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Horns Qbs

MARLER: Week 4 SEC Quarterback Rankings

Sep 19, 2024 | 4:15 PM

By Chris Marler

  1. Jaxson Dart 

Jaxson’s Dart’s first three games of the season have been about as good as Lane Kiffin and Reb fans could’ve ever imagined. He leads the SEC in nearly every category and, through a quarter of the season, is averaging over 400 yards per game with 11 touchdowns and only one interception.

If that’s not enough he also ranks first or second nationally for Power Four quarterbacks in each of the following categories:

  • Completion Percentage: 83.0%
  • QBR: 91.6
  • Passer Rating: 222.6
  • Total Yards: 1226
  • Yards per attempt: 13.3
  1. Quinn Ewers/Arch Manning 

Quinn Ewers has been tremendous all season, but for the third consecutive year Ewers was sidelined with an injury. This one came in the form of an abdominal strain in the first half against UTSA.

Oh well, next man up. In stepped Arch Manning who scored two TDs in his first three plays under center, and he finished the game with five total. Not too bad. On the season Texas QBs have accounted for 15 total touchdowns and just two interceptions.

  1. Jalen Milroe

I may have been a little harsh on Milroe after his performance against USF. I dropped him four spots down to fifth in my rankings. For whatever reason, Milroe is the most polarizing name on this list every time it’s posted. So many people have so many opinions of him, and so many of those opinions are very, very skewed.

So let’s look at factual statistics and information with him…

Milroe leads the country in total touchdowns with 14. He has yet to throw an interception, and he currently ranks second in the SEC in Passer Rating ( 213.4) and yards per attempt (11.3). He has the second most passing TDs (8) in the conference, and the second most rushing touchdowns (6) of any player in the entire country as well.

  1. Garrett Nussmeier 

LSU showed once again last Saturday that they still have a lot of questions that need to be answered about this year’s team. One thing that is for certain though, they got an absolute dawg at QB.

Nussmeier leads the SEC in passing touchdowns with 10. Due to the Tigers’ struggling run game through three games, Nuss has become the leader of this offense and this team. LSU is currently averaging 38.7 pass attempts per game. That’s the second highest for an LSU QB in the last 20+ years. Despite that, Nuss is still completing nearly 70% of his passes and ranks fourth in the SEC in QBR.

  1. Carson Beck 

Before any UGA fans get mad and start yelling at me in my mentions, let’s be clear about this ranking. I dropped Milroe from one to five a week ago because of his performance against USF. Beck deserves the same treatment after his, and Georgia’s, abysmal offensive performance at Kentucky a week ago.

The Dawgs had just 65 yards of total offense at the half, and Beck ended the game with just 160 yards passing, zero touchdowns and a completion percentage of only 62.5%. All three of those numbers are career lows for Carson Beck as a starting QB at Georgia.

I fully expect a different team and QB to take the field in Tuscaloosa next weekend. But for now, Carson deserves to be here.

  1. Nico Iamaleava 

Nico is commanding arguably the best offense in America and doing it at an elite level. The numbers aren’t jaw dropping yet, but that’s primarily because he isn’t in the games long enough. And because his running back Dylan Sampson is leading the country in Rushing TDs.

Nicohlas attempted just one pass in the 4th quarter of games this season.

By the way, it went for an 18-yard touchdown. He’s completing over 71% of his passes and has over 10 yards per attempt, and if he has big weekend in Norman the Heisman talk will start.

  1. Taylen Green 

Green has struggled with his accuracy at times, but he is a playmaker and one of the best athletes in the country. He’s currently fourth in the country in total yards. Despite his flaws in the passing game, he’s been the highest graded SEC QB from PFF through the first three weeks of the season.

He could have a field day this weekend in Auburn and has been a wunderkind in Bobby Petrino’s offense.

  1. Brady Cook

Still waiting for a Brady Cook breakout game. I don’t know if we should be concerned by Cook’s lack of production through the air so far. What I am concerned about is the lack of production against the competition he’s faced. Mizzou has the easiest schedule in the SEC this year, and let’s not forget that they returned 77% of their offseason production from a season ago.

So explain to me why we are still sitting at two passing TDs.

  1. Blake Shapen 

Blake Shapen has been the most difficult player to rank each week. His numbers are great, and he’s top five in the SEC in passer rating, passing yards and TDs. He’s completing 70% of his passes and only has one interception on the year.

However, most of his stat padding has come when his team is already out of it. He accounted for four TDs total against Arizona State and Toledo, but all four came when his team was already down by at least 14 points.

  1. Diego Pavia 

The legend of Diego Pavia hit its first road bump last week as Vandy pulled a Vandy and inexplicably lost to Georgia State. He’s still averaging 300 yards of offense per game against FBS teams and has been one of the best stories in the league.

  1. Marcel Reed 

Historically speaking, A&M is at their best when they have a flashy dual threat athlete starting at QB. Reed made his second career start last week in Gainesville last week and was fantastic. He had 261 total yards and three TDs.

In two career starts, he’s put up 650 yards of offense and four touchdowns. Give him the keys.

  1. Jackson Arnold 

Arnold has less help around him than that mom from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

  1. LaNorris Sellers 

Sellers was great in flashes versus LSU, but his situational awareness continues to plague South Carolina, especially on third down.

  1. Auburn 

Hank > Lank shirts have already been printed y’all.

  1. Florida

Idea: What if we let Billy Napier fight for his job by letting him play QB? It can’t be any worse than how these two looked last week.

  1. Brock Vandagriff

Get ready to learn insurance sales buddy.

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