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Less than 36 hours have passed since Alabama took down Clemson in the National Championship Game, but for the rest of the SEC, that’s more than enough time to start thinking about how the 2016 season might shake out.
Will we see more dominance from the Crimson Tide, or will another team rise up and deny it another shot at a league — and national — title?
Here is a very early look at how the teams line up heading into next season:
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS
Alabama — Next year’s team will feature a bunch of different faces in the limelight. Eleven seniors leave the starting lineup, including QB Jake Coker, and a number of juniors (Derrick Henry, A’Shawn Robinson, Jonathan Allen and O.J. Howard) likely will consider jumping to the NFL a year early.
New faces, a new quarterback, new running backs and a new defensive coordinator would spell trouble for most schools.
The Tide doesn’t have rebuilding years, though, thanks to the pipeline of five-star talent that flows annually into Tuscaloosa. There will be new faces and new stars, led by the same great coach, Nick Saban.
They aren’t going anywhere.
LSU — The Tigers were undone by spotty quarterback play and the worst defense (statistically) its had since 1999. Things got so sour towards the end of the season that coach Les Miles was almost run out of town.
But, believe it or not, the team is poised for success in 2016.
The quarterback issue lingers, but if Miles can add a prospect to his already top-rated recruiting class, things could get interesting on that front.
New defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, formerly of Wisconsin, should welcome back seven starters from the unit. In addition, nine recruits on that side of the ball rated four stars or higher are on their way to Baton Rouge, so that unit figures to be much better.
Leonard Fournette is coming back to make another run at the Heisman Trophy, and Alabama visits Death Valley this season for the annual clash of SEC West titans.
If things line up right, the Tigers will be in the mix.
EYES ON THE GEORGIA DOME
Tennessee — Just four starters depart from a team that won its last six games, including a 45-6 thrashing of Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs returns to lead an offense that will remain virtually intact, minus the loss of leading receiver Von Pearson.
Running backs Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara combined to rush for 1,986 yards and 19 touchdowns, and both return behind a line that should return four starters.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin decided to come back for his senior season to lead a defense that got better as the season went on, allowing just 42 points in its last four games.
The Volunteers haven’t always thrived in the role of favorite, but the 2016 team looks awfully strong on paper.
Ole Miss — Thirteen starters will need to be replaced from the starting lineup, including four offensive linemen, the top receiver (Laquon Treadwell) and one of the league’s best on the defensive line (Robert Nkemdiche).
The schedule isn’t friendly, either. The Rebels open with Florida State in Orlando, then host Alabama and Georgia in back-to-back weeks to close out September.
Chad Kelly returns at quarterback, and assuming the new offensive line holds up, the offense should be prolific once again. Coach Hugh Freeze is working on another top-10 recruiting class, and a few of those players may be pressed into action right away.
There’s work to be done, but there’s still plenty of talent on hand in Oxford.
Florida — Nine starters depart from the two-deep, including a trio of juniors heading off early to the NFL. That’s not nearly as troublesome as the quarterback situation. Treon Harris struggled in relief of the suspended Will Grier, who has since left the program. Perhaps highly touted Feleipe Franks, Kyle Trask or Luke Del Rio will prove to be the answer.
Jordan Cronkrite will get the chance to replace Kelvin Taylor at running back, and the offensive line in front of them needs to improve (45 sacks allowed).
On defense, talented players such as Vernon Hargreaves III, Jonathan Bullard, Antonio Morrison and Alex McCallister will have to be replaced, so the 2016 defense figures to be much less experienced.
Still, there are enough pieces in place — or on the way — for coach Jim McElwain to make another run at a SEC East title.
Georgia — A new coaching staff, led by former Alabama defensive coordinator (and Georgia alum) Kirby Smart will hope to build on the success of the departed Mark Richt.
They’ll do so without 10 starters from the bowl win over Penn State, and with plenty of questions at quarterback. Bulldog fans will be hoping that five-star recruit Jacob Eason is the answer to those queries, and indications are that he’ll be under center for his first college game on Sept. 3.
Nick Chubb and Sony Michel return to the backfield, but a replacement for leading receiver Malcolm Mitchell must be found. On defense, five starters from the front seven are moving on, so Smart and company will be looking for help there, also.
The schedule is manageable, though. After the opener in the Georgia Dome against North Carolina, the Bulldogs host Tennessee and avoid Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss from the West.
If Eason is as good as advertised, and the Bulldogs can find some bite on defense, this team could be very good.
DARKHORSES
Arkansas — Fourteen starters return for coach Bret Bielema’s Razorbacks. The losses on offense, however, are significant.
Quarterback Brandon Allen was third in the SEC in passing, with 3,440 yards, 30 touchdowns and eight interceptions. One of his favorite targets was tight end Hunter Henry (51 catches, 739 yards and three touchdowns). Both are moving on.
Running backs Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams and LT Denver Kirkland are also heading to the NFL, which leaves some rather large holes in the offense.
Allen’s younger brother, Austin, and Southern Cal transfer Ricky Town will battle for the quarterback position, and running back should be in good hands if Rawleigh Williams bounces back from a neck injury.
Nine returning starters will anchor a defense that needs to — and should — get better in 2016.
A quarterback and running back(s) need to emerge, and the team needs to avoid the kind of early stumbles it had in 2015, to make a run at the league’s elite.
