Who’s going to win the SEC Quarterback battles?

This is going to be an interesting season for a lot of reasons. Most of them have already been covered.

But for a lot of SEC fans, the question will be: “Who’s going to be the damned starting quarterback?”

For some – like in Florida, Tennessee, Auburn and Texas A&M – the question is fairly obvious, but for other schools, the battles will rage right until the Friday before Gameday.

So here’s our lowdown on who’s going to win out.

ALABAMA

Our pick: Mac Jones over Bryce Young. Jones and Young – the latter one the No.1-rated dual threat QB on the 24-7 2020 recruiting board and the second-best player in the nation – had an almighty battle, and both will see time against Missouri, but Jones will start because he’s got the experience. In his last two games with the Crimson Tide – both against mammoth teams, he threw for 7 TDs and 2 INTs (and you could argue that the second INT was a freak happening rather than his fault), and for over 600 yards.

UPDATE: Jones. 

ARKANSAS

Our pick: Feleipe Franks. Franks is a grad transfer from Florida who was injured during his time in Gainseville, and upon his return was comfortably beaten out for the starting job by Kyle Trask. It looks as though with Emory Jones also snipping at Trask’s heels, the best Franks could do was a graduate transfer. He’s said that he’s hoping to use his experience in Fayetteville to ‘go to the next level’, and if he can show what he can as well as he did in his sophomore year – and lead Arkansas to a couple of surprise victories, then the NFL will have a look. We think he’s head and shoulders above his rivals.

UPDATE: Franks

AUBURN

Our pick: Bo Nix. Not always the most popular QB in Tigers’ history, Nix’s excellent performance against Alabama probably cemented his job on The Plains for this season. Although it’s not been announced, this will have been one of Gus Malzahn’s easier decisions, bearing in mind how bare the cupboard is on The Plains.

FLORIDA

Our pick: Kyle Trask. Dan Mullen’s talked about Trask and Emory Jones taking almost equal-weight this season, but Trask will be the guy after an excellent 2020. Mullen’s made all the right noises about using Jones – a dual-threat QB who’s going to hurt defenses in short-yardage situations (we think) – more, but Trask will run things.

GEORGIA

Our pick: J.T. Daniels. After grad transfer Jamie Newman decided to sit out the year after Daniels’ arrived on campus after his own transfer from USC, it should be set in stone that Daniels will start. But here’s the problem: How healthy is Daniels? In a season where playing in 2020 doesn’t really matter (it’s not going to count towards eligiblity anyway), you might see more of pro-style QB D’wan Mathis as well. Mathis is 6-6 with a cannon of an arm, while Daniels is a pretty damned good himself.

KENTUCKY

Our pick: Terry Wilson. After Wilson got injured early on in the 2020 season, Lynn Bowden took over and did a miraculous job. Although Kentucky HC Mark Stoops brought in Joey Gatewood, the player has not gone through NCAA waivers, so he – at the time of writing – is ineligible (we have no words for the NCAA right now!). Anyway, Wilson’s got the experience, he’s in full health, and although Gatewood will see some reps, Wilson will win out.

LSU 

Our pick: Myles Brennan. The guy following up Joe Burrow’s insane season is one of the unluckier people in Death Valley this season, particularly bearing in mind that most of the offense has left for the NFL or opted out. Brennan’s life has been made easier by the fact that one of his bigger competitors – Peter Parrish – entered the transfer portal after getting suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.

UPDATE: Brennan

MISSISSIPPI STATE

Our pick: KJ Costello. For a myriad of educational reasons, it’s unlikely that someone from Stanford would transfer to Mississippi State, but it makes sense in a football world. KJ Costello passed for over 6,000 yards and nearly 50 TDs (and only 18 TDs) in his time in Northern California, and he was heavily recruited by offensive wizard Mike Leach. So de facto: He’s going to be the QB down in Starkville.

MISSOURI

Our pick: Shawn Robinson. First of all, we’d like to note that Eli Drinkwitz is not going to name his starting quarterback until the last second before his team gets rolled by 50 against plays Alabama on Saturday, to try and keep Nick Saban & Co guessing. But Robinson – the junior transfer from TCU came into Columbia in 2019 to play for Barry Odom before Barry Odom was canned at the end of the season (Robinson had to sit out a year), has the arm and the feet that could cause some defenses trouble in the SEC. Taylor Powell, Connor Bazelak and Brady Cook are also QB1 too according to Master of Mystery Drinkwitz, but we think Robinson will take it because of his experience.

OLE MISS

Our pick: Matt Corral. He’s going to share the role with Jon Rhys Plumlee, but Corral’s arm will offer more than Plumlee’s. Lane Kiffin loved him during the scrimmage, too.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Our pick: Collin Hill.  Hill and Ryan Hillinski are in a close battle for victory for the QB spot. While Hillinski’s got the starting experience, the offense wasn’t a lot to talk about last year (104th of 130 last year), Collin Hill’s played until USC offensive coordinator Mike Bobo while he was Colorado State. We think Bobo goes with what he’s used to.

UPDATE: HILL

TENNESSEE

Our pick: Jarret Guarantano. Guarantano had a rollercoaster of a 2019, ending with a nice comeback which has made many people he should be a walk-in for starter. But freshman Harrison Bailey – a four-star pro-style QB who is ranked 3rd in his position by 24-7 – has made a lot of waves at QB recently. People are really excited about seeing him play.

TEXAS A&M

Our pick: Kellen Mond. This is a slam-dunk. He’s a leader both on and off-the-field, he’s a playmaker, and he doesn’t have to do a whole lot bearing in mind how good the Aggies are going to be at running back.

VANDERBILT

Our pick: Ken Seals. Seals is a freshman alongside Mike Wright, junior college recruits Danny Clark and Jeremy Moussa, and he and the other three have no SEC experience. Seals is considered the favorite because he’s practiced more than the others, but new OC Todd Fitch has said that he doesn’t know who it will. We don’t expect Vanderbilt to be very good this season anyway, so this position may be about green shoots than making any green.