Ad Disclosure
Call it a change of scenery or simply a fresh start, but the transfer market at quarterback in the SEC has been hot in recent years. And several teams have figured out how to turn a new face into a successful season.
Luke Del Rio’s recent spring game performance at Florida could be an indication of another example if he can build off of the 10-of-11 passing output for 176 yards and two touchdowns. If Del Rio is successful, it would be a rare feat for an SEC East team as the most successful quarterbacks to transfer recently have excelled in the West.
Del Rio isn’t the only transfer QB to play well in his spring game. Trevor Knight at Texas A&M completed 20-of-27 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns in the first half alone. At Auburn, the speed of junior college transfer John Franklin III has caught the eye of teammates.
Connecting a championship team, or at least one that won a major bowl game, with a transfer quarterback has been a winning recipe in recent years. Auburn did it with Cam Newton and Nick Marshall, while Ole Miss and Chad Kelly had a record-breaking 2015, and of course, Alabama’s national championship was piloted by Jake Coker, a former Florida State backup.
Kelly led the SEC in passing in 2015, while Coker was in the top four. A former Clemson player, Kelly joined former quarterbacks Tim Couch and Johnny Manziel as the third SEC QB to top 4,000 yards. He completed 65 percent of his passes for 31 touchdowns and 4,042 yards.
Coker passed for 3,110 yards with 21 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Among team awards in 2015, Coker was named an Outstanding Senior Scholar, an Offensive Achievement Award and one of four permanent captains as voted by the players. He nearly rallied the Crimson Tide from 20 points down in a loss to Ole Miss, and had his two best performances in the playoffs.
Newton is remembered for winning the Heisman Trophy, a national championship and being selected first overall in the NFL Draft in about a year’s time. He’s also in an elite class with 4,369 all-purpose offensive yards at Auburn with 51 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Marshall resurrected his career from a theft charge that caused him to leave Georgia.
He led Auburn to the 2013 BCS national championship game. Chris Davis’ famous Pick-Six won the Iron Bowl, but it was Marshall’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Sammie Coates that tied it with 32 seconds left.
By 2014, he was named the team’s MVP after he broke the single-game record for passing (456 yards) in a 55-44 loss at No. 1 Alabama.
Another SEC West team, Arkansas, also benefitted from a Big Ten transfer when Ryan Mallett left Michigan and went on to pass for more than 3,600 yards in 2009 and 2010 for the Razorbacks. He totaled 62 touchdowns and 19 interceptions in those seasons.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
