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Dylan Stewart celebrates a sack against Old Dominion.
College Football

Ranking the Top 10 players in the SEC entering Week 3

Neil Blackmon

By Neil Blackmon

Published:

Week 2 of College Football is in the books and it looks like anyone who bet on Texas to compete for a national championship hit pure Lone Star state black gold.

The Longhorns went to the Big House and made brisket in Michigan’s kitchen.

Quinn Ewers, who already had a road win in Tuscaloosa to his name, added Ann Arbor to his list with a 3 touchdown, 256 yard passing performance that solidified his Heisman contender status.

Speaking of great quarterback play, how about DJ Lagway’s debut? “It’s just Samford” is fine and all, but 456 yards and 3 touchdowns? What a performance for the five-star freshman.

Texas might have been the SEC’s most impressive team last weekend, but they were hardly the only team to impress.

Tennessee’s 51-10 rout of NC State was a statement win we aren’t talking enough about.

Nico Iamaleava didn’t even play that well and the Vols beat a NC State team fancied as an ACC title contender to a pulp. Buoyed by one of the SEC’s best running backs in Dylan Sampson and a tenacious defensive line that pressured graduate transfer quarterback Grayson McCall 14 times, sacking him 3, the Vols look like a force to reckon with and potentially a favorite when they open SEC play in Norman against Oklahoma on Sept. 21.

“The List” isn’t all sunshine pumping, though.

Jalen Milroe looked decidedly ordinary for much of 3 quarters at home against South Florida. Yes, the Bulls are extremely well-coached under young up and comer Alex Golesh, but Milroe averaged just 7.5 yards per attempt and was just 3-for-9 on throws with an average depth of target at 5.7 or higher, per PFF. That will need to be better for Alabama to defend its league title.

Of course, Alabama also won 42-16, and you play to win the game, as opposed to whatever Kentucky calls what it did in Columbia, South Carolina on Saturday. The Wildcats weren’t just pounded by the Gamecocks, who beat Big Blue 31-6 — they were outcoached, outworked, and dominated on both lines of scrimmage. That is Joker Phillips level stuff from Kentucky, not Mark Stoops stuff.

Whether your favorite team wins or loses, it’s always a good week at “The List.” College football is being played, the best players (we care about production, not hype!) from the best league are being ranked, and any Saturday down South in the autumn is a good and rare thing, a cause for celebration.

As always, we start with Honorable Mentions, with a max of 2 per school. Last week’s list is here. “The List” usually gets it right, but we leave last week’s list for the fans who wonder why their favorite player isn’t ranked or believe their team’s best player is ranked too low.

Alabama: Jam Miller, RB; Tim Keenan III, DT. Arkansas: Taylen Green, QB; Josh Braun, OL. Auburn: Keldric Faulk, DL. Florida: Montrell Johnson Jr., RB. Georgia: Tate Ratledge, G; Raylen Wilson, LB. Kentucky: Deone Walker, DT; D’Eryk Jackson, LB. LSU: Kyren Lacy, WR; Garrett Nussmeier, QB. Mississippi State: Branden Jennings, LB; Kevin Coleman, Jr., WR. Missouri: Toriano Pride Jr., CB; Johnny Walker Jr., LB. Oklahoma: Gracen Halton, DL ; Robert Spears-Jennings, S. Ole Miss: Princely Umanmielen, Edge; Jaxson Dart, QB. South Carolina: Nick Emmanwori, S; Debo Williams, LB. Tennessee: Omari Thomas, DT; Cooper Mays, OL. Texas: Gunnar Helm, TE; Andrew Mukuba, DB. Texas A&M: Nic Scourton, Edge; Trey Zuhn III, OT. Vanderbilt: CJ Taylor, S; Steve Hubbard, G.

10. Isaac Smith, S (Mississippi State)

There’s an old adage in football is that if your safety is making most of your tackles, you aren’t playing well on defense. That’s true, but we might not be talking enough about how well Isaac Smith is playing for Miss State. Smith leads the SEC with 28 tackles, and he posted 17 stops — 11 solo — in Saturday’s 30-23 loss to Arizona State in Tempe. Smith grades out as the best player in the Miss State secondary, per PFF, and he’s allowed just 8 yards in 1-on-1 coverage situations this season. A tremendous start without much help around him.

9. Ja’Quinden Jackson, RB (Arkansas)

Arkansas squandered an 11-point 2nd-half lead Saturday at Oklahoma State, losing a game where they outgained their opponent 648-385. The double overtime loss will sting for a while, but the Arkansas offense continues to impress. Ja’Quinden Jackson built on a 101-yard, 2-touchdown Razorbacks debut with 149 yards and 3 touchdowns at No 16 Oklahoma State. Jackson ranks No. 2 in the SEC in rushing through 2 games and is tied for the league lead in rushing touchdowns (5).

