SEC QB Controversy Thermometer

[jbcarol]

2024 Quarterback Unit Rankings:

With Quinn Ewers, Arch, Texas leads Top 10

by: Jesse Re: Simonton
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1. Texas
Steve Sarkisian is blessed with the best quarterback situation in America in 2024: He has a Top 5 starter in Quinn Ewers, who has the talent to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

He then has Arch Manning waiting as the wind beneath his wings

4. Georgia
Beck might be the No. 1 quarterback in the country in 2024, and while the the Bulldogs don't have a definitive No. 2 just yet, they have quality options in redshirt sophomore Gunner Stockton (three years in the system) and recent transfer addition Jaden Rashada.

5. Bama
Had Alabama not lost 5-star Julian Sayin to Ohio State, the Tide's quarterback room might rank only behind Texas in 2024.

Milroe is back and is a potential Heisman Trophy contender, while Kalen DeBoer brought former 4-star Washington signee Austin Mack with him to Tuscaloosa. Ty Simpson, a former 5-star who had a strong spring, is still around, as is Dylan Lonergan.

7. Ole Miss
Ole Miss has a solid stable of quarterbacks led by former USC 5-star Jaxson Dart, who is the Rebels' cemented starter and one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC in 2024. Behind Dart, Lane Kiffin could turn to former LSU transfer Walker Howard or Austin Simmons.

8. LSU
LSU lost Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels, but the Tigers have kept Garrett Nussmeier around for a reason and the country will see why this fall. Just in case, Brian Kelly added some interesting insurance to the QB room as well, grabbing Vandy transfer AJ Swann.

9. Florida
Gators have one of the more intriguing quarterback situations in 2024. Graham Mertz returns, and the former Wisconsin transfer was much better than most expected last season (20 touchdowns to just three interceptions, 73% completion).

Still, waiting in the wings is 5-star freshman DJ Lagway, who opted to hold his commitment to Billy Napier despite the head coach's much-rumored hot seat. Lagway impressed in the spring and could push for playing time early in 2024 —

10. A&M
Aggies have one of the wilder ceiling-to-floor quarterback rooms in the country this fall. Elko inherited a trio of potential high-upside arms ...

The former 5-star recruit has flashed the talent to be the best quarterback in College Station since Johnny Football, Jaylen Henderson and Marcel Reed, two former blue-chip signees, put up big numbers (nearly 10.0 yards per attempt) in relief.

[jbcarol]

Clark Lea finally provides update on quarterback battle timeline
by: Justin Rudolph

"It's set up to continue on through the summer and into fall camp. I was pleased today with the fact that we didn't turn the ball over; that's something we've harped on all spring," said Lea. "I think it was on the ground once and the offense was able to recover it. All three guys have flashed obviously I felt like Blaze (Berlowitz) had some throws today that were impressive. But yeah, we're gonna introduce some new people in that competition heading into the summer. We'll open it back up in the fall.

"One thing that I want to have happened there early is to lock in on some guys that we're going to give the lion share of the reps. Because ultimately, we're not going to be able to have five people compete for one job. We have to set it up so that you're looking at three; three becomes two. And then, ultimately, by the time we're playing, two becomes one."

Berlowitz looks to have the inside track for the Commodores' starting quarterback position. However, it does not appear that he has done enough to solidify himself as the season-opener starter. As of now, Lea still has his options open.

Lea adds WR Dariyan Wiley
Lea recently added to the Commodores' offense with another off-season acquisition. Former UMass and ULM wide receiver Dariyan Wiley committed to Vanderbilt just before the summer.

[jbcarol]

Dowell Loggains weighs pros, cons of naming a starting quarterback early

by: Sam Gillenwater

Someone is eventually going to replace Spencer Rattler as the starting quarterback at South Carolina. It's just a matter of time in when the program will decide to make that kind of decision according to OC Dowell Loggains.

"Yeah, it's a really good question. We could probably spend 30 minutes on it," Loggains said. "There's advantages to both. We've had 13 practices so guys have had good days, bad days, continual growth. You're going to have that."

To him, though, the advantage of doing it now is having it out of the way. The only issue is that it could then lead to a problem come the preseason if another player has surpassed the 'starter' in that time with their own play.

It's all about getting a feel for who the staff and team accept that it's going to be without calling the fight too early.

At the moment, the battle looks to be between names like LaNorris Sellers and Robby Ashford.

Sellers, who's going into his sophomore year in Columbia, appeared in three games last fall where he completed all four of his passes for 86 yards and a score while also rushing five times for 51 yards and another touchdown. In the spring game, he posted 108 total yards and ran in a touchdown. As for Ashford, the transfer from Auburn and Oregon, he is a more experienced option having played at other programs, including his latest in the SEC.

That's not to mention other options in the room like Davis Beville or Dante Reno.

[jbcarol]

O'Gara: It's a bit strange — — there are so few QB battles in the SEC in 2024

Everyone likes to say that competition is good.

It seems fairly easy to predict who'll take the first snap for each SEC team to start 2024:

Alabama — Milroe
Arkansas — Taylen Green
Auburn — Payton Thorne
Florida — Graham Mertz
Georgia — Beck
Kentucky — Brock Vandagriff
LSU — Garrett Nussmeier
State — Blake Shapen
Mizzou — Brady Cook
Oklahoma — Jackson Arnold
Ole Miss — Jaxson Dart
South Carolina — LaNorris Sellers
Tennessee — Nico Iamaleava
Texas — Quinn Ewers
A&M — Conner Weigman
Vanderbilt — Diego Pavia

Any pushback on that list from the non-Nate Johnson crowd? If I set the over/under at 15 correct picks, would you take the "under?"

