Spring practice is underway, or about to be underway across, the Southeast (which I’m obviously talking about the conference and not the region because … you know …).
Spring is the time when teams first start to take shape. Freshmen and transfers get on the field for the first time. Players who have been down on the depth chart, get their chance to make a case for playing time. Fans get their first glimpse of what is to come in the spring game.
Ok, obviously I’m not going to get every prediction right.
But what would I be if I didn’t try to get every prediction right? I’d be a quitter. And Mama didn’t raise no quitter.
So with that established, I’m using the start of spring to rank every SEC starting quarterback.
ELITE
1) TEXAS: Arch Manning
2) FLORIDA: DJ Lagway
3) LSU: Garrett Nussmeier
4) SOUTH CAROLINA: LaNorris Sellers
GOOD BUT NOT GREAT
5) OKLAHOMA: John Mateer
6) ALABAMA: Keelon Russell
7) ARKANSAS: Taylen Green
8) GEORGIA: Gunner Stockton
9) VANDERBILT: Diego Pavia
NEEDS TO PROVE IT
10) TENNESSEE: Nico Iamaleava
11) AUBURN: Jackson Arnold
12) MISSOURI: Beau Pribula
13) TEXAS A&M: Marcel Reed
14) OLE MISS: Austin Simmons
15) KENTUCKY: Zach Calzada
16) MISSISSIPPI STATE: Blake Shapen
Will I nail every one of these? The odds say no. But for now, you can’t prove me wrong.
ELITE TIER:
1) Arch Manning
Manning has made all of two starts in his young career so this is obviously a projection, but one I feel pretty comfortable making.
Manning has all of the traits you look for in an elite quarterback: strong arm, good size, high football IQ, strong leadership qualities.
“Now that we’ve kind of embarked on the 2025 season, I just continue to see a guy that’s taken it and is really trying to really go for it,” Sarkisian told the press Monday. “He just doesn’t want to leave any stone unturned. He’s working at his craft. He’s working so hard in the offseason conditioning runs. He’s now setting up those voluntary throwing sessions with the receivers during the week or on the weekend. He’s breaking the team down. All those natural things that a quarterback has to do to instill belief in his teammates, to instill belief in the staff, he’s doing it.”
There are legitimate questions surrounding the Texas offense heading into the 2025 season. Can Kyle Flood rebuild the offensive line? What will the receiving corps look like?
That last one will be a really intriguing battle this spring, especially with DeAndre Moore missing the spring due to injury.
But none of the questions about the Texas offense center on quarterback where Manning has shown he can both throw and run with the best.
2) DJ Lagway
This one is a HUGE projection on my part. Like Manning, he was a five-star recruit coming out of high school. But unlike Manning, he also brings some starting experience after taking over the Gator offense last season.
Lagway’s numbers last season won’t exactly blow you away:
Completing 115 of 192 attempts (59.5%) for 1,915 yards, 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions. That’s a 154.9 rating.
Again, that’s not exactly Heisman territory.
But I do love seeing a QB with a 10 yards per attempt average.
I also love the offensive line that will be protecting Lagway. The Gators return four starters up front including All-American center Jake Slaughter, left tackle Austin Barber and Freshman All-SEC guard Bryce Lovett.
That group opened up a lot of holes in the running game when they were in Austin last year.
The big question surrounding Lagway is his health availability.
Lagway missed the Texas game last year with an injury and he is limited this spring with a lingering shoulder injury … not something you want from your star Sophomore quarterback if you’re a Gator fan.
3) Garrett Nussmeier
I went back and forth between Nussmeier and Lagway for the number two spot.
The Tiger QB is one of the early favorites for the Heisman and NFL scouts are drooling over him.
The question is what will LSU’s offense look like?
The Tigers went HEAVY on the portal to beef up that side of the ball in an attempt to win in Nussmeier’s final season. Seven new starters are coming in from the portal, including three new receivers.
