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Ranking the SEC’s most unpredictable QB class in years

Aug 20, 2025 | 12:15 PM

Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

By Chris Marler

The 2025 SEC quarterback situation is a classic case of “two things can be true at the same time.” The SEC has a really inexperienced group of QBs heading into 2025. However, the conference has one of the deepest crops of talent at the position in the last several years. 

Here’s a look at the situation by the numbers.

5 – Heading into week one of the 2025 season, there are only five projected starting quarterbacks in the entire SEC that were the week one starter at their current school last year.  

8 – Eight of the projected starters have less than five career starts in this league, and eight are also former transfers. 

62 – Four of the top five contenders from this conference will be starting a QB who threw less than 62 passes all last season. 

4 or 5 – Four or five players have already been talked about as top five picks in the next two NFL Drafts with multiple being discussed as potential No. 1 overall picks. 

So, how do we accurately and correctly rank this group before a single snap has been taken in the 2025 season? Simple. We don’t! Regardless, I’ll try my best and give you the criteria I think are most important along the way. 

Biggest factors going into rankings 

  1. Actual on-field play in the SEC and at the FBS level
  2. Potential based off their own talent 
  3. Potential based off their system, talent around them, and projections
  4. Making you angry

Just kidding about number four, but I’m sure that won’t help calm people down in the comments.

A lot to prove

16. Zach Calzada, Kentucky

15. Joey Aguilar, Tennessee

14. Beau Pribula, Missouri

13. Gunner Stockton, Georgia

12. Blake Shapen, Mississippi State

11. Ty Simpson, Alabama

Top Ten 

  1. Austin Simmons, Ole Miss 

Austin Simmons is here strictly because of where I think he could, and most likely will, end up as the season progresses. We’ve seen very little of Simmons, as he’s only attempted 32 passes as a Rebel. He’s 19 and skipped a year of high school because of how elite he was academically in high school. 

Here’s what I know about Lane Kiffin quarterbacks: they always produce. Period. 

In five years at Ole Miss, his quarterbacks have put up an average of 3,460 passing yards per season and registered 30+ touchdowns in four of five seasons. Kiffin will have something to prove this year after missing the playoffs. The schedule is very manageable, and Simmons should be a star in this offense. 

  1. Jackson Arnold, Auburn 

Yes, I watched Jackson Arnold play football last year. Yes, I watched him play in this very league. Yes, I saw him rank among the worst quarterbacks statistically, not just in the SEC, but nationwide. However, here’s what I know about Arnold: he’s a former five star, consensus top ten player in the country as a recruit. 

I also know that at Oklahoma, he had three offensive coordinators in two years, lost his entire top five wide receivers last year because of injury, and played behind the worst offensive line in the country that allowed 50 sacks on the season. 

At the very least he’s going to be in a situation that is vastly different and improved at Auburn versus Norman. Not only will he have a much better offensive line and more cohesiveness from a coaching staff, but he will go from having the most decimated receiving corps in the country to one of the best overall units in America with what Auburn has brought in at that position. 

  1. Marcel Reed, Texas A&M 

Reed has been slept on a lot so far in his young career. Of course, he has a ways to go in improving as a passer, but let’s not forget that he was a redshirt freshman that was thrust into the starting role after Conner Weigman was injured last year. He finished last season with 2,400 yards of offense, 22 touchdowns, and six interceptions. 

The biggest concern is how he played when the lights were brightest a season ago. The Aggies were 7-1 and a top ten team going into last November. They finished 1-4 with their lone win coming against New Mexico State. Reed had at least one interception in every game during their last five games of the season. In his defense, the Aggie defense allowed 40.6 points per game in their losses to South Carolina, Auburn, and Southern Cal. 

  1. Taylen Green, Arkansas 

Taylen Green is one of the most exciting players in this conference and was all last season, despite the lack of notoriety. He’s 6-foot-6, 230 pounds with elite elusiveness and speed. He’s also a fifth year senior with three years of starting experience between Boise State and Arkansas. 

He absolutely has to cut down on the turnovers and take better care of the football. However, Green is a human highlight reel who threw for over 3,100 yards last year and finished third in the SEC in total offense with over 288 yards per game. 

Players with enormous hype but very little tape against SEC defenses to show for it

  1. John Mateer, Oklahoma 

Mateer hasn’t played a game yet for Oklahoma, but he has already been designated as the next great Sooner QB, top tier NFL talent, and second coming of Jesus or Baker Mayfield, depending on who you ask. 

