By Chris Marler
ESPN stats and analytics guru Bill Connelly released his initial returning production numbers for the 2025 season. There were a lot of interesting takeaways from the first release, primarily the staggering drop-off of 23% since the 2021 season.
That number coincides directly with the increased usage of the transfer portal.
The rest of the numbers are pretty standard in comparison to last year versus this year. Teams like Texas and Georgia remain in the 100’s, in terms of returning production because of the players they’ll lose to the NFL Draft. Ole Miss ranks last of all SEC teams at No. 113 because of their emphasis and focus on using the portal as their primary source of potential starters.
While Clemson ranked No. 1 nationally, there were still three SEC teams that rank in the top ten. Interestingly enough, that also means that two SEC teams, South Carolina and LSU, are the only two teams in the country that will play four different teams ranked in the top ten for returning production.
Here’s a look at where every SEC team ranked in terms of overall production including their returning percentage in parentheses.
No. 6 – Texas A&M (71%)
No. 8 – Vanderbilt (70%)
No. 10 – Oklahoma (69%)
No. 18 – Florida (66%)
No. 22 – Auburn (65%)
No. 35 – Alabama (63%)
No. 37 – Mississippi State (62%)
No. 38 – LSU (62%)
No. 51 – Missouri (60%)
No. 52 – Kentucky (60%)
No. 58 – Tennessee (58%)
No. 64 – Arkansas (57%)
No. 71 – South Carolina (56%)
No. 103 – Texas (45%)
No. 105 – Georgia (45%)
No. 113 – Ole Miss (42%)