NEW OFFENSIVE PORTAL ADDITIONS:
- TE Bauer Sharp: Oklahoma
- WR Barion Brown: Kentucky
- QB Michael Van Buren: Mississippi State
- WR Destyn Hill: Florida State
- WR Nic Anderson: Oklahoma
- OL Braelin Moore: Virginia Tech
- TE Donovan Green: Texas A&M
I know @Ketchum was Barion Brown’s biggest fan, but now the former Kentucky wide out is in Baton Rouge and already making plays.
4) LaNorris Sellers
Sellers took the SEC by storm in his freshman season last year. The bespectacled one finished third in the conference in both completion percentage and QB rating in 2024. Sellers also rushed for 674 yards and seven touchdowns.
Sellers will need that mobility because the Gamecocks offensive line couldn’t even beat Little Jerry Seinfeld in a cock fight. USC (East) gave up 42 sacks last season which was ranked 123rd out of 133 D1 teams.
Bonus points if you know which team finished dead last … that’s right. OU. The Sooners gave up 50 sacks last season, tied with Cal for the worst in D1.
GOOD BUT NOT GREAT:
5) John Mateer
Mateer should prove to be a big upgrade at QB for OU next season. The Little Elm, Texas native reunited with his former Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle in Norman.
Last season, he threw for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns with seven interceptions while adding 826 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground.
Mateer could conceivably make it into the elite tier of QB except for the previously mentioned flaw along the offensive line. He actually had a better o-line last year with Washington State than what he’ll have with OU.
Plus, he looks like he just landed a guest staring role on CHiPs where he plays the head of a crime syndicate that steals motorcycles.
But fear not, Officers Frank Poncharello and Jon Baker are on the case!
6) Keelon Russell
Ok, not only is this a major projection as to being in the top half of the SEC during his freshman year, this means I am projecting him to become the starter for Alabama … something he has yet to do.
For now, Russell is competing against Ty Simpson and Austin Mack, both of whom are getting reps ahead of Russell in the pecking order for now.
But Russell is in contention and the early enrollee is just getting started.
“He’s up there. He certainly is,” Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said. “He’s got a long ways to go because I think that’s the way he looks at it. And he’s excited about what this growth is going to be even during the spring. But his ceiling and what he accomplished through what you can see on the high school film, he’s a pretty elite quarterback.”
7) Taylen Green
Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green had a better season than many expected.
The transfer from Boise State completed 230 of 381 attempts for 3,154 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
It’s the nine picks that held him back from having an even better season. The Lewisville, Texas native said he has spent the offseason focused on taking better care of the ball.
“It starts with the film room and getting on the same page, getting on the same mode of understanding why I made the decision,” Green said ahead of starting spring practice. “Not just watching the film and going to the next play, but understanding what made me make that decision or do those things.”
Of course with Green, it’s the damage he can do with his legs as well that makes him a weapon.
Last season he rushed for 602 yards and eight touchdowns.
This will be Green’s second season in Bobby Petrino’s offense and if he is able to become more comfortable with what his offensive coordinator wants him to do then he could be in line to have an electric season.
8) Gunner Stockton
Technically, Gunner Stockton has not yet won the starting job. He’ll be battling it out with true freshman Ryan Puglisi. But that’s probably only a technicality.
Stockton stepped in for an injured Carson Beck in the SEC Championship game and was a gamer, even if he was not spectacular.
Stockton appears to have the tools to be really good and I am putting him in the “good, not great” category as opposed to the “needs to prove it” category because he will be surrounded by so much talent in Georgia that he should be able to put up pretty good numbers and win a lot of games.
9) Diego Pavia
Diego Pavia will never leave college football. The Vanderbilt QB actually sued the NCAA to get a sixth year of eligibility and he won.
The stats for Pavia aren’t great. He is a limited quarterback. But what he lacks in physical ability, he more than makes up for in moxie and heart.
