Everything you need to know about SEC football ahead of the 2022 season in one place.
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In most lines of work, 5 years is a footnote. For a head coach in the pressure-cooker of the modern SEC, it’s a long, healthy lifespan.

Consider Jimbo Fisher, now embarking on Year 5 at Texas A&M. Of the 13 other coaches who occupied top jobs in the SEC when Fisher was hired, in December 2017, only 3 remain: Nick Saban at Alabama, Kirby Smart at Georgia, and, a couple rungs down the food chain, Mark Stoops at Kentucky – each of them among the two or three most successful coaches in the history of their respective schools. The rest? Ancient history. None of the league’s other 10 head coaches in 2022 coached a game in his current gig prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly half the conference is in Year 1 or 2 of their current administration, and even some of that group might be lucky to survive past Thanksgiving.

Patience, in other words, is not a virtue any SEC outfit feels like it has the luxury to afford – least of all Texas A&M, the program that has most explicitly invested in leveling up to join Alabama and Georgia in the league’s championship tier. A&M boosters have made no bones about their ambitions, or their willingness to cut the checks to hold up their end of the deal. They shelled out for first-rate facilities. They reset the market to hire Fisher, less than 5 years removed from a national title at Florida State, away from Tallahassee. (One of Fisher’s ongoing grievances at FSU was his feeling that the school wasn’t committed enough to spending on par with other national powers.) They went all-in on the mission to build a year-in, year-out recruiting machine on par with the juggernauts at Bama and UGA, yielding top-10 classes in four consecutive cycles. The incoming haul, the first since the Supreme Court tore down the wall preventing outside money from flowing directly to athletes, is one of the most decorated classes of the online ranking era and almost certainly the most expensive. On paper, in every way that money can buy, the 5-year plan is right on schedule.

On the field? It’s time for the investment to start paying off or patience to start wearing thin.

As the stakes have risen over the past 2 seasons, the results have felt like one step forward, one step back. In one sense, the 2020 team was arguably the best in College Station in a generation, turning in a 9-1 record and top-5 finish against an abbreviated schedule; at the same time, it was defined as much by the lone defeat, a blowout at Alabama that cost A&M a shot at the Playoff, as it was by the wins. In 2021, the Aggies finally got over the hump against Bama, flexing their potential in a major midseason upset, only to finish a Sumlin-esque 8-4 following back-to-back losses vs. Ole Miss and LSU to close the year. (They were subsequently bumped from the Gator Bowl due to COVID.) At this point in the project, every year they fail to put it all together is another year the zeroes in Fisher’s salary get a little harder to defend.

And while in certain ways this might have the makings of a rebuilding year – new quarterback, uncertainty at the skill positions, new defensive coordinator, entirely rebuilt d-line – rest assured that expectations are not going in the cooler while the ’22 class waits its turn. A&M landed at No. 6 in the preseason AP poll despite finishing unranked last year, a testament to the sense around the country that in the most important ways the Aggies have already arrived. The roster as a whole, now consisting almost entirely of Fisher recruits, ranked No. 5 on 247Sports’ annual Blue-Chip Ratio, easily eclipsing the baseline talent threshold necessary to compete for a national title. The lineup boasts its share of rising star power (RB Devon Achane, WR Ainias Smith, DB Antonio Johnson, multiple future pros on the o-line) on top of enviable depth. The quarterback situation, a three-way competition between holdover Haynes King, LSU transfer Max Johnson and 5-star freshman Conner Weigman, is a virtually guaranteed upgrade over the departed Zach Calzada. The raw materials are in place.

Still, for a team allegedly thinking Playoff, at a program that’s cracked 10 wins just once this century, the emphasis remains very much on raw. The lineup is conspicuously light on upperclassmen, in general, and particularly on seniors. (Three early draft entries from Fisher’s first full recruiting class didn’t help there.) In that context, for now, maybe paying off the bet on Fisher means continuing to pay it forward: Settling on the right QB, improving on last year’s record, keeping the arrow pointed north toward the real prove-it year in 2023.

But make no mistake: The high rollers haven’t been digging deep just to keep being asked to wait till next year. One way or another, this is a crucial season for reassuring them the best is still to come.

The teams

The front-runner: Alabama

Fifteen years in dynasty mode and no end in sight. Bama is No. 1 (again) in both major polls and a big favorite to win it all according to FPI, Las Vegas, all of the preseason magazines, your office pool, a random sampling of your friends, family and neighborhood pets, and just about any other metric you’re going to find outside of direct polling in the states of Ohio and Georgia. The Tide are loaded, which is just to say that the Tide are the Tide.

It’s more interesting at this point to consider the candidates for the role of Achilles’ heel. In 2021, it was the offensive line, which took much of the blame in a midseason loss at Texas A&M and almost blew the entire season in a miserable performance against Auburn. (Postseason reviews against Georgia’s stacked d-line were mixed, with a reassuring effort in the SEC Championship Game followed by a mediocre night in the CFP rematch.) Alabama also struggled on the ground, turning in Saban-era lows for rushing yards per game and per carry.