8. Keon Sabb, DB (Alabama)

A week after intercepting 2 passes in Alabama’s opening week rout of Western Kentucky, Sabb was at it again against South Florida, registering 3 tackles, a pass deflection, and allowing just 2 completions against in the Crimson Tide victory. The Michigan transfer is adjusting beautifully to life in the SEC, allowing just 3 catches at 7.2 yards per completion to complement the interception and pass breakup numbers.

7. Connor Tollison, C (Missouri)

The Missouri center returns to The List for the second consecutive season after Missouri’s second dominant win of the 2024 campaign. Tollison led the way up front as Missouri passed for 263 yards and rushed for 255, displaying almost perfect balance in a 38-0 whitewashing of Buffalo. Tollison’s PFF grade of 91 is the best in the country among centers and nearly 16 points better than the SEC’s No. 2 center to date (Jake Slaughter, Florida). More critically, he provides an anchor to another quality offensive line that gives Eli Drinkwitz one of the more balanced and multiple offenses in the SEC.

6. Ryan Williams, WR (Alabama)

Another week, another scintillating performance from the Crimson Tide’s latest freshman sensation. Williams hauled in another touchdown pass this week, catching a short throw and doing the rest with his absurd speed.

When you are a freshman receiver at the winningest football program in history and you earn comparisons to Julio Jones in Week 2, well, that’s incredible. Williams will need to manage the expectations that accompany those comparisons, but it’s clear Alabama has a special one on their hands.

5. Quinn Ewers, QB (Texas)

“The List” loves Ewers, who might be the best “anticipation” quarterback in college football.

Most every quarterback will tell you they trust their receivers to make plays, but Ewers is the rare one who acts on that trust by consistently throwing the ball into tight spaces before his receivers come open.

 

Ewers doesn’t have gaudy numbers (253 ypg, 6 touchdowns, 1 interception), but he makes the right and accurate throws consistently. At Michigan, Ewers once again showed he can play his best against elite defenses.

4. Dylan Sampson, RB (Tennessee)

Dylan Sampson ran over, through, and around a NC State defense that returned 6 starters from a group ranked in the top 25 nationally last year in rushing defense and run defense success rate. Sampson’s 169 total yards (132 rushing, 37 passing) included 2 touchdowns. The best of his runs was this one — a 34-yard run to paydirt where Sampson showed the patience and vision to bounce the play outside before he let his underrated speed do the rest of the talking.

A powerful back who can also break tackles and pass block, Sampson might be the most complete running back in the SEC.

3. Diego Pavia, QB (Vanderbilt)

“The List” hears your smirks and sneers even if we can’t see them and to those who think Pavia doesn’t belong here through 2 weeks of the season, we only ask you stop and consider the facts.

Pavia’s completion percentage is 76% through 2 games, including an upset of a solid Virginia Tech. Pavia is also Vanderbilt’s leading rusher, with 155 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns in 2 games. Finally, Pavia grades out as the 4th-best player in college football through 2 weeks, per PFF, with a quarterback grade of 92.

Will life get more difficult for Pavia? Yes. But this week, when Vanderbilt looks to anchor down in Atlanta against Georgia State, you should expect another outstanding performance and a little staying power on “The List.”

2. Carson Beck, QB (Georgia)

Beck wasn’t perfect against Tennessee Tech.

He threw 7 incompletions, after all.

That’s 2 more incompletions than touchdown passes (5) if you are scoring at home.

Through 2 weeks, Beck has completed 71% of his passes with 7 touchdowns, and Georgia, which hasn’t allowed a touchdown yet, looks every bit the best team in the country, led by the best quarterback in the country.

1. Dylan Stewart, Edge (South Carolina)

We had to do a little research, but the returns tell us that Stewart is the first true freshman to ever rank No. 1 on “The List.”

Of course, he’s also the first defensive linemen this decade to grade out at 97.4 in PFF, so he’s made history in each of his first 2 weeks playing college football.

In South Carolina’s 31-6 decimation of Kentucky, Stewart was a one-man wrecking ball, beating triple teams at times to force quarterback pressures and flashing his chops as an edge setter in run defense.

On the season, Stewart has 3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and 9 forced pressures. He’s almost single-handedly altered the fortunes and scout for a Gamecocks defense that finished 105th nationally in sacks and 112th in quarterback pressures a season ago.

Enjoy the mountaintop, young man.

Neil Blackmon

Neil Blackmon covers Florida football and the SEC for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.

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