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SEC QB Rankings, Week 10: Where have all the stars gone in 2024?

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 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9.

1. Jaxson Dart | Ole Miss

Sweeping generalizations about the state of the game have a tendency to age poorly, but let’s face it: After a solid decade of offensive inflation in college football, the defenses have caught up. That’s true all over the country, but especially in the SEC, where for the first time in a long time there is no dominant offense or even a dominant individual player.

Production is down across the board, but most clearly at the top. Heading into November, the average totals for scoring offense, total offense and yards per play in SEC games are all below the averages in the same categories from 2016-23. The lows this season are slightly lower, too. But the real decline is on the high end, where the top team in each column so far in 2024 comes in more than 15% below the average high over the previous eight years:

Historic output from LSU in 2019 and Alabama in 2020 is skewing the baseline upward a bit, but the bottom-line trend is plain enough. It’s obvious in the Heisman race, as well. The last time the SEC failed to produce a Heisman finalist was 2017; if we count players from Oklahoma and Texas, you can extend that streak all the way back to 2002. This year? The SEC player with the best odds (Georgia’s Carson Beck) is currently sitting at a distant 6th place according to FanDuel, and even that is based more on Beck’s status as a preseason favorite than his significantly diminished production so far. Barring a major revelation over the next month, the league’s chances of being represented in New York are dwindling fast.

If you were going to attempt to make a Heisman case for an SEC quarterback, on paper it would have to be Dart, still the conference leader in total offense, yards per attempt, overall passer rating, overall PFF grade and Total QBR. But there’s that qualifier still, because he racked up the lion’s share of that production against a string of nonconference tomato cans in September. He has been efficient in Ole Miss’ conference wins over South Carolina and Oklahoma, but also accounted for just 1 touchdown in those 2 games; in the Rebels’ losses to LSU and Kentucky, he was average at best. As a team, they’ve yet to score 30 points against an SEC opponent.

Yet as far as the Rankings are concerned, Dart remains a soft but clear No. 1. The fact that none of the league’s other established starters have managed to assert themselves in the meantime is one of the defining stories of the season. Let’s hope there will be more to remember in November.
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(Last week: 1⬌)

2. Jalen Milroe | Alabama

The defense took the lead in a 34-0 romp over Missouri, which was frankly a welcome change of pace from another thrilling ride on the Milroe Express. Given the choice between a vintage-Bama effort on defense or leaving it up to Milroe to carry the day in a borderline shootout, I suspect Bama fans will take the defense every day of the week. Not coincidentally, the win over Mizzou was his first turnover-free outing since the Tide’s Week 3 trip to Wisconsin.
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(Last week: 2⬌)

3. Carson Beck | Georgia

Beck has not lived up to the hype, statistically — his midseason interception spree was a jarring development — but he remains the conference’s best Heisman bet for a reason: His team is still a national frontrunner, and he can still move the needle in high-profile dates against Florida, Ole Miss and Tennessee over the next 3 weeks. (Not to mention the SEC Championship Game, if Georgia wins out.) A repeat of last November, his best month in 2023, and he could be back in the race.
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(Last week: 3⬌)

4. Quinn Ewers | Texas

Ewers is sharp when he’s protected, but his lack of athleticism and creativity remains a red flag. Earlier in the year, I thought he flashed improved pocket mobility in Texas’ Week 3 win at Michigan. But that has not been the case since he’s returned from the oblique injury that sidelined him for most of the following month.

He was a sitting duck in the ‘Horns’ Week 8 loss to Georgia, and not much better under pressure in Saturday’s 27-24 win at Vanderbilt, where he occasionally reminded me of a late-career NFL vet with rusted-out knees who has stopped trying to make anything happen that he doesn’t see right away. (Per Pro Football Focus, Ewers averages an SEC-low 2.50 seconds before releasing the ball, although that’s a byproduct of a scheme that throws a high percentage of passes behind the line of scrimmage; he also ranks near the bottom of the FBS in average depth of target at just 5.9 yards per attempt.)

He was sacked 9 times in those two games on 34 pressured drop-backs, more sacks than he’d taken over any previous 2-game period in his career. The rest of the Longhorns’ season is riding on keeping him upright.
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(Last week: 4⬌)

5. Diego Pavia | Vanderbilt

I don’t really think there’s an honest case for Pavia as the SEC’s best quarterback this season. But I do think he’s the most compelling, and arguably the most watchable. How in the world did he complete this pass?