That's the byproduct of SEC quarterback play looking better than ever. Five returning starters led their teams to either a New Year's 6 or a Playoff berth in 2023 (Beck, Milroe, Ewers, Dart and Cook).

Mertz and Weigman were both QB1 when healthy last year while Arnold, Nussmeier and Iamaleava got the bowl game start as decorated quarterbacks-in-waiting after their starters (opted-out).

[jbcarol]

Shane Beamer names LaNorris Sellers starting QB

by: Griffin McVeigh
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Beamer made sure to state competition is still open across the roster, including quarterback. Auburn transfer Robby Ashford.

He plans on Sellers being the guy for South Carolina's season opener against Old Dominion.

[jbcarol]

O'Gara: My post-spring SEC QB rankings entering 2024

16. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt
One thing I like — Pavia led New Mexico State to more victories against SEC competition (Auburn) than Vandy did in 2023.

15. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
One thing I like — Besides the fact that he rocks rec specs like my all-time favorite athlete (former Chicago Bull Horace Grant), I like that he had such a good start to his career that he's locked in as South Carolina's QB1 having never thrown a pass

14. Blake Shapen, State
One thing I like — The Baylor transfer is Mississippi State's best deep-ball passer since Dak Prescott

13. Payton Thorne, Auburn
One thing I like — He has an overhauled receiver room that includes 5-star freshman Cam Coleman, Penn State transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith (1,721 career yards, 11 TDs)

12. Taylen Green, Arkansas
One thing I like — He's a true 6-6, dual-threat quarterback who'll get to learn under Bobby Petrino, who most recently led the Texas A&M offense to a double-digit scoring improvement even though injuries forced 3 different quarterbacks to start multiple games.

11. Brock Vandagriff, Kentucky
One thing I like — Vandagriff is a former 5-star recruit who spent 3 years behind Stetson IV and Beck

10. Jackson Arnold, Oklahoma
One thing I like — Arnold is a year removed from being the 2022-23 Gatorade National Player of the Year

9. Graham Mertz, Florida
One thing I like — You thought I'd say completion percentage, didn't you?

8. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
One thing I like — He's a gunslinging quarterback who didn't necessarily get forced into bad habits by starting early

7. Nico, Tennessee
One thing I like — After handing Iowa's decorated defense its worst defensive day of the 2023 season, the former No. 2 overall recruit is entering his first season as QB1 for Josh Heupel, who had 5 of his 6 starting quarterbacks as a head coach produce at least 32 total touchdowns.

6. Conner Weigman, Texas A&M
One thing I like — In 8 games as a starter, he has a 16-2 TD-INT ratio and in the games that 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

5. Brady Cook, Mizzou
One thing I like — The only Power 5 quarterbacks who had more 40-yard completions than Cook were 4 guys who were drafted in the top 12 and Dillon Gabriel

4. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss
One thing I like — After he had a stark difference in production against quality competition in 2022, Dart came back and improved immensely against FBS teams with a winning record. In those games in 2023, he was No. 8 in QB rating

3. 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 only had 4 interceptions in the 11 post-benching games

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 because of his breakout season, but more important, he'll be a Year 3 starter in a Steve Sarkisian offense that returns 4 starting offensive linemen.

1. Beck, Georgia
One thing I like — In a season in which top 2 targets Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey both missed significant chunks of the year, Beck was 8th in QB rating. Even better? Against teams that finished in the AP Poll, Jayden Daniels was the only signal-caller with multiple contests who had a better QB rating than Beck.

[jbcarol]

Pittboss updates where Arkansas quarterback battle stands

by: Dan Morrison
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"You know, Taylen Green is a leading son of a gun," Sam Pittman said. "He just is. He's very, very talented, but a great player makes people around them better, and that's something that he has. Wonderful parents, and I think that's probably the reason why he's such a great kid. Very, very fast, but he can really throw the football. Really had a good spring game. Our line improved in their protection, drastically from a year ago.

"But there will be a battle for number two," Pittman said. "But we feel real strong about our quarterback room and, of course, the coach with Bobby [Petrino] coaching them and they're continuing to get better all the time."

Sam Pittman addresses decision to move 2024 season opener to Thursday

"You look at a few things when you go to Little Rock and No. 1 you really don't want to take away from great football. So you don't to take away from the Friday nights... if you play in September then what time do you want to play the game? So everybody in Little Rock probably wants to play the game at night because it's so dang hot. Well, if you play at night, then [if it's not] a home game, we get home at 3:00 in the morning. It's always early in the year. No.1, it's a night game. So folks will be able to tailgate, and it won't be as hot; it won't be as hot on our guys. And you gain two days on your next opponent," Pittman said.

[jbcarol]

Pete Nakos@PeteNakos_

Where is Jaden Rashada's lawsuit against Florida coach Billy Napier headed?

"If we're playing the odds, most cases settle."

Read: https://on3.com/nil/news/where-is-jaden-rashada-nil-lawsuit-against-florida-gators-football-head-coach-billy-napier-headed-13-million