ESPN predicts 2025 starting quarterback for every SEC team

With the 2024 college football season nearing its end with next week’s College Football Playoff National Championship game, ESPN is already looking ahead to the 2025 season.

In that effort, ESPN’s experts evaluated the projected Power 4 college football rosters after the latest round of offseason turnover and transfer portal movement, and made starting quarterback predictions for each program, including all 16 SEC teams.

Check out who ESPN expects will be behind center for all 16 SEC teams in 2025, which includes the official start of the Arch Manning Era in Austin, as well as the return of several star sophomores entering their second season at the helm, including Florida‘s DJ Lagway, South Carolina‘s LaNorris Sellers, Tennessee‘s Nico Iamaleava and Texas A&M‘s Marcel Reed.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Projected Starter: Ty Simpson, redshirt junior
Competition: Keelon Russell, freshman

ESPN expects Simpson, Alabama’s backup QB the past two seasons, to elevate into the starting role following the decision by two-year starter Jalen Milroe to enter the 2025 NFL Draft. Simpson is the most experienced quarterback on the Tide roster having appeared in 16 career games, including scoring 17 unanswered points off the bench against USF in 2023.

Arkansas Razorbacks

Projected Starter: Taylen Green, redshirt senior
Competition: KJ Jackson, redshirt freshman; Blake Boda, redshirt sophomore

As one of the few incumbent starters returning in the SEC, Green should once again lead the Razorbacks offense in 2025. Green sparked the Arkansas offense in 2024, ranking second in the league averaging 459.5 yards per game, while combining for 3,756 total yards and 23 total touchdowns last season.

Auburn Tigers

Projected Starter: Jackson Arnold, junior (Oklahoma transfer)
Competition: Ashton Daniels, junior (Stanford transfer); Deuce Knight, freshman

Year 3 under Hugh Freeze will feature a new starting QB after moving on from Payton Thorne, who struggled with consistency over the last two years in Auburn. And that new QB1 should be Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold, a former four-star 2023 signee who started nine games last season, where he threw for 1,421 yards and 12 touchdowns to three interceptions on 62.6-percent passing in 2024.

Florida Gators

Projected Starter: DJ Lagway, sophomore
Competition: Deshawn Purdie, sophomore (Charlotte transfer)

Lagway, the much-ballyhooed former four-star 2024 signee, stepped in for an injured Graham Mertz and helped save head coach Billy Napier‘s job with a strong late-season push. Lagway flashed a strong arm and showed improved accuracy as the season went on, finishing last season with 1,915 passing yards and 12 touchdowns to nine interceptions.

Georgia Bulldogs

Projected Starter: Gunner Stockton, redshirt junior
Competition: Ryan Puglisi, redshirt freshman

Stockton served as Carson Beck‘s backup the past two seasons and was elevated to the starting position following Beck’s season-ending UCL injury in the first half of the SEC Championship Game vs. Texas. After spearheading a second-half rally to claim the 2024 SEC title, Stockton more than proved his merit in his lone career start, throwing for 234 yards on 62.5-percent passing and a touchdown in last season’s Sugar Bowl national quarterfinal vs. Notre Dame.

Kentucky Wildcats

Projected Starter: Zach Calzada, redshirt senior (Incarnate Word transfer)
Competition: Cutter Boley, redshirt freshman

The Wildcats once again turn to a veteran transfer QB for what will be Kentucky’s fourth QB1 in the last four years following back-to-back disappointments from Devin Leary and Brock Vandagriff the past two seasons. Calzada, a former four-star 2019 signee, has a wealth of experience under his belt having started 32 career games over three seasons between Texas A&M (2019-21) and Incarnate Word (2023-24). Last season, Calzada led the Cardinals with 3,744 passing yards and 35 touchdowns to nine interceptions.

LSU Tigers

Projected Starter: Garrett Nussmeier, redshirt senior
Competition: Michael Van Buren Jr., sophomore (Mississippi State transfer)

Nussmeier opted to return for a second season as the Tigers’ QB1 and it could mean big things in Baton Rouge next season. In his first season as LSU’s starter, Nussmeier finished second in the SEC with 4,052 yards on 64.2-percent passing and 29 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, and should be a preseason Heisman Trophy favorite in 2025. The Tigers also added Van Buren Jr. from Miss State, who started the final eight games of 2024.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Projected Starter: Blake Shapen, redshirt senior
Competition: Luke Kromenhoek, sophomore (Florida State transfer); KaMario Taylor, freshman

Bulldogs second-year head coach Jeff Lebby will once again turn to Shapen, the former Baylor transfer, as the Bulldogs’ starting QB after his 2024 was cut short due to a season-ending shoulder injury in the fourth game of the year. The 23-year-old Shapen has started 27 career games, including 23 at Baylor, where he combined for 4,978 yards and 31 touchdowns between 2022-23. Shapen could be tested by Kromenhoek, a four-star 2024 signee who struggled in two starts last season as a freshman at FSU.

