Assessing QB situations across the Southeastern Conference - Part I

Steve Sarkisian calls quarterback the most important position in sports, and with good reason. So what does the most important position in sports look like around the Southeastern Conference?

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Texas

There are strong arguments to be made that Arch Manning will end up as the best quarterback in the SEC this year. Bloodlines, athleticism, processing, Manning provides Steve Sarkisian with a perfect fit under center or his offense. Matthew Caldwell is a one-year depth piece who offers experience not possessed by Trey Owens and KJ Lacey.

Estimation: Elite at the top, backup options of unknown quality.

Alabama

Austin Mack, Keelon Russell, and Ty Simpson are the names to know. Mack transferred from Washington and has three career passing attempts at Alabama. Russell is a five-star true freshman from Duncanville with traits that had teams from around the nation after his services.

Simpson is the old man of the bunch. Entering his redshirt junior season, Simpson has 50 career passing attempts and 22 rushes. There are options in the group to succeed Jalen Milroe, but no one has yet stepped up all the way to secure the starting role. That said, Bama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb had this to say on April 14.

Ryan Grubb: "If we're playing a football game tomorrow, Ty Simpson would start."

— Charlie Potter (@Charlie_Potter) April 14, 2025

Estimation: A good quarterback is in there somewhere, but it’s unclear if there is a great one for the 2025 season

Arkansas

Taylen Green is a dark horse first-team All-SEC candidate. He was on when healthy last year, passing for 3154 yards and 15 scores and rushing for eight touchdowns. But he started slow and got dinged up as the season went on.

Not many look like the 6-foot-6, 224-pounder. His surrounding pieces may be of a certain lower quality, but the Razorbacks will depend on Green to carry them to victory in most games this season. If he goes down, it’ll be bad news. The depth behind Green consists of two redshirt freshmen and a true freshman.

Estimation: If Green does not stay healthy, the season goes down the drain. Sam Pittman might, too.

Auburn

Hugh Freeze is trying. After two under .500 seasons on the Plains and missing a bowl in 2024, Freeze is finally trying to elevate quarterback play past the Payton Thorne level. Arriving in 2025 is Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold. A lot of Oklahoma’s offensive problems last year were structural, but Arnold did himself no favors in Norman. Can Freeze, whose offense is his calling card, get the most out of the former five star?

The rest of the room is good. Deuce Knight earned five stars in the 2025 class and Auburn lured him away from Notre Dame. For depth, Auburn has former South Carolina Gamecock Tanner Bailey and Stanford transfer Ashton Daniels. Bailey may not be anything more than a clipboard holder, but Daniels played some stretches of good football for the Cardinal last season.

Estimation: Someone in here can throw it up to Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton.

Florida

The Gators’ hopes for the 2025 campaign start and end with DJ Lagway. The Willis product was the catalyst for Florida’s strong finish to the 2024 campaign that saw Billy Napier‘s program end on a four-game winning streak. Lagway’s quality play is reason for optimism, but his shoulder is cause for concern. Lagway was limited throughout the spring and is just getting back to throwing the football. When he’s on the field, he’s a difference maker.

The season was difficult for Florida when neither Lagway nor Graham Mertz were healthy. This year there’s some more depth in the form of Louisville transfer Harrison Bailey, but he’s a fifth year player with a limited number of appearances on his fourth school. Aidan Warner, a walk on who started versus Texas last year, comes back as well. The Gators added Tramell Jones in the high school ranks, flipping him from the rival Florida State Seminoles. Jones threw passes to Jaime Ffrench at Mandarin High in Jackson.

Lagway represents the ceiling for Florida, but the floor is in better shape than it was last year with players like Bailey, Jones, and Warner.

Estimation: The season goes as Lagway goes. Room looks a bit like Texas’.

Georgia

Carson Beck decided to head to Miami, but that didn’t leave Georgia in dire straits. The competition to replace him has four names, but it’ll boil down to Gunner Stockton and Ryan Puglisi. As Texas fans know, Stockton stood in for Beck at the end of the year and guided the Bulldogs to the SEC Championship and played well against Notre Dame in the CFB quarterfinal. Puglisi has yet to throw a pass in red and black.

Georgia didn’t take a transfer QB, so it’ll be one of these two. Here’s what On3’s Pete Nakos wrote about the Georgia battle a week ago.

Simply put, Gunner Stockton has the inside track to the starting quarterback job at Georgia. Kirby Smart has yet to name a starter, and that probably will not come until August, but Stockton is in full control. He impressed in spring ball, and his experience running the offense showed. The Bulldogs were expected to evaluate the spring quarterback market, even for another backup, but opted to sit tight. Ryan Puglisi continues to improve, but he didn’t play a snap as a true freshman last year. All signs point to Stockton getting the starting job.

Estimation: The best bus driver will win, but he’ll have access to a good cast of transfer receivers.

Kentucky

Things aren’t great in Lexington, and that applies to the quarterback position. The two main options are Cutter Boley and Zach Calzada. Boley was a true freshman last year who looked like a true freshman surrounded by a mediocre team. Calzada is trying to make the jump from success at UIW to success in FBS, but he’s also on his third SEC school. Neither have great track records, but Boley might present a higher ceiling. Mark Stoops added two three-star quarterbacks in the 2025 class, but even they are behind the top of the chart.

Estimation: Does Kentucky have two quarterbacks or none?

LSU

Most of the QB discussion in the SEC revolves around Manning and Lagway, but LSU has a veteran signal-caller in Garrett Nussmeier who also has received his fair share of national attention. The successor to Jayden Daniels, Nussmeier passed for 4000 yards and 29 touchdowns but did log 12 interceptions in 13 starts. LSU’s losses were due to a lot of things, but the offense did go haywire in the Tigers’ four defeats.

The structure around Nussmeier is strong, with good transfer wideouts and a decent offensive line plus running backs like Caden Durham and five-star Harlem Berry. Plus, the rest of the room is in good shape. LSU added Michael Van Buren via Mississippi State and also has second year player Colin Hurley. this would have been possibly the top group in the nation had Bryce Underwood stayed committed, but the oracle did not have that in his future.

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Estimation: A great 1-2 punch in a make or break season for Brian Kelly.