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There’s no doubt who the top returning quarterback in the SEC will be in 2016.
Chad Kelly, who led the conference with 4,042 passing yards last season and told the Buffalo News last month that he was staying in Oxford for his senior season, wins that title hands down.
In his first year with the Rebels, the transfer from East Mississippi Community College broke or tied 14 Mississippi single-season records, including total yards (4,542), passing yards, passing TDs (31, which led the SEC), TDs responsible for (41), completions (298) and 300-yard passing games (8). It will be interesting to see how Kelly does in 2016 without Laquon Treadwell, Ole Miss’ top receiver from last season who is headed to the NFL.
But after Kelly, there is a dip in production to Tennessee’s Joshua Dobbs and a huge drop in terms of talent and experience regarding the other SEC signal-callers who are coming back.
Here are the Top 10 returning SEC quarterbacks ranked by their passing yards in 2015. (Florida’s Treon Harris threw for 1,676 yards last season, good enough for sixth on the list, but he’s moving to receiver and wasn’t included.)
Keep in mind, not all of these QBs are guaranteed to start next fall as QB races at seven schools will dominate spring storylines.
| PLAYER | ’16 CLASS | SCHOOL | ’15 PASSING YARDS | TDS/INTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Chad Kelly | Senior | Ole Miss | 4,042 | 31/13 |
| 2. Joshua Dobbs | Senior | Tennessee | 2,291 | 15/5 |
| 3. Brandon Harris | Junior | LSU | 2,158 | 13/6 |
| 4. Greyson Lambert | Senior | Georgia | 1,959 | 12/2 |
| 5. Perry Orth | Senior | South Carolina | 1,929 | 12/9 |
| 6. Drew Lock | Sophomore | Missouri | 1,332 | 4/8 |
| 7. Sean White | Sophomore | Auburn | 1,167 | 1/4 |
| 8. Jeremy Johnson | Senior | Auburn | 1,054 | 10/7 |
| 9. Kyle Shurmur | Sophomore | Vanderbilt | 503 | 5/3 |
| 10. Jake Hubenak | Junior | Texas A&M | 399 | 3/1 |
This list does not include any players from Alabama, which isn’t surprising considering that Jacob Coker used up his final year of eligibility with the Tide after transferring from Florida State. Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott and Arkansas’ Brandon Allen are two other SEC senior QBs who have taken their final college snaps.
Other notable SEC QB departures include the following transfers: Kyle Allen (Houston) and Kyler Murray (Oklahoma), who are leaving Texas A&M; suspended Florida signal-caller Will Grier; Patrick Towles, who is going from Kentucky to Boston College, and Johnny McCrary, who is leaving Vanderbilt. The Maty Mauk saga is over at Missouri, which has dismissed the troubled quarterback.
It’s a little startling that the third-best returning quarterback by passing yards is Brandon Harris of LSU. Harris played some nice games last season, but he still has to master the art of touch passes and hasn’t made the most of having potential Heisman Trophy winner Leonard Fournette taking most of the Tigers’ snaps.
His place near the top of the list epitomizes the recent uncertainty at the position in the SEC. Many programs hope to get some clarity at quarterback during spring practice.
One of those programs is Auburn, which has two of its QBs on the list. Sean White became Auburn’s starter after Jeremy Johnson threw 6 picks over his first three games. Johnson overcame his early season struggles to finish with more than TD passes than INTs, but he might not be able to fend off incoming recruit John Franklin III this year.
Stan Chrapowicki is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, Alabama and Auburn.