The only notable departure up front was a big one, with All-American turned top-10 draft pick Evan Neal leaving a void at left tackle. As always, though, there’s another massive and massively hyped blue-chip on deck – 5-star sophomore JC Latham, you’re up – and Bama took out an insurance policy in fifth-year transfer Tyler Steen from Vanderbilt. It also upgraded at running back, adding dynamic Georgia Tech transfer Jahmyr Gibbs to a rotation that has been plagued by injuries.

Instead, the big question mark in ’22 looms over the wide receivers. Last year’s highly decorated wideouts, Jameson Williams and John Metchie III, are gone, and it was hardly a coincidence that Bryce Young’s most forgettable outings came with one or both of them on ice.

In the quadruple-overtime thriller at Auburn, Williams was ejected in the first half for a targeting penalty on special teams; with his deep threat sidelined, Young dialed in hard on Metchie, targeting him on 22 of his 51 attempts, but failed to crack the end zone until the final, desperate minute of the game — Bama managed just 10 points in regulation before going on to escape with a 24-22 win in OT. A week later, Metchie tore his ACL late in the SEC Championship win over Georgia; without him, the Tide rode the ground game in their 27-6 semifinal win over Cincinnati, limiting Young to season lows for completions (17) and yards (181) and Williams to a season-low 8.9 yards per catch on 9 targets. And after Williams’ knee exploded on a long reception in the second quarter of the national title game, the drop-off from the starters was all too apparent.

Although Young finished with 369 yards, it took him 57 attempts to get there, and Alabama’s only touchdown of the night came on a short-field, 16-yard “drive” immediately following a turnover. Saban himself joined in the criticism of the backup receivers, calling them out as a group at a coaches’ clinic in February for failing to take advantage of their opportunity.

The surrounding cast at the skill positions will be almost entirely new. Only 1 of last year’s top 6 receivers is back in the fold (TE Cameron Latu), and of the wideouts who played significantly in the postseason, only sophomore Ja’Corey Brooks appears safe to project as a starter. As for the rest, their status shifted to red alert with the addition of transfers Jermaine Burton (Georgia) and Tyler Harrell (Louisville) via the portal, another loud-and-clear message that the holdovers have not earned coaches’ trust.

In lieu of a proven go-to target, though, there are plenty of viable candidates. Brooks is (of course) a 5-star talent who came on late as a freshman, hauling in the game-tying touchdown that sent the Iron Bowl to overtime, starting in place of Metchie in the Playoff, and logging 10 catches for 113 yards in the last two games. Burton made the most of his limited opportunities at Georgia, averaging 17.0 yards per catch with 8 TDs over the past 2 years, and is banking on an expanded role in a more receiver-friendly system. And Harrell is just flat-out fast: After three quiet seasons at Louisville, he torched ACC secondaries in 2021 for 523 yards and 6 TDs on just 16 receptions — an absurd average of 29.1 yards per catch. The Jameson Williams comps write themselves.

Again, this is the position that projects as the Tide’s biggest doubt. If you’re still looking for meaningful cracks in the facade here, buddy, good luck.

The challenger: Georgia

There are plenty of ways to measure Georgia’s ascent under Kirby Smart, from the glut of 5-star recruits on the roster at any given time to the end, finally, of the Dogs’ 41-year national championship drought. The starkest effect, however, has arguably been within their own division: Since 2017, UGA is 27-2 against the rest of the SEC East, by scores that reflect an even wider gap than the record implies. Only one of those wins was decided by single digits, and in 2021 Georgia’s average margin of victory in division play was an embarrassing 32.3 points per game.

At some point, that state of affairs says as much about the rest of the division as it does about the team at the top. While the Dawgs have thrived, their old rivals for East dominance, Florida and Tennessee, have languished in various stages of rebuilding. With the abrupt end of the Dan Mullen era in Gainesville, the Gators and Vols are both on their fourth head coach in 10 years, a cycle of hope and collapse that has yielded some fleeting success (see Florida’s last division title in 2020) but overall amounts to a lost decade. The division upstart, Kentucky, has stabilized into a reliable winner under Mark Stoops, but has yet to come close to the top of the standings, finishing at least 2 games behind Georgia each of the past 5 years; ditto South Carolina and Missouri, both well removed from their last winning conference records. Meanwhile, Smart keeps stacking blue-chip recruiting classes in Athens, and the talent deficit just keeps getting bigger.

There are glimmers of hope this fall, if you squint. Tennessee improved in 2021 under first-year coach Josh Heupel and boasts the league’s best returning pass-catch combo in Hendon Hooker and Cedric Tillman. Kentucky won 10 games and found a keeper behind center in Will Levis. South Carolina finished on a high note and landed a potentially transformative talent in Spencer Rattler. Florida is back on the upswing under incoming coach Billy Napier, who won big at his last stop and inherited from Mullen the division’s deepest talent base outside of Georgia’s. All four have legitimate Top-25 aspirations, and UGA has legitimate question marks across the lineup following an exodus of star power from last year’s title run. But as long as those aspirations come with the caveat outside of Georgia, the Dawgs’ grip on the East is secure and their path to a meaningful postseason is as clear as ever.

