If you think that one big reason the SEC appeared to be down last season is because of the relatively sparse great quarterback play – and when you read something like this…
The conference had a high water mark in 2013 with eight quarterbacks having a season passing efficiency of at least 140, headlined by the likes of Johnny Manziel, Zach Mettenberger, AJ McCarron, Aaron Murray, Nick Marshall, and Connor Shaw. Not included in those eight were Bo Wallace, who’d top the 140 mark in Ole Miss’s breakout 2014 season, and young versions of Brandon Allen and Dak Prescott, who were two of the best signal callers this past year.
In 2015, only five SEC quarterbacks hit 140: Allen, Chad Kelly, Prescott, Jake Coker, and Greyson Lambert. Lambert’s splits show that he only squeaked out a 141.5 because he torched bad teams to make up for mediocre-at-best performances against good teams. Florida’s Will Grier had a shot at beating 140, but then he got busted for PEDs and has since transferred.
… it’s hard to argue against that proposition – then the 2016 recruiting class may help the conference’s perception dramatically in the coming years.
This year, though, the SEC is bringing in one of its best quarterback bunches in recent memory. It should be a cause for excitement. Here are the headlining quarterbacks of the 2016 class. The stars and ratings are from the 247SportsComposite, and “EE” means early enrollee.
Player Team Style EE? Stars Rating Shea Patterson Ole Miss Pro Yes 5 0.9979 Jacob Eason Georgia Pro Yes 5 0.9973 Feleipe Franks Florida Pro Yes 4 0.9721 Jarrett Guarantano Tennessee Dual No 4 0.9612 Brandon McIlwain South Carolina Dual Yes 4 0.9254 Jalen Hurts Alabama Dual Yes 4 0.9231 Woody Barrett Auburn Dual No 4 0.9149 Only seven quarterbacks achieved a rating of at least .9600, and SEC schools have secured at least a firm commitment from four of them. Patterson and Eason are the only 5-star quarterbacks, and they’ve already enrolled.
That is an impressive haul. We’ll see if it pays off.
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I really believe Kirby will put a complete team around Eason. Good offense, defense and special teams. No more of the good on one side of the ball and half-ass on the other side.
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ClydeBoogie,your remarks about the direction Kirby is heading and where we’ve been are the best since the new sheriff came to town. Well done sir.
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I saw that “skinnyQB” has added weight and is up to between 230 and 240.
At 6’5″, that is probably still slim, but to jump from 208 to that in such a short time? He needs to stop eating with Big Ben. lol
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Like most college freshmen, perhaps he’s discovered that age-old bulking substance – beer.
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Yes, I found that out in college and still can’t get all those bulk gone, LOL.
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Wait – you’re supposed to stop drinking that after college? Was there a meeting that nobody invited me to?
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This is a great example of why data and rankings have to be taken with a large grain of salt. Anything that tells me Lambert was one of the top QBs in the league last year is suspect in my book.
Don’t know anything about Patterson. Were we not after him since we had Eason locked up?
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I thought the article nailed the Lambert matter. He was great against lousy teams and bad against good teams but he did not turn the ball over. Why would Ole Piss want a pro style QB. Kelly saved them many times with his legs.
It will be interesting to see what our new OC/QB coach does with Lambert and Ramsey. Ramsey will not be punting next season so he had better start studying the new playbook. We know Lambert is a fast study but man they have got to get him to calm down in the pocket. I’m afraid he has happy feet and that is almost always impossible to correct.
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