For a conference constantly lauded as the best in the country, the SEC quarterback crop leaves a bit – okay, a lot – to be desired.  Aside from The Fourth Link of the Holy Trinity and a Texas cast-off, most of the other QBs in the SEC are either mediocre or playing in a new offense …or, if you’re Jonathan Crompton, both.

Shallower leagues can just stop reading after #2; deeper leagues may want to get as far as #7 or so, but we’ll go until we run out of anything I’d even remotely consider talent.

1: Tim Tebow, Florida

What do you expect?  Tebow went for nearly 2,750 yards last year with a 30/4 ratio at 64.4% completion percentage, and that’s not even counting the nearly 675 yards and 13 TDs he contributed on the ground.  Sure, he’s a team leader and all that, but team leaders don’t count for anything in fantasy; instead, just be aware that since Harvin is gone, Florida’s going to have to plug a couple of different guys who run sub-4.3 40s in as WRs, so the passing options may not be as bountiful as they were last year … and there’s no way Emmanuel Moody stays in Urban Meyer’s doghouse again all this year, meaning the running game will be all right without him.  By all rights Tebow would be fine as a caretaker QB, but Florida’s a national title contender for a reason; he’ll bring the team to another level.  Expect similar numbers this year, although the 30/4 ratio may be asking a bit much – 30/6 may be more reasonable.

2: Jevan Snead, Ole Miss

Whether or not you buy into Ole Miss as a national title contender…well, we will leave that as an exercise to the readers, but I feel compelled to ask what percentage of that hype is due to their win over Florida coupled with the Cotton Bowl victory over Texas Tech – Snead is excellent.  Last year he also threw for nearly 2,750 yards, albeit only at a 56.3% clip with a 26/13 ratio.  That doesn’t totally tell the story, though; Snead had three sub-50% games in the first six games of the year last year (including only going 9-20 against Florida and a god-awful 12-25 for 184 yards and 4 INTs against Vanderbilt, of all teams) before righting the ship in the second half of the season.  10 of his interceptions came in the first seven games of the year, too.  If he can sustain the growth he made at the end of last year, he’ll be in line for a superb performance.  I expect growth in fits and spurts, but since Ole Miss has a favorable schedule, he’s a buy.

3: Ryan Mallett, Arkansas

Yeah, what?  Mallett didn’t even play last year, and Arkansas’s brother Dick tandem pretty much crapped the bed most of last year.  However, Mallett’s had a year to learn Petrino’s offense and he returns all the skill players in the offense, meaning Mallett won’t have a ton of pressure on him.  Remember how big the news was when Mallett transferred?  That was for a reason.  Mallett should be in line for a 57-60% completion percentage and a 2-1 TD/INT ratio. Although I’m not sure on the exact percentages, I’d be reluctant to predict much above 22-24 TDs simply because I don’t know how well the WR crop will mature in year 2 of the Petrino regime and they’ll need to have the ability to break plays and punish defenses cheating in on Michael Smith. But if you think he’s good for 26+, I won’t blame you. 

4: Jordan Jefferson, LSU

I’m not totally sold on Jefferson, but things drop off in a hurry after Mallett.  Jefferson brings big-play ability (and not the kind of big-play ability Jarrett Lee brought last season) and has dual-threat capabilities, meaning short-yardage TDs ahoy!  He’ll do better than his 49.3% ratio from last year, but LSU trended pretty heavily toward the run last year so even with 57% completion percentage, Jefferson’s yards may not be there.  However, a 2.5/1 ratio is there for the taking.  Again, 22 TDs will likely be his peak, unless the offense finally figures out a way to get human electron Trindon Holliday the ball through the air in space.

5: Stephen Garcia, South Carolina

Man, it’s getting painful already.  Garciright, thanks Icon SMI) is the most talented of the lot, and unlike the rest of the crop, hasn’t shot his self in the foot appreciably during games yet; Garcia’s saved his carnage for off the field.  Something like 55-58% and 1.75/1 would be about what I’d expect from Garcia (likely 18 TDs or so); there’s going to be a lot of pressure on Garcia both from the fan sense and from the substandard offensive line sense, so buyer beware.

6: Joe Cox, Georgia

When you’re determining who’s better than who by “well, I guess he hasn’t burned himself too badly yet”, and you’re settling on a guy who’s finally getting his first real starting chance as a senior, that’s not a good sign.  Still, Cox hasn’t done anything wrong in his career – he just got caught in front of human cannonball Marr Stafford.  Equally important is the returning and hopefully healthy Georgia offensive line, which should do a good job protecting him so he can gun it to AJ Green.  We’re likely looking at a 57-60% from Cox with a 2/1, but what’s keeping him all the way down here is his yardage peak likely being around 2,000 and his TD peak being in the 16-18 range.  I don’t see a reason Georgia will run the offense through Cox too much with the huge running back stable they have.