There’s throwing into a tight window, and then there’s throwing through the windows of cars moving in opposite directions across 3 lanes of traffic.
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(Last week: 6⬆)

6. Garrett Nussmeier | LSU

Nussmeier’s had a roller-coaster of a season to date, but the second half of LSU’s 38-23 loss at Texas A&M was the first time it went off the rails. In the first half, he looked like an aspiring first-rounder, throwing for 259 yards and 2 touchdowns in an unforgiving road environment. In the second, he was a basketcase, serving up 3 interceptions as a potentially season-defining win gave way to an emphatic defeat. Nussmeier’s first 2 picks, especially, were killers, setting up a pair of short-field A&M touchdowns that swung the pendulum decisively toward the Aggies.

https://twitter.com/AggieFootball/status/1850357768479277374/

That’s the kind of decision that can drive an otherwise sane person to pound a table. In all 5 of their losses the past 2 seasons, LSU has been even or ahead at halftime, only to be outscored in the second half by a combined 124-51.
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(Last week: 5⬇)

7. Marcel Reed or Conner Weigman | Texas A&M

So far, Mike Elko declined to clarify the pecking order following the Aggies’ come-from-behind win over LSU, telling reporters on Monday “it’s probably to early in our minds to make that decision” for this weekend’s trip to South Carolina. (“Even if we did,” he added, “we probably wouldn’t tell you right now anyway.”) Fair enough. But is this really a question? Based on Saturday night, the answer seems obvious: It’s Reed O’Clock. The Aggies’ fortunes turned the exact moment he came on to replace a visibly struggling Weigman midway through the third quarter.

At that point, A&M trailed by 10 points and hadn’t come close to scoring since its lone touchdown drive at the end of the first quarter; Weigman was a dismal 6-for-18 passing with a 12.9 QBR. Enter Reed, who immediately galvanized the offense en route to 5 consecutive touchdowns on the Aggies’ next 5 possessions. Reed accounted for 3 rushing touchdowns himself, and completed his only downfield attempt of the night for a gain of 54 yards. He came up a few snaps short of qualifying for the weekly QBR leaderboard, but if he had his 99.8 rating would have gone down as the best single-game rating for an A&M quarterback since joining the conference.

Then again, wasn’t it only a few weeks ago that the shoe was on the other foot? In the Aggies’ last big win, a Week 6 blowout over Missouri, it was Weigman who stole show, reasserting his status as QB1 coming off a 3-game absence due to a shoulder injury. As dynamic as Reed looked against LSU, Weigman was equally in his bag against Mizzou. Prior to that game, Elko said settling on a starter was “likely to be a game-time decision the rest of the year,” which at the time sounded like pure coachspeak. Now, between Weigman’s arm and Reed’s mobility, it’s possible to imagine it coming down to a series-by-series decision depending on who has the hot hand on any given Saturday — just as long as they keep winning. In the light of a 7-game winning streak, all of your options tend to look pretty good.
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(Last week: n/a | 7⬌)

8. Taylen Green | Arkansas

Mississippi State’s defense is on pace to go down as one of the worst in the modern history of the SEC, and no single player has made a bigger contribution to the Bulldogs’ misery than Green in a 58-25 blowout in Starkville. As a passer, he finished 23-for-29 for 314 yards, setting season-highs for completion percentage (79.3%), yards per attempt (10.8), touchdowns (5) and efficiency (220.3); as a rusher, he accounted for 79 of Arkansas’ 359 yards, highlighted by an absurd bit of open-field athleticism to kick off the bonanza:

Folks, the man is 6-6, 230 pounds. Altogether, Arkansas racked up 673 total yards against MSU and scored on 10 of 12 offensive possessions despite finishing … wait, do I have this right, 0-for-7 on 3rd-down conversions? I suppose when you’re averaging more than 10 yards per play for an entire game, the 3rd-down column takes on slightly less urgency.
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(Last week: 10⬆)

9. Brady Cook | Missouri

Cook’s value to Mizzou has never been more obvious than in his absence over the past 2 weeks. With Cook sidelined by assorted injuries, backup Drew Pyne has looked in over his head, turning in a pair of brutal performances against Auburn (78.8 efficiency, 8.6 QBR) and Alabama (29.4 efficiency, 11.4 QBR). Cook managed to salvage the Auburn game by literally returning from the hospital to lead 2 touchdown drives in the 4th quarter. No such heroics were in store in Tuscaloosa, where he exited in the first half and was quickly ruled out for the second after twice banging his throwing hand on another player’s helmet. Pyne came off the bench to throw 3 interceptions in his first 4 possessions en route to Missouri’s first shutout loss since 2019.

