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While there’s been a youth movement in college football the last few years, with inexperienced players taking home Heisman trophies and national championships left and right, there’s no replacement for senior leadership, especially in the SEC.
As the talking heads would say, the SEC is a man’s league, and having some grown men on your football team certainly helps matter. The 22- and 23-year-old seniors that populate teams throughout the conference have been through the college football wringer before are invaluable. They get rattled a whole lot less easily than their teenaged teammates, they’ve had experience in their program and they know the ins and outs of the college game.
Just last year, we saw several examples of how valuable that kind of leadership can be. Alabama didn’t have any experienced passers on the roster, but it had fifth-year senior Blake Sims. All Sims did was step up to lead the most prolific passing offense in school history. Arkansas was coming off a winless SEC season, but led by Matrell Spaight and Trey Flowers, the Razorbacks fielded one of the nastiest defenses in the country, making and winning a bowl game in Bret Bielema’s second season.
So which teams will be able to count on the biggest groups of seniors this fall? Based on our projected depth charts and those released by the schools themselves, we have a good idea of just how many seniors each team will trot out on offense and defense if things hold going into the fall.
Alabama
Projected senior starters: 8
Offensive seniors: QB Jacob Coker, C Ryan Kelly, RT Dominick Jackson
Defensive seniors: DE Jarran Reed, LB Denzel Devall, LB Reggie Ragland, CB Cyrus Jones, S Geno Smith
Arkansas
Projected senior staters: 8
Offensive seniors: QB Brandon Allen, C Mitch Smothers, LG Sebastian Tretola, RB Jonathan Williams, FB Kody Walker, WR Keon Hatcher
Defensive seniors: NG DaMarcus Hodge, SS Rohan Gaines
Missouri
Projected senior starters: 8
Offensive seniors: LT Connor McGovern, LG Brad McNulty, C Evan Boehm, RG Mitch Hall, RT Taylor Chappell, RB Russell Hansbrough
Defensive seniors: LB Kentrell Brothers, CB Kenya Dennis, S Ian Simon
Auburn
Projected senior starters: 7
Offensive seniors: WR D’haquille Williams, WR Ricardo Louis
Defensive seniors: DE DaVonte Lambert, LB Cassanova McKinzy, LB Kris Frost, CB Jonathan Jones, CB Joshua Holsey
Mississippi State
Projected senior starters: 7
Offensive seniors: QB Dak Prescott, LT Rufus Warren, LG Justin Malone, TE Darrion Hutcherson
Defensive seniors: DE Ryan Brown, CB Will Redmond, CB Taveze Calhoun
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