7: Mike Hartline, Kentucky

Kentucky’s passing offense last year was a complete joke; there’s no guarantee that it won’t be his year too, but Randall Cobb at least gets shuffled out to WR for good and there’s nobody really behind Hartline to contest him. Hartline’s probably in line for 55-57% with a 1.5/1 ratio, but he’ll certainly get his attempts; his 311 attempts was the second-most attempts among returning starters in the SEC – and that was with giving up nearly 100 to Cobb.  His numbers may exceed this ranking, but I don’t trust him enough to feel comfortable moving him up.

8: Greg McElroy, Alabama

Caretaker QB!  McElroy’s main job will be to not screw up and keep the position warm for when Star Jackson is ready, but for now it’s McElroy’s time to “shine”.  Don’t expect a ton – caretaker QB-type numbers – so like Chili’s, it’ll be a reasonably bland but wholly inoffensive season for him.

9: Star Jackson, Alabama

The only reason he’s not at #5 on this list is because he’s not the starter yet, but Jackson brings a dynamic dual-threat capability to the QB position that translates well to fantasy, but he may lack knowledge of the playbook at this point.  He’s the hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant to McElroy’s Chili’s. Sure -the food may be excellent, but there might be a bit of rat in your enchilada, and you just don’t know.

10: Jonathan Crompton, Tennessee

Stab me with a rusty spoon, I want to place this alleged “QB” at like, 15.  This is more a statement of how weak the SEC QB crop is, but there’s also no way that the offense is as ragingly inept this year as it was last year.  That’s the case for many reasons, but the upshot is that Crompton won’t be rolling up a 4/5 ratio this year; if nothing else it’ll be 12/15, but he’ll produce something this time around at least.  54-56% and 1.4/1 would be in the realistic realm; I don’t trust him to do anything beyond that.

11: Russell Shepard, LSU

I don’t think he’ll see the field much this year, but if Jefferson struggles, Shepard could be in line for some serious production.  Still, the true freshman caveat applies here in full force, so draft at your own risk.  He’s a better option in dynasty leagues, as I suspect he’ll end up redshirting.

12: Kodi Burns, Auburn

Look, I don’t care if Gus Malzahn is the OC at Auburn; Burns is a lackluster QB at the college level and I don’t see that changing; a new OC can’t immediately correct an arm responsible for a 2/7 ratio who hasn’t topped 53% completion even given the benefit of a small sample size.  Burns’ only saving grace is his ability to run, but even that’s debatable given how much the offense is changing.  Never thought you’d yearn for the days of Brandon Cox, huh?

13a: Tyson Lee, Mississippi State

Hey, at least he’s in the top 12 this year.  I’d discuss him more, but if you’re seriously considering drafting Tyson Lee, you better be in a 14-team SEC-only league.   I’d consider drafting a Weeblie over this guy, but he’ll at least be good for a 1.3/1 ratio and 55%. Welcome to the Dan Mullen Era!  In Starkville, this qualifies as “progress”.  Fun fact: if Tebow played at Mississippi State he’d already be their all-time passing leader.

13b: Larry Smith, Vanderbilt

He was good enough to displace Mackenzi Adams from the starting spot, but that’s not really something to hang your hat on.  If you’re a big fan of guys starting behind experienced lines with head coaches that have been around for a while, you can probably do worse than Smith- just not in this conference.

14/15: Neil Caudle / Chris Todd, Auburn

These guys are both the same basic QB, but they fit the Malzhan mold better than Burns does.  Too bad the rest of the team doesn’t and since there’s no obvious front-runner, they’ll all suck playing time and stats from the others.  If you’re drafting Burns, first off, may God have mercy on you and secondly, if you’re going to torpedo your season by drafting an Auburn QB, you may as well handcuff your season again by taking one of these guys. I’d recommend Caudle.

16: Nick Stephens, Tennessee

He’s like Jonathan Crompton, only he has the backup QB sheen on him and isn’t starting.  The only reason he’s even on this list is because I have no faith in Crompton to hold the starting job and there’s an awesome picture of Stephens floating around with a tiara and a bottle of Jack Daniels – flagrantly Photo shopped, of course.

865: Jarrett Lee, LSU

For anyone who thought he’d be halfway decent, yeah. Oops.

Related posts:

1. SEC’s “Other” Rankings for Fantasy College Football
2. A Look at Your Big 12 Fantasy College Football Quarterbacks
3. 2009 SEC ALL-FANTASY TEAM
4. SEC Breakdowns & Projections
5. SEC 2008 ALL-FANTASY TEAM

Tags: SEC