Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

College Football

SEC QB Power Rankings, Week 2: Vanderbilt, we have a quarterback

Matt Hinton

By Matt Hinton

Published:

Quarterbacks: There are a lot of them! Each week throughout the season, we’ll help you keep the game’s most important position in perspective by ranking the SEC starters 1-16 according to highly scientific processes and/or pure gut-level instinct. Previously: Week 1.

1. Carson Beck, Georgia

During the broadcast of Georgia’s 34-3 win over Clemson, the crew noted that Beck told them he wrote down winning the Heisman as one of his explicit offseason goals, which I found refreshing. Most players default to team-first clichés when it comes to individual awards. In Beck’s case, though, his case and his team’s are inseparable: Serving as the face-of-the-program captain of the nation’s No. 1 team is the case, and it’s one that Heisman handicappers understand very well.

Beck’s path to the Heisman has nothing to do with nuclear-grade stat lines or viral highlights, which he has yet to produce in any of his 15 career starts. He’s going to get there with a steady accumulation of performances like his 278-yard, 2-touchdown, zero-mistake performance against the Tigers, a classic Georgia romp in which the Dawgs led just 6-0 at the half and Beck — well-protected and surrounded by playmakers — didn’t complete a pass of 20+ air yards at any point. Instead, he remained patient, distributed the rock, and casually led the Dawgs on 4 touchdown drives in 5 possessions after halftime against one of the few defenses in America that’s nearly a match for his own. The degree of difficulty might vary, but a dozen more afternoons in that vein will get him to New York. If he actually gets a chance to check the “overcame adversity” box along the way, he just might win it.
– – –
(Last week: 2⬆)

2. Quinn Ewers, Texas

Ewers opened his season by throwing for 260 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 52-0 thumping of Colorado State and looked like a seasoned pro in the process.

Graduate-level stuff for a 21-year-old. Now let’s see how it goes this weekend at Michigan, where the windows will be tighter and the pockets considerably less pristine.
– – –
(Last week: 1⬇)

3. Jalen Milroe, Alabama

Milroe ushered in the post-Saba era in Tuscaloosa in explosive fashion, accounting for 279 total yards and 5 touchdowns in a 63-0 massacre over Western Kentucky — a margin that cleared the 31.5-point spread twice over. Although he only attempted 9 passes (completing 7), Milroe averaged an absurd 28.6 yards per completion with TDs covering 22, 84 and 55 yards, the latter two both courtesy of 5-star freshman Ryan Williams on his first 2 career receptions.
– – –
(Last week: 3⬌)

4. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

Ole Miss mailed Furman a check for $500,000 to serve as target practice and got its money’s worth, dropping 52 points on the Paladins in the first half alone. (Final score: 76-0. A Paladin is like a kind of medieval knight, if you were wondering.) Dart accounted for 6 of the Rebels’ 7 touchdowns before calling it a day, 4 of them on passes covering 20+ yards; all told, his 418 passing yards represented the second-best total of his career — again, all of it coming before halftime.

https://twitter.com/OleMissFB/status/1830040128443859114

The more interesting development came after halftime.

With Dart on ice, the bulk of the garbage-time reps were reserved for redshirt freshman Austin Simmons, who has apparently passed LSU transfer Walker Howard as the top backup and, to make the obvious leap, as the unofficial heir apparent to the starting job next year. If that pecking order holds, it will be an upset: While Simmons (a lefty who is also a pitcher on the Ole Miss baseball team) was a perfectly respectable recruit, Howard was a borderline 5-star in the 2022 class, and briefly considered a dark horse to usurp Dart as QB1 after he portaled in from LSU last year. At the very least he looked like no-brainer to take over in 2025.

For his part, Lane Kiffin described the backup competition as “very close,” implying the situation is still fluid. I’m not even out of this paragraph yet and I’m already regretting writing my way into handicapping a QB competition that doesn’t even really commence for another 6 months, trust me. (This is what you get when you schedule Furman.) But in the meantime, the succession plan might not be quite as cut-and-dry as most of us had assumed.
– – –
(Last week: 4⬌)

5. Brady Cook, Missouri

Cook accounted for 2 touchdowns (1 passing, 1 rushing) on an otherwise light night in Mizzou’s opener, a 51-0 shutout of Murray State that made plenty of time for the backups. Another tune-up is on deck this weekend against Buffalo — the Bulls, not the Bills — before a Week 3 visit from Boston College threatens to make things interesting.
– – –
(Last week: 6⬆)