Auburn — A 6-6 record has folks on the Plains mumbling a bit, but there are signs of a turnaround coming in 2016. Only six players depart from the bowl game starting lineup for coach Gus Malzahn’s Tigers, so last year’s young roster figures to be a bit better next season.
Quarterback play was a real issue last season, as Jeremy Johnson and Sean White were overwhelmed at times by SEC opposition. But newcomers John Franklin III (JUCO) and Woody Barrett will be competing with them for the job, and assuming one of them turns into a good fit for Malzahn’s offense, this team could be much improved next fall.
Mississippi State — Replacing the most decorated quarterback in school history is a tall order, but one the Bulldogs must take on in 2016.
Dak Prescott departs after rewriting the school record book, and the job will likely fall to Nick Fitzgerald, who did well in spot duty last season.
The unsuccessful search for a feature back in 2015 will carry over into next season. Only this time, with a less-experienced quarterback, finding one is absolutely essential. The left side of the offensive line and talented WR De’Runnya Wilson must also be replaced.
The defense will be led by the sixth defensive coordinator in the past eight seasons, and will welcome back talent and experience in the front seven. The secondary will need to be revamped, however.
Texas A&M — The Aggies made news during bowl season for all the wrong reasons, from everything to high-profile transfers to coaching rumors to the athletic director stepping down. All of those issues make predicting the team’s fortunes in 2016 a dicey proposition.
Oklahoma graduate transfer Trevor Knight figures to get first crack at the quarterback, and he’ll be working with a crop of talented receivers, led by Christian Kirk.
On the other side of the ball, seven starters — including two of the SEC’s better pass rushers Daeshon Hall and Myles Garrett — return.
Assuming Knight can shake off the rust from his long layoff, and the coaching staff can avoid any more off-field headlines, the Aggies could make a run in 2016.
SPOILERS
South Carolina — He hasn’t coached a down at the school yet, but new coach Will Muschamp has already brought excitement to the program with his work on the recruiting trail. He’ll need new players to replenish a roster from a 3-9 squad in 2015.
Spring enrollee Brandon McIlwain will get a chance to be the starting quarterback, but with his baseball aspirations, one wonders how quickly he’ll be able to grasp co-offensive coordinator Kurt Roper’s offense.
Newcomers CJ Freeman and Rico Dowdle will likely get a look at running back as candidates to replace Brandon Wilds.
In fact, incoming players will get a chance to contribute all over the field, particularly at receiver, defensive line and in the secondary.
Linebacker Skai Moore’s decision not to follow receiver Pharoh Cooper into the NFL Draft pool is a plus for the program, and the talent level figures to be higher than it was last season.
All that youth and inexperience will likely lead to uneven results, but a bowl berth is not out of the question.
Vanderbilt — Like so many teams on this list, the Commodores are a quarterback away from being a much better football team. Kyle Shurmur is the unquestioned No. 1 now that Johnny McCrary has decided to transfer.
Much of the burden of improving one of the nation’s worst offenses will fall on him and running back Ralph Webb. Webb, if healthy, should break the school’s all-time rushing mark in 2016. If he does, it will make life that much easier for Shurmur.
The defense loses only four starters from an overworked, but solid unit. The schedule features Auburn and Ole Miss from the West and has non-conference dates against Middle Tennessee, at Georgia Tech, at Western Kentucky and Tennessee State.
If things break right, coach Derek Mason could make his first bowl game.
Kentucky — Only Texas A&M had more quarterback drama in recent weeks than the Wildcats. Patrick Towles and Reese Phillips transferred out of the program in the offseason, leaving the job to Drew Barker. Barker’s 2015 numbers weren’t stellar, and he’ll need to make a big-time jump for the Wildcats to have their first winning season since 2009.
At least he’ll have weapons. Stanley “Boom” Williams is a talented running back, four offensive linemen are back and a young receiving corps returns virtually intact.
Five starters depart from a defense that ranked 12th in the league last season. Coach Mark Stoops will be hoping for some improvement, and finding a reliable pass rush would be a nice start for a team that managed only 17 sacks last season.
New offensive coordinator Eddie Gran (Cincinnati) will need to get much more out of Barker. If that fails, and the defense doesn’t improve, it may not be pretty in Lexington.
Missouri — If anything, 2016 should be a quieter one in Columbia. There shouldn’t be another threatened player boycott, the drama surrounding QB Maty Mauk should be diminished and the coach (Gary Pinkel) won’t have to retire to battle cancer.
Six starters depart from an offense that ranked 125th nationally. Mauk is back in the program, and if he’s done dealing with his personal issues, seems likely to get the chance to recapture his past form. But he’ll have to do it behind a rebuilt offensive line with four new starters.
The defense was very good in 2015, but will lose the nation’s leading tackler, Kentrell Brothers, who had an eye-popping 152 stops.
Coach Barry Odom is in a tough spot. He has to replace one of the more successful coaches in school history, try to move on from the racial controversy that enveloped the campus last season and find a way to jump start his offense, without the benefit of a strong recruiting class.
Maybe Mauk or Drew Lock will make a quantum leap, and the offensive line develops into a solid unit. It could happen, but there are more questions than answers for the Tigers right now.
Randy Capps is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, South Carolina and Georgia.