As of this writing, Cook’s status for this weekend’s date against Oklahoma remains TBD; between his hand and the gimpy ankle that preceded it, his effectiveness if he does play is doubtful, too. Either way, with the Tigers effectively eliminated from Playoff contention and Cook out of eligibility after this season, frankly it’s about time to start thinking about how Eli Drinkwitz plans to address the position going into 2025.
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(Last week: 8⬇)

10. Nico Iamaleava | Tennessee

With a rare Bama win in their pocket, Vols fans are already looking past bottom-dwellers Kentucky and Mississippi State to a Week 13 trip to Georgia where their postseason fate will be largely determined. Coming off a rough start in SEC play, it would be nice for Iamaleava to long-stride into Athens looking like the guy Tennessee expected him to be before the season. There is far too much potential on hand for this offense to be averaging just 21.5 points in conference games.
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(Last week: 9⬇)

11. DJ Lagway | Florida

I don’t think anyone is expecting Lagway to be a revelation against Georgia in his 3rd career start — I hope not — but he has certainly flashed enough to imagine him making a play or two that reminds everyone why he was considered a blue-chip stock. Just making it a 4-quarter game would be achievement enough: Florida’s 3 post-pandemic losses in the series have come by 27, 22 and 23 points.
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(Last week: 11⬌)

12. Michael Van Buren Jr. | Mississippi State

Van Buren accounted for 3 total touchdowns against Arkansas (2 passing, 1 rushing), and barely missed out on 2 more when TE Seydou Traore was ruled down inches shy of the goal line on back-to-back possessions in the first half; both calls were toss-ups, and the Bulldogs came away with just 3 points off those 2 opportunities. But then, when your offense commits 5 turnovers opposite a defense giving up 10.2 yards per play to the other team, the refs are the least of your problems.
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(Last week: 13⬆)

13. Payton Thorne | Auburn

Thorne was an accessory in Auburn’s first conference win, a 24-10 decision at Kentucky, where his highlight reel consisted mainly of handing off to Jarquez Hunter. Altogether, the Tigers finished with more rushing yards (326) than passing (172) for just the 2nd time since last year’s near-upset in the Iron Bowl, and the first time against a power opponent. If that hasn’t been the goal all along, obviously it should be from here on out.
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(Last week: 15⬆)

14. LaNorris Sellers | South Carolina

Sellers has spent much of his first season as a starter under duress, and has not handled it well. He’s faced pressure on 43.1% of his total drop-backs, per PFF, the highest rate among full-time SEC starters; meanwhile, he’s also been cited for 9 “turnover-worthy plays” on those snaps, most in the conference, including 4 interceptions and multiple fumbles. His overall grade under pressure (33.4) ranks 145th out of 175 FBS quarterbacks. Growing pains, yes, but if he expects to remain the incumbent in 2025, now is the time to begin demonstrating some growth.
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(Last week: 12⬇)

15. Jackson Arnold | Oklahoma

Each game adds new layers to the onion of sadness that is Oklahoma’s offense. Last week, Arnold was sacked 10 times in the Sooners’ loss at Ole Miss, setting the single-game school record for sacks allowed. It gets worse: Per PFF, all 10 sacks were the result of a standard rush by a 3- or 4-man front, not a single one of them coming on a blitz. And, in keeping with the theme of the season, it gets even worse: The previous record was set just 7 days earlier, in a wipeout loss against South Carolina that cost offensive coordinator Seth Littrell his job. Arnold is widely presumed to be bound for the portal in December; in the meantime, it might be all can do just to get there in one piece.
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(Last week: 16⬆)

16. Brock Vandagriff or Gavin Wimsatt | Kentucky

Vandagriff was bad in the Wildcats’ loss to Auburn, turning in an 18.0 QBR before getting benched at halftime. Wimsatt was worse, coming off the bench to post a 10.8 QBR in a scoreless second half. Coaches have declined to specify a starter for this week’s trip to Tennessee, but for an offense that’s averaged just 13.5 points in SEC play, at this point it seems like a distinction without a difference.
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(Last week: 14⬇ | n/a)

Matt Hinton

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

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