6. Nico Iamaleava, Tennessee

Iamaleava commemorated his first start in Neyland Stadium by ringing up 314 yards and 3 touchdowns in the first half of a 69-3 blowout over Chattanooga, a sentence that makes me feel like I’m recapping an NCAA Football 25 simulation in Junior Varsity mode. The opposition gets real fast this weekend against NC State.
– – –
(Last week: 8⬆)

7. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU

Brian Kelly was blunt following LSU’s 27-20 loss to USC, telling reporters immediately after the game that the Trojans’ Miller Moss “outplayed our quarterback.” There’s no denying that, especially down the stretch: Besides outdueling Nussmeier on paper, Moss was at his best with the game on the line, leading USC on back-to-back, go-ahead touchdown drives in the fourth quarter while LSU could only manage a field goal. The loss marked the Tigers’ 5th straight in season-openers with 4 different QBs in the saddle, leaving Kelly literally pounding the table in frustration.

Apart from the final score, though, there was a lot to like. Nussmeier ended the night 30-for-39 overall, 12-for-17 when facing a blitz, and 3-for-5 on attempts of 20+ air yards, including a perfectly placed touchdown pass to Kyren Lacy, who looked for all the world like the breakout receiver LSU was counting on him to be. He posted a higher passer rating (155.1) and QBR score (87.6) than Jayden Daniels in last year’s Week 1 loss to Florida State, despite Daniels’ stat line in that game being inflated by garbage time. And the biggest blemish on Nussmeier’s line, an interception on his final attempt, came on an essentially meaningless play in the dying seconds.

All things considered, that’s about as good as LSU fans could realistically expect from a guy in his second career start against real competition, especially in a game in which the offense was limited to just 9 full possessions. (USC got 10, the last one turning out to be the difference.) Personally, my first impression before diving into the box score was that Nussmeier was more or less exactly who I expected him to be — fine arm, decent consistency, minimal mobility — and the numbers backed that up. Once again, quarterback remains the least of the Tigers’ problems. Nussmeier will keep them in every game, but if he has to be Jayden freakin’ Daniels to get them over the hump, it’s going to be a long year.
– – –
(Last week: 7⬌)

8. Jackson Arnold, Oklahoma

Good luck trying to discern much from Arnold’s Week 1 line against Temple, which you could describe as prolific (4 touchdowns!) or underwhelming (5.6 yards per attempt?) depending on which stat you prefer to linger on. In real time the verdict was more straightforward: Kid can sling it.

https://twitter.com/CamMellor/status/1829658671095431362/

That was one of the few times Arnold felt any need to exert himself — 5 of Oklahoma’s 6 scoring drives in the first half began in Temple territory. The degree of difficulty ticks up each of the next 2 weeks against Houston and Tulane before his first foray into SEC play against Tennessee.
– – –
(Last week: 9⬆)

9. Brock Vandagriff, Kentucky

Vandagriff’s debut in blue was brief, cut short by lightning with Kentucky leading Southern Miss 31-0 a few minutes into the third quarter. (USM, clearly outgunned, agreed to leave with an official L rather than wait around for the abuse to resume in the wee hours.) Before they called it, Vandagriff was on script, overcoming an interception on the Wildcats’ opening possession with 3 touchdown passes and a couple of much-anticipated flashes of his 5-star arm.

Final line: 12-for-18, 169 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, no surprises. A much stiffer test is on deck this week against South Carolina, followed by a Week 3 visit from his old team, Georgia.
– – –
(Last week: 10⬆)

10. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt

Build the statue! A week into his tenure, Pavia is officially the first Vandy quarterback in the 6-year history of our weekly QB rankings to crack the top 10. The previous high for a Commodores starter came in November 2022, when Mike Wright climbed to No. 11 following the end of the ‘Dores’ 26-game losing streak in SEC play. Last year’s starters, Ken Seals and AJ Swann, never managed to climb out of the basement. This is the position that drove coach Clark Lea to explain his decision to stick with Seals in a blowout loss last November by telling reporters “he gave us a chance to punt.”

