a season where top two targets Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey both missed a significant portion of the year, Beck ranked 8th in QB rating. Even better? Against teams that finished in the AP Poll, Jayden Daniels was the only multi-game signal caller to have a better QB rating than Beck.