The countdown to kickoff is no longer at a snail’s pace, and kickoff is just a little over two weeks away for most every SEC program. That means we are also nearly halfway through fall camp for most every team in the league as well. There are still plenty of starting jobs up for grabs though, so let’s dive into the most intriguing fall camp position battles.
Up next: Florida, Georgia, and Kentucky.
Florida: Quarterback
Like several other schools in the SEC, Florida is in the middle of a quarterback battle this fall. Theirs has been particularly interesting because of the fact that it remained close despite outside perception of it being a done deal in the spring. Aaron Philo and Trammell Jones Jr. are the two battling for QB1 in Gainesville. Philo transferred from Georgia Tech along with new offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner.
Florida head coach Jon Sumrall admitted that in the spring, Philo had a significant lead in the battle because of his familiarity with the offense. Since fall camp has opened the two have been even. Florida head coach Jon Sumrall spoke about the latest on the battle after the Gators second scrimmage earlier this week.
“They’ve both earned what they are getting,” Sumrall said, via gatorcountry.com. “I think Tramell’s grown a ton. The biggest growth he’s got to continue to make is operating from the line of scrimmage, with shifts, motions, those kinds of things. We can’t have a motion called and not bring a guy in motion. But he’s making plays.
“He’s very comfortable in the pocket, he’s got great energy, he’s got good touch on the football. When things are right, they’re right. He’s got a bright future. I’m fired up about him. I really am. I know everybody thinks Philo is the starter because he came with Buster and all this. And yeah, he had a head start. Both guys are doing some good things and we need both of them to get ready.”
Georgia: Safety
Georgia already has one of the best safeties in college football in KJ Bolden. Who starts opposite of him at the other safety spot is still in question, however. Georgia brought in multiple transfers in this year’s portal including Khalil Barnes from Clemson and Ja’Marley Riddle from East Carolina. They also still have two players from last year’s team with a lot of experience including Rasean Dinkins and Kyron Jones. Jones started in six games a season ago while Dinkins played in 13 total games in 2025.
“We’re very fortunate that (Khalil Barnes) is here with us,” defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann said. “He’s an instinctive playmaker. He’s smart. You can tell that he’s played a lot of football. He had on-ball production at Clemson. He had on-ball production in high school. He’s a guy that we think can do that for us here.”
“The next two weeks is really where the separation starts,” Schumann said. “I always view the first scrimmage as moving day. Somebody will move up and down, and then after the second scrimmage you have to have a little bit of a pecking order because now you’re getting into game week prep. But you’re still constantly developing everybody in the room.”
Kentucky: Wide Receiver
The resounding feeling around Kentucky’s camp this fall is that Kenny Minchey is going to be really good at quarterback. The Notre Dame transfer has been great so far in camp and is one of the most likable student-athletes from a media perspective. Minchey barely lost the quarterback battle against CJ Carr ahead of Notre Dame’s 2025 season, and he’ll finally get to play under an offensive minded coach with Will Stein.
The question for Kentucky’s offense doesn’t lie at quarterback or the offensive line. The Wildcats should have one of the best O-Lines in the entire SEC. The biggest, and most relevant, position battle is at neither of those spots, it’s the unit that Minchey will be throwing to at wide receiver.
Kentucky’s transfer portal haul was equally impressive as it was underrated. The Wildcats opened up the checkbook and brought in 29 players in total. That included 20 former Power Four players and 14 from the SEC alone. One of those is former Oklahoma and LSU wideout Nic Anderson. Anderson is a big bodied receiver at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds.