So, hail Diego! Saturday’s 34-27 upset over Virginia Tech was not a conference win, but I’d argue it was the biggest of Lea’s tenure. First, there was nothing fluky about it. In the first half, Vanderbilt jumped out to a 17-0 lead on the strength of 3 consecutive extended scoring drives to open the game. In the second, the offense responded to a very “Vandy being Vandy” kind of gaffe by the defense — a blown coverage on 3rd-and-10 that resulted in a go-ahead, 62-yard touchdown, putting the Hokies up 27-20 with less than 5 minutes to go — by driving 70 yards in 6 plays to even the score. Pavia, a Rudy-esque transfer from New Mexico State, accounted for 294 of his team’s 371 total yards and 3 TDs, capped by the eventual game-winning run in overtime.

There’s also the fact that, for the first time under Lea, there’s suddenly a glimmer of hope that the project is not doomed to be a lost cause. A faint glimmer, maybe, but the realest that Vandy has enjoyed in a while. Lea ended 2023 squarely on the hot seat, gambled his job on a new offensive coordinator and quarterback from one of the sport’s scrubbier backwaters, and it paid off. For a week — or, with Alcorn State and Georgia State on deck ahead of the SEC opener at Missouri, possibly even 2 or 3 weeks — the Commodores can be something other than doormats and laughingstocks plodding through the death throes of yet another failed administration. They can be … normal. Competitive. Headed in the right direction. Not doomed.

For now, anyway. We’ll see how long it lasts. Pavia isn’t about to grow into a next-level prospect overnight. The path to bowl eligibility (meaning multiple conference wins) remains steep. But those are October problems now. Until then, just let them enjoy having a guy who gives them a chance.
– – –
(Last week: 15⬆)

11. Conner Weigman, Texas A&M

No way around it: 8.2 million people watched Weigman stink up the joint against Notre Dame in the weekend’s most disappointing individual performance. A lot of very smart people had Weigman on breakout watch in Year 3 coming off a medical redshirt as a sophomore. The only thing he broke in A&M’s 23-13 loss to the Irish was the home crowd’s spirit.

Weigman connected on his first pass of the night, a dart to Louisiana Tech transfer Cyrus Allen that went for a 15-yard gain. From that point on, he was a basketcase, going 11-for-29 for 85 yards, serving up 2 interceptions and failing to complete another attempt of 10+ air yards. Altogether, he averaged a grim 3.3 yards per attempt, and posted the worst overall PFF grade (31.1) of any FBS quarterback in Week 1 with at least 10 drop-backs. On the Aggies’ lone touchdown drive, a 10-play, 65-yard march spanning the third and fourth quarters, their only gain through the air came on a penalty for defensive pass interference.

Chalk it up to Notre Dame’s decorated secondary, an uninspired effort from the surrounding cast, or sloppy footwork. Chalk it up to a new coaching staff still working on its communication. Hell, chalk it up to the cursed quarterback class of 2022. Let’s go with a little bit of all of the above. Whatever the explanation, the result in the opener was not tenable for a team with the talent and the schedule to remain relevant in the Playoff race well into November. It wasn’t tenable for a team that aspires to the Gasparilla Bowl. Weigman is as entrenched as any quarterback in the league, and there’s no version of the 2024 Aggies that satisfies anyone without him holding up his end of the bargain. (Well, anyone except the haters.) This weekend’s date with McNeese State is a chance to get right ahead of a Week 3 trip to Florida that suddenly reeks of desperation on both sides.
– – –
(Last week: 6⬇)

12. Taylen Green, Arkansas

Green looked fantastic in his Arkansas debut, accounting for 317 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 70-0 humiliation of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. As a team, the Razorbacks averaged 9.8 yards per play, went 9-for-9 on 3rd-down conversions, and scored touchdowns on all 10 of their offensive possessions. This game should be stricken from the record and never spoken of again. Bring on Oklahoma State.
– – –
(Last week: 12⬌)

13. Payton Thorne, Auburn

While we’re at it, strike Auburn’s 73-3 cruise over Alabama A&M, too, in which the Tigers at one point scored long touchdowns on 3 consecutive plays from scrimmage. Thorne had a hand in 2 of those, as well as 3 more later in the game. Next up: Cal.
– – –
(Last week: 13⬌)

14. Blake Shapen, Mississippi State

Shane was playing with funny money in his first game in Starkville, accounting for 4 touchdowns in a 56-7 win over Eastern Kentucky — a slightly more reassuring score than most of the other laughers against FCS opponents, given how little we knew about the rebuilding Bulldogs going on. We still don’t know much, but as always, making quick work of Eastern Kentucky sure as heck beats not making quick work of Eastern Kentucky, so mission accomplished. This weekend’s trip to Arizona State remains one of Mississippi State’s best chances to crack the win column against the Power 4.
– – –
(Last week: 14⬌)

15. Graham Mertz or DJ Lagway, Florida

Mertz came back for his 6th and final college season hoping to put to bed doubts that he’s a viable pro prospect. Instead, his future was hanging in the balance before the sun set on the season-opener.