NEEDS TO PROVE IT
10) Nico Iamaleava
Nico Iamaleava was a five star quarterback coming out of high school and he has all of the tools that the aforementioned Diego Pavia does not have. But their stats are almost identical.
| COMPLETIONS | ATTEMPTS | COMP % | YARDS | AVG. | TOUCHDOWNS | INTERCEPTIONS | QB RATING | |
| PAVIA | 177 | 298 | 59.4 | 2,293 | 7.7 | 20 | 4 | 143.5 |
| IAMALEAVA | 213 | 334 | 63.8 | 2,616 | 7.8 | 19 | 5 | 145.3 |
At no point last season did you see Iamaleava take the Volunteers on his back and lead the way. Now, I will concede that he was a freshman so there’s that. But I need to see a little more fire from him before I am convinced that he will be capable of living up to his lofty recruiting rankings.
11) Jackson Arnold
Call me crazy, but I didn’t think Jackson Arnold was really the problem at OU last season. Yes, he had some bad decision making at times. But he also flashed some real ability.
The biggest problem for Arnold at OU last year was the fact that the Sooners had to hold their wide receiver room meetings in the hospital. Plus, the Sooners offensive line was simply atrocious.
This year, Arnold gets to play for Hugh Freeze who, while being someone of questionable character, knows how to make an offense work.
Arnold will also be throwing to electric sophomore receiver Cam Coleman.
Both of those factors should make Arnold much better in 2025 than what he was in 2024.
12) Beau Pribula
Beau Pribula reportedly received a $1.5 million NIL deal to transfer to Missouri from Penn State where he had limited action as a backup quarterback.
I’ll give this to the guy, he knew what he was doing when he entered the portal. Becoming a millionaire, landing in spot that has a pretty cushy schedule so he can rack up a lot of wins and playing for Eli Drinkwitz who runs a solid offense, all seems like smart decision making to me.
13) Marcel Reed
Marcel Reed took over as the starter in Aggieland late in the season and he struggled with accuracy and pocket presence.
Aggie coach Mike Elko heaped praise on his QB saying that Reed has improved his offseason.
“Marcel is progressing the way you would have wanted him to,” Elko told Billy Liucci.
14) Austin Simmons
Simmons takes over for Jaxon Dart at Ole Miss. Lane Kiffin’s new signal caller has a ton of arm talent, and Kiffin knows how to coax that talent out of him. But Simmons also has very little experience and Ole Miss lost just about everyone from last season’s squad.
15) Zach Calzada
Calzada is stepping up from being the quarterback at Incarnate Word in San Antonio to being the quarterback for the Kentucky Wildcats in the SEC.
That may seem like a big jump, and it is. But UIW does a good job of running a wide open offense that gets quarterbacks ready to play. Cam Ward came out of San Antonio before transferring to Washington State, then Miami and now to the NFL.
But of course, Calzada knows all about the SEC having already spent time at Texas A&M and Auburn. He wasn’t good enough at those places, has he really improved so much that he’s now ready to make a splash in Lexington? I have my doubts.
16) Blake Shapen
Shapen missed most of last year with a shoulder injury after transferring to Mississippi State from Baylor.
Nothing about Mississippi State or Baylor should lead anyone to think that this guy is going to be anything other than a JAG.
TWEETS OF INTEREST:
Rodney Terry lives to fight another day.
I’m not going to lie, this feels a little bit (although to a much lower level) of the time when Texas beat Nebraska for the first Big 12 title in football. One of the first things I thought about as James Brown connected with Derek Lewis was, “oh crap, that means one more year of John Mackovic.”
I don’t think this is nearly enough to save Terry’s job, but it’s a step in the right direction.
#####################################
#####################################
Good grief! I feel for all of you who traveled to the SEC basketball tournament.
#####################################
This just seems appropriate given the topic of my column this week.
#####################################
I don’t think Texas needs to worry about Dia Bell’s commitment … but you never know!
#####################################
I love that the kids from the Daily Texan are getting some love. And kudos to Vic Schaefer too for giving the journalists some love.
#####################################
Marshall Faulk spitting truth during his introduction to the Colorado football players.
#####################################
Any chance I get to show a little Nolan Ryan love, I’m gonna take it.
#####################################
Who said track isn’t a contact sport?
#####################################
I’m not going to lie, this is kind of a low-key banger.
Maybe @Ketchum needs to do an Adriano Celentano top 10 list?
Last edited:
