So Monday night was the end of the 2024 college football season.
Yes, 2024 ended 20 days into 2025, but does college football really ever end?
Recruiting becomes the portal which turns back into recruiting which becomes spring practice which leads to more transfers which gives us like a 72-hour dead period which takes us to SEC media days when TFP ace David Paschall writes like 64 stories in the four-day stretch.
Whew.
So college football ending just days before the NFL conference championship games is par for the course in the ever-expanding days of college football.
More money. More games. More playoff teams. More platforms and more complaining.
More, more, more.
But in terms of the basic tenets of the game, great teams normally have great QB play.
With that, as the SEC looks for a way back to its perceived birthright of having a conference team playing for the national championship this time next year, let’s examine the SEC QB situations.
And we’ll put these in tiers and in order.
SEC schools with a plan and a clear QB1:
1. Arch Manning, Texas. Is this too high? Maybe. But dude has looked the part in his limited action, and if UT is happy for Quinn Ewers, a three-year starter with almost 10K passing yards, to walk away, then they have been a witness to the next Manning.
2. DJ Lagway, Florida. Love his game and his leadership.
3. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina. Who was better in the league in the second half of 2024?
4. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU. Not only is he polished and experienced, but by now we have to expect that one of his receivers will be in the Pro Bowl in two years, right?
5. Diego Pavia, Vandy. Interesting question for the group: Would you rather have Pavia or his Tennessee counterpart as your college team’s QB1? Me too.
6. Austin Simmons, Ole Miss. Who? What? Yes, you read this right, for a dude whose next start will be his first. Plus, with Lane Kiffin – who is a lot of things, good and bad, but is great at getting the most from his QBs – Simmons is going to be a bonafide star replacing Jaxson Dart.
7. Nico Imaleava, UT. Time to deliver for the $8 million man.
8. Gunner Stockton, Georgia. Not unlike the Texas dealings with Quinn Ewers, I don’t know many Georgia fans who are sorry to see Carson Beck take his talents to South Beach.
9. Marcel Reed, Texas A&M. Needs to work on his accuracy – I guess we all do, right? – but that kid could rush for 1,000-plus next season.
SEC schools that think they have a plan:
10. Taylen Green, Arkansas. If he stays healthy, he could be in the upper tier. And yes, two seasons in a Bobby Petrino offense has to be considered a good thing.
11. John Mateer, Oklahoma. This may be the tightest offseason/preseason QB competition between Mateer, the Washington State transfer, and running threat Michael Hawkins. Mateer put up monster stats, and Brent Venable’s job may ride on this decision and the resulting production. Or lack thereof.
12. Jackson Arnold, Auburn. Fingers crossed, in an important year-three for coach Hugh Freeze that can’t be overstated.
SEC schools who hope their plan works out:
13. Ty Simpson, Alabama. Like everyone on the Tide roster who committed under Lord Saban, Simpson was a ballyhooed recruit, but is he ready to be the QB1 in that pressure cooker?
14. Blake Shapen, Mississippi State. Another guy with a high ceiling if he can stay healthy.
15. Beau Primula, Missouri. The Penn State transfer – he was the backup and left before the college football playoff – is likely the front-runner, but who knows?
16. Zach Calzada, Kentucky. Name sound familiar? He should. This is Zach’s fourth school and third SEC stop – he was at A&M and AU before going to Lexington via a year at Incarnate Word – in his well-traveled career.
In fact, a fifth-year senior at his fourth school and wondering if he is even going to get a job may be the perfect punctuation on the 2025 college football season that has not even started yet.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.