In Mertz’s defense, an awful lot of what went wrong in Florida’s 41-17 flop against Miami had nothing to do with the quarterback, whose job was made infinitely harder by a porous o-line, a juiceless bunch of receivers, and a defense that allowed 6 sustained Miami scoring drives in the first 3 quarters. As for Mertz’s performance, though, there wasn’t much to defend. Looking indecisive and immobile, he suffered through his worst outing as a Gator in terms of completion percentage (55.0%), yards per attempt (4.6), pass efficiency (83.2), Total QBR (19.1) and overall PFF grade (42.4) — a clean sweep of futility. He was 0-for-4 on attempts of 20+ air yards, 0-for-5 on 3rd-down conversions, and 1-for-9 on pressured drop-backs. (The lone completion in the last column going for a gain of 1 yard.) He was sacked 3 times, and ultimately knocked out of the game while air-mailing an interception that ended the competitive portion of the afternoon.

By the time Lagway trotted on in the fourth quarter, the home crowd was ready to move on. The Swamp greeted the freshman with a big, ironic ovation, and he responded by leading Florida’s only sustained scoring drive, a 9-play, 58-yard touchdown march on his second series. Lagway looked good on that drive, going 3-for-4 31 yards as a passer while adding a 16-yard gain on the ground. Of course, by that point it was strictly cosmetic, and the rest of Lagway’s garbage-time debut was mixed; his other 2 possessions resulted in a 3-and-out and an interception, respectively.

Lagway may not be ready for primetime, but he has 3 things going for him that Mertz does not: A fresh face, a blue-chip ceiling, and plenty of time to fulfill it. He’s also available for this weekend’s game against Samford, while Mertz’s status remains TBD due to a concussion. Even if Mertz is cleared to play, the opportunity to let Lagway take the offense for a spin in a relatively low-stakes setting without the drama of an outright demotion comes at the perfect time.

The degree of difficulty ramps back up in Week 3 against Texas A&M and only gets steeper as the season goes on. Regardless of who’s behind center, the Gators’ other problems remain, a relentless schedule coming in at the top of the list. After Saturday, 6 wins already looks like a long shot.

If Billy Napier has any chance of being around in 2025, he has to convince his bosses between now and then that they still have something to look forward to. And no one is looking forward to a guy who couldn’t beat out the end-stage version of Graham Mertz.
– – –
(Last week: 11⬇)

16. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina

The good news: Sellers’ first career start, a 23-19 decision over Old Dominion, went in the win column. The not-so-good news: Pretty much everything else. While the defense held up its end of the deal, South Carolina’s offense struggled on all fronts, managing just 288 total yards on 3.7 per play in what should have been a routine tune-up. Instead, it was a nail-biter in which both of the Gamecocks’ touchdowns were the direct result of takeaways that set up the offense inside the ODU 10-yard line.

Sellers looked like the fledgling starter that he is, finishing 10-for-23 for 114 yards, zero TDs, 1 fumble, and 4 sacks; that corresponded with abysmal numbers for efficiency (85.1) and QBR (17.7). Carolina’s 4 passing first downs matched its fewest in a game since November 2011.

At one point, Sellers inadvertently tripped up his own teammate in the open field, spoiling a big play in his over-eagerness to be useful as a blocker. But there were a few glimpses of his raw potential, too. He was productive as a runner, grinding out 81 yards (excluding sacks); he connected on a long ball for a gain of 41 yards; and his most impressive throw, a straight-up bomb that hit the bulls-eye after traveling a full 65 yards in the air, went down as just another incompletion when his receiver biffed the catch.

A huge arm doesn’t necessarily guarantee results. (See Milton, Joe.) But it usually does guarantee that the owner is going to keep getting chances until the bombs start landing short. (Milton is currently earning an NFL paycheck after getting drafted in the 6th round.) Sellers has plenty of time to get his coordinates straightened out.
– – –
(Last week: 16⬌)

Matt Hinton

Matt Hinton, author of 'Monday Down South' and our resident QB guru, has previously written for Dr. Saturday, CBS and Grantland.

You might also like...

2025 RANKINGS

presented by rankings