Mateer is extremely talented and will be a household name for SEC fans this season. The only reason he isn’t yet is because he played last year in the former conference turned orphanage that was the Pac 12. Coaches, analysts, and scouts absolutely love Mateer. He was one of the top five players in the portal and is projected as a top ten pick in next year’s draft. Todd McShay even said just this week that he is a “breathtaking prospect to study.”

The numbers are there, and he is a legit dual threat quarterback. He finished last season completing 64.6 percent of his passes, 44 total touchdowns, and just under 4,000 yards of total offense. 

However, the issue I have with putting him higher is that he did it against the 106th ranked strength of schedule. He played only three games against Power 4 Teams, and his completion percentage was just 56.6 percent in those games. Mateer had just one game against a ranked opponent all season and padded a lot of his stats against inferior opponents including nearly 20 percent of his passing TDs against FCS teams. 

  1. DJ Lagway, Florida 

Let me preface this by saying I love DJ Lagway. I love his commitment to Billy Napier and Florida, I love his incredible talent as a player, and I really love his complete lack of ego and selfishness in this era of NIL. 

However, I have never seen a quarterback that completed under 60 percent of his passes while throwing 12 touchdowns to nine interceptions have this much hype going into a season. Did I miss something and Florida somehow got a ton of elite talent to put around Lagway or somehow find a schedule that didn’t include Miami, Texas, LSU, Texas A&M, UGA, Ole Miss, and Tennessee on it? 

Florida plays four top ten teams this season and three of them are in back-to-back-to-back in the first five games of the season. 

  1. Arch Manning, Texas 

The most hyped player in the country and my man has started two games in two seasons. Manning is the former No. 1 overall recruit in the country, and you probably didn’t know this, but also related to Peyton and Eli Manning! Crazy right? 

Arch should be really good, and I could easily see him being the No. 1 player on this list, as well as NFL Draft boards, by the end of the season. However, he needs to prove it at least a little against SEC competition before we crown him the new king of SEC and college football. 

The good news for him is that he will have one of the most talented rosters in the country around him, one of the most manageable schedules in the SEC to play, and has the best offensive mind in the sport as his head coach. Think about what we’ve seen Steve Sarkisian do with elite quarterbacks at Alabama. If he can make Mac Jones a top-15 pick and a 78.6 percent passer, what can he do with this guy? 

Everyone’s Favorite QB

  1. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt  

Everyone’s favorite quarterback (besides their own) is back for one last ride in Nashville. Pavia doesn’t do anything physically that is going to consistently wow. But he wins. He leads. And now, he’s running the most loaded Vanderbilt squad in a decade, with Eli Stowers, the best tight end in the country, leading the charge.

Pavia finished his first season in the SEC with 28 touchdowns, over 3,000 yards of offense, and just four interceptions all year. He was one of the most consistent players in the country and scored at least two touchdowns in ten of Vanderbilt’s 13 games. He is also at his best against the best competition, as he completed 80 percent of his passes with two touchdowns and no turnovers, and a five touchdown performance against Georgia Tech in the first bowl win for Vandy in a decade. 

The Clear Cut Top 2

  1. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU  

Nussmeier is awesome, and there’s not a quarterback in the country who has more experience throwing the football than him. Literally. 

Nuss threw 525 passes last season which was the second most in FBS and the most of any returning QB in America. He finished 2024 with eight 300 yard games and over 4,000 yards passing on the season. 

LSU’s offense and system give me zero concern for his 2025 season. The WRs are deeper than a year ago, the run game should be much improved, and he’s going into his second year as a starter and fifth year in college football. 

The concern with Nussmeier is providing protection and how he plays when that doesn’t happen. He couldn’t handle pressure last year with five picks vs. A&M and Bama then had seven sacks and just 16 points against Florida, even with 92 plays.

He lost four of five starters from last year’s offensive line. Yes, LSU got a lot of high level players in the portal and have recruited well, but can they protect him better than a unit that allowed just 15 sacks all year a season ago? We’ll see. 

  1. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina 

Sellers is finally getting the credit he deserves as one of the best players in America this offseason. He did struggle to start the year a season ago, and a lot of casuals have maintained that he is simply a runner and not a good passer. 

False. Sellers was top five nationally last year on passes 20+ yards down field, and he led South Carolina to the longest winning streak in the SEC to close the regular season with six straight for the Gamecocks. That streak included four wins against ranked opponents. 

Sellers was the best player in America in the second half of last season. He finished those six games with 17 touchdowns and just four interceptions and completed over 70 percent of his passes in four of his final five games. 

He did that behind an offensive line that allowed 41 sacks and a receiving corps that is nowhere near as talented or deep as it is this season. Sellers is going to be a star in 2025. Just watch. 

Chris Marler

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