MARLER: Every SEC team’s biggest portal needs

By Chris Marler

The December transfer portal window is officially open, and names are already flying in. The portal window for this stage of the college football calendar will be open to players until December 28th. It will reopen on January 1st for players playing in the CFP and bowl games after December 23rd.

According to On3, nearly 3,000 scholarship players entered the portal during the 2023-24 school year, meaning that 25% of all FBS scholarship players hit free agency in one year.

Here’s a quick look at what each SEC team needs most this portal season.

Alabama – Wide Receiver, Linebacker, Nick Saban to come out of retirement and someone to take away Athletic Director Greg Byrne’s twitter privileges. 

Alabama’s defense was much better than people expected this season, but they are going to lose the heart and soul of the defense with their linebacking corps gone. They’ll need to replace senior Justin Jefferson, future first rounder Jihad Campbell, and the alpha of the defense– Deontae Lawson.

Arkansas – Offensive weapons, O-Line and a pass rusher. 

Arkansas has lost two four-star offensive lineman to the portal already in addition to their starting tight end and a wide receiver. They’ll also need someone to replace Landon Jackson and his 16 career sacks now that he’s entering the NFL draft.

Auburn – Quarterback and Offensive line 

Payton Thorne is gone, and so is the only other player who started a game at quarterback this season in Hank Brown. The bigger concern is the offensive line. Dating back to Gus Malzahn’s tenure, it’s never been a position Auburn has recruited or developed well at. Currently they have 19 offensive linemen on their roster, and only four of them were rated a four star or better out of high school.

Florida – Wide Receiver and Offensive line

Florida is losing two starters to graduation and the two experienced wideouts they have coming back for next year are both coming off season ending surgeries. They’ll also need someone to compete for the tackle position for the third straight season as they lose two players off the line.

Georgia – Wide receiver 

Kirby Smart’s exact words to the media when asked what positions they needed to address was “everything.” However, I think wide receiver will be a focal point after this season where the Bulldogs led the nation in dropped passes with nearly 40 this year.

Kentucky – Everything. Just please don’t ruin another portal quarterback. Also, front seven and wide receiver. 

Kentucky lost their top two receivers in Barion Brown and Dane Key. Those two combined for over 2,400 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns over the last two seasons. They’ll also need some help up front defensively as they’re set to lose five of six starters ion their defensive line and linebacking corps.

LSU – Tight End, Defensive Line, and Wide Receiver

LSU is losing their top wideout in Kyren Lacy as well as CJ Daniels who chose to enter the portal again after transferring from Liberty to LSU a year ago. There’s still talent on the roster. There always is at that position. They can help themselves by supplementing that need with a tight end as well since they’re losing Mason Taylor, the all-time leader in program history in receiving yards for tight ends.

Last year they swung and missed with a few defensive linemen in the spring portal window and were thin up front because of it.

Hunt Palmer did a fantastic job of going way further into LSU’s portal needs specifically in this article as well.

https://www.louisianasports.net/palmer-lsus-top-5-portal-needs/

Missouri – Linebacker, Quarterback, and Safety 

Missouri is losing all three starting linebackers, a starting safety and three rotational players at safety from a unit that was one of the best in the SEC. All of that pales in comparison to their need at quarterback, though. Missouri is bringing in an absolute stud next year in Matt Zollers, but he will be a true freshman. They’ll be replacing a three-year starter who made 38 career starts.

Mississippi State – Everything. Defensive Line and Wide Receiver. 

Mississippi State had only 10 sacks this season. That’s the second fewest of any team for a season in the SEC over the last nine years. Jeff Lebby has a quarterback, but he could use a few wide receivers to help make this offense as explosive as Lebby’s tend to be. They already lost to wideouts to the portal, but don’t be surprised if they attract some weapons to Starkville to play in this kind of fun offense.

Oklahoma – Quarterback and Offensive line 

Oklahoma allowed 46 sacks in their first year in the SEC. They hadn’t allowed more than 33 in a season in their last eight years in the Big 12. Oklahoma was horrible offensively. That should change with new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle who is expected to bring his quarterback John Mateer with him from Washington State.

Ole Miss – Running back and Wide Receiver 

I’m not worried about Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin finding receivers or players that can step in immediately and excel in this offense. What I am concerned about is the production fall off as a unit. Tre Harris was great when healthy, but Juice Wells was a pretty big bust. Ole Miss has to replace all three starting receivers.

The run game has always been a focal point under Kiffin offenses. However, the last two years have fallen off a cliff compared to his other teams. Ole Miss averaged under 180 rush ypg each of the last two seasons. That’s only happened one time on a Kiffin team in the last decade.

South Carolina – Offensive Line, Linebacker and Defensive Line 

South Carolina’s offensive line hasn’t been very good the last two seasons allowing 80 sacks since the start of 2023. However, the experience they will have to replace is massive. They’ll lose both guards and their center going into next year. Those three players had a combined 127 starts in their college careers and they took 93.1 percent of the overall snaps this season.

They’ll also need to replace one of the best and most experienced linebacking corps in the conference with three players who combined for 149 games played and nearly 200 tackles.

Tennessee – Interior offensive line 

Tennessee needs the fewest portal help of any team in the SEC. Most of the help they would pursue in the portal would be for depth because of what they have returning. That being said they will be then in the interior offensive line and are expected to lose every starter as well experienced backup.

Texas – Offensive Line and Punter/Kicker

Texas may lose their entire offensive line going into next season. That’s especially concerning when you consider that they are one of the few teams in the entire country who had the same starting five offensive lineman for all 13 games so far this season. That’s incredibly rare. They stand to lose a lot of talent, experience and continuity next year.

Texas’s special teams have been awful this year. They rank 122nd out of 134 teams in punting average and their former All-Big 12 kicker missed seven field goals in 21 tries so far this season.

Texas A&M – Defensive Line & Wide Receiver 

Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M signed one of the greatest collections of defensive linemen in the 2021 and 2022 signing classes. Hardly any of those players are still on this roster. They lost their top three players from the unit last portal season and will now lose Shemar Turner and Nic Scourton.

Marcel Reed has all the makings to be a star quarterback in this league, but he doesn’t have a lot of help around him right now. A&M had one of the least productive receiver units in the SEC with only two players finishing with over 300 yards receiving. The Aggies didn’t have a single 300 yard passing game this season and were held under 200 yards through the air seven times.

Vanderbilt – A Diego Pavia clone 

That’s all I got. Pavia is in the middle of trying to earn one more year of eligibility, but I can’t think of a time the NCAA has ever done something that made logical sense and/or was for the good of the student athlete.