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Passing for 3,500 yards in college — especially in the SEC — is not as easy as you might think.
As a matter of fact, over the past five seasons that total has been reached only eight times by seven quarterbacks.
Here’s a look at the SEC’s 3,500-yard passers over the last five years:
2011
Tyler Wilson, Arkansas: 3,638 yards
Notes: Wilson’s total is second on the Razorbacks’ all-time list. A year earlier, Ryan Mallett threw for 3,869 yards. The telling thing about 2011 is that only four SEC QBs threw for at least 2,000 yards that year: Florida’s John Brantley (2,044), Alabama’s A.J. McCarron (2,634), Georgia’s Aaron Murray (3,148) and Wilson, who was a fourth-round pick of the Raiders in 2013 and also spent time with the Tennessee Titans and Cincinnati Bengals.
2012
Aaron Murray, Georgia: 3,893 yards
Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M: 3,706 yards
Tyler Bray, Tennessee: 3,612 yards
Notes: Murray finished his career as the SEC’s all-time leader in completions (921), passing yards (13,166), TD passes (121) and total offense (13,562). He also became the first QB in SEC history to throw for 3,000 or more yards in four straight seasons. He is still with the Kansas City Chiefs after being selected by them in the fifth round of the 2014 draft.
Manziel’s total helped him become the first freshman — albeit a redshirt — to win the Heisman Trophy. He also became the first freshman and only the fifth player in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a season.
Bray set a Tennessee single-game record with 530 passing yards against Troy, and his season total is the second-highest in school history behind only Peyton Manning’s 3,819 yards in 1997. The Chiefs, who signed Bray as an undrafted free agent in 2013, have extended his contract through 2017.
2013
Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M: 4,114 yards
Notes: Manziel’s total was a school record, and he parlayed that success into being a first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2014, but he has clearly made more noise off the field than he has on it.
2014
Dylan Thompson, South Carolina: 3,574 yards
Notes: Thompson, currently a San Francisco 49er, set a school record with his total. Three other SEC QBs threw for at least 3,000 yards that year: Alabama’s Blake Sims (3,487), Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott (3,449), and Mississippi’s Bo Wallace (3,194).
2015
Chad Kelly, Ole Miss: 4,042 yards
Dak Prescott, Mississippi State: 3,793 yards
Notes: Both players set single-season school records with their totals. The good news for the Rebels is that Kelly is returning for his senior season. The bad news for the Bulldogs is that Prescott’s college career is over.
Stan Chrapowicki is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, Alabama and Auburn.