Missouri Tigers

Projected Starter: Beau Pribula, redshirt junior (Penn State transfer)
Competition: Drew Pyne, redshirt senior

The Tigers will have a new starting QB for the first time following the departure of three-year starter Brady Cook, and by all accounts it will be former Nittany Lions backup Beau Pribula. Pribula saw mostly mop-up duty in relief of PSU starter Drew Allar, who is returning to Happy Valley next season. Pribula completing 74.3-percent of his passes for 275 yards and five touchdowns to one interception in 2024. Veteran backup Drew Pyne could also be an option for Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz.

Oklahoma Sooners

Projected Starter: John Mateer, redshirt junior (Washington State transfer)
Competition: Michael Hawkins Jr., sophomore

Brent Venables and the Sooners won the transfer portal race for Mateer, the former Cougars starter who was the second-rated 2025 transfer QB in the portal according to On3’s Transfer Portal Player Rankings. Mateer finished 2024 with 3,139 passing yards and 29 touchdowns to seven interceptions as WSU’s starter last season under new Sooners offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle. Mateer could be pushed by the dual-threat Hawkins, who briefly replaced Jackson Arnold as Oklahoma’s QB1 before moving back to a backup role.

Ole Miss Rebels

Projected Starter: Austin Simmons, redshirt sophomore
Competition: AJ Maddox, redshirt freshman

After three seasons of Jaxson Dart, Lane Kiffin is expected to turn to two-sport athlete Simmons, a quarterback and left-handed pitcher with the Rebels baseball team. Simmons hasn’t seen much playing opportunities during his time in Oxford, but has impressed in a limited capacity, throwing for 282 yards on 19-of-32 passing in 2024. Unless Kiffin jumps into the Spring transfer portal for another QB, Simmons appears to be the guy moving forward in Oxford.

South Carolina Gamecocks

Projected Starter: LaNorris Sellers, redshirt sophomore
Competition: Air Noland, redshirt freshman (Ohio State transfer)

Sellers was a revelation last season in Columbia, leading the Gamecocks to nine wins for the first time since 2017 while combining for 3,208 total yards and 25 total touchdowns over 11 starts in 2024. The 6-foot-3, 242-pound Sellers has drawn comparisons to Auburn‘s former Heisman winner Cam Newton and should continue to build off his stellar freshman season in his second seasons as South Carolina’s QB1. Shane Beamer also added Noland, a former Ohio State four-star signee who should be next in line.

Tennessee Volunteers

Projected Starter: Nico Iamaleava, redshirt sophomore
Competition: Jake Merklinger, redshirt freshman

Iamaleava returns for his second season as the Vols’ QB1 after throwing for 2,612 yards and 19 touchdowns to just five interceptions in 2024, showing veteran ball security for such a young player. While Tennessee will need to better protect Iamaleava after he was sacked 28 times last season, the rising redshirt sophomore QB should enter next season as a serious Heisman Trophy contender within Josh Heupel’s explosive Vols offense.

Texas Longhorns

Projected Starter: Arch Manning, redshirt sophomore
Competition: Trey Owens, redshirt freshman

The Arch Manning Era is officially here. With the expectation two-year starting QB Quinn Ewers is entering the 2025 NFL Draft, or potentially transferring should he elect to return to college, the much-ballyhooed nephew of SEC legends Peyton and Eli Manning will be “the guy” in Austin in 2025. Manning is a former Five-Star Plus prospect and No. 1 overall player in the 2023 class, according to On3’s Industry Rankings. While serving as Ewers’ backup, Manning is 2-0 as a fill-in starter and threw for 939 yards on 67.8-percent passing with 13 total touchdowns in 2024.

Texas A&M Aggies

Projected Starter: Marcel Reed, redshirt sophomore
Competition: Jacob Zeno, graduate senior (UAB transfer)

Reed replaced Connor Weigman as the Aggies’ QB1 early in the 2024 season and provided an immediate spark, winning his first three career starts. The dual-threat Reed electrified Texas A&M‘s offense, combining for 2,407 total yards and 22 total touchdowns last season, including 1,864 passing and 15 scores through the air. The Aggies added a trio of talented receivers out of the transfer portal that should provide Reed dynamic playmakers to distribute the ball to in 2025.

Vanderbilt Commodores

Projected Starter: Diego Pavia, graduate senior
Competition: Blaze Berlowitz, redshirt sophomore; Drew Dickey, redshirt junior

Pavia returns for his sxith season of collegiate eligibility after a Tennessee judge granted him a preliminary injunction against the NCAA enforcing eligibility restrictions for seasons spent at the junior college level. Pavia was arguably the SEC’s biggest sensation of 2024, sparking the Commodores to their best season since 2013 with more than 3,000 combined yards and 28 total touchdowns last season. That included ranking first among SEC quarterbacks with 801 rushing yards.