The dark horse: LSU

It’s an old cliché that teams that just dumped their last coach tend to fall for his opposite on the rebound, and at first glance it’s hard to imagine a more dramatic culture shock than LSU replacing Ed Orgeron with Brian Kelly. Coach O, with his unrefined Cajun growl of a voice, was Louisiana to the bone. Kelly, who arrived in December off a 12-year tenure at Notre Dame, is a media-savvy Massachusetts native who has spent his entire career in the Midwest; it’s possible he had never laid eyes on a crawfish, much less attempted to eat one. After his first public appearance, video of Kelly slipping into a dubious Southern drawl at a Tigers basketball game went viral to widespread mockery.

Of course, he was hired to win football games, not to be a cultural ambassador, and on that front, his track record speaks for itself. Prior to landing in South Bend, Kelly’s résumé included a pair of national titles at Division II Grand Valley State and conference crowns at Cincinnati and Central Michigan. At Notre Dame, he coached in and won more games than any other coach in school history – surpassing Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian and Holtz – while leading the Irish to the BCS Championship Game in 2012 and Playoff bids in 2018 and ’20. The only thing missing is a ring. By making the leap to LSU, a program with national championships under each of the past three guys to hold the job, he’s aiming to take that last, career-defining step.

He may not have to wait as long for his shot as LSU’s mediocre record the past 2 years suggests, either. As quickly as the previous regime unraveled, Orgeron never lost his mojo as a recruiter, leaving a roster brimming with the usual talent – especially at wide receiver, where 2021 injury casualty Kayshon Boutte will rejoin the fold, and on the defensive line. The biggest question mark, quarterback, got a surprising answer in the spring with a commitment from Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels, a former blue-chip prospect who started 29 games at ASU. If the personnel clicks, the Tigers should be relevant again very quickly, and Kelly can talk however he wants.

The wild card: Ole Miss

2021 was a banner year for the Rebels, yielding 10 regular-season wins and a trip to the Sugar Bowl. Instead of ringing in the new year, though, their Jan. 1 loss to Baylor felt more like the clock striking midnight. The offseason exodus from Oxford included not only face-of-the-program QB Matt Corral, but also the top 3 running backs, top 3 receivers, 8 of the top 12 tacklers on defense, All-SEC edge rusher Sam Williams, and both coordinators, for good measure.

No other SEC outfit suffered heavier losses.

So maybe it shouldn’t come as any surprise that no other outfit went harder in the transfer portal, either. With holes to fill across the lineup, Lane Kiffin went all-in on a transfer haul that delivered on quality and quantity, featuring more than a dozen potential starters. Sophomore QB Jaxson Dart (USC) was one of the most coveted signal-callers on the market. RB Zach Evans (TCU) is a former 5-star recruit who averaged 7.3 yards per carry as a Horned Frog. RB Ulysses Bentley IV (SMU) accounted for nearly 1,800 yards and 17 touchdowns the past 2 years as a Mustang. WRs Jaylon Robinson (UCF), Jordan Watkins (Louisville) and Malik Heath (Mississippi State) are proven targets at a position that eventually ran out of them last November; ditto TE Michael Trigg (USC), who was on pace for a breakthrough freshman campaign in 2021 before it was cut short by injury. OL Mason Brooks (Western Kentucky), LB Troy Brown (Central Michigan) and DB Isheem Young (Iowa State) each earned all-conference honors at their previous stops. DE Jared Ivey (Georgia Tech), DT JJ Pegues (Auburn), LB Khari Coleman (TCU) and DB Ladarius Tennison (Auburn) all come with starting experience at Power 5 schools.

Are the reinforcements enough to keep Ole Miss in the top half of a cut-throat SEC West? That will depend largely on Dart, who for all the hype still arrives with more promise than proof — technically he still has to win the job, which seems less like a foregone conclusion the longer the competition with sophomore holdover Luke Altmyer drags on — and how well he clicks with new OC Charlie Weis Jr. (Yes, junior. Yes, we are all on an inexorable march to the grave.) But if the new QB manages to pick up anywhere near where Corral left off, there’s no reason the Rebels can’t find themselves back in the New Year’s 6 hunt well into November.

The doormat: Vanderbilt

Few programs in America have as much experience in the cellar as the Dores, with a grand total of 2 winning campaigns in the past 40 years. Even by Vandy standards, though, the past few years have been grim. The 2020 team turned in the first winless seasons in school history vs. an SEC-only schedule; the 2021 edition under first-year coach Clark Lea wasn’t much better, struggling to a 2-10 finish with narrow nonconference wins over Colorado State and UConn decided on last-minute field goals. Entering Year 2 under Lea, Vanderbilt is riding a 20-game SEC losing streak with no momentum and no end in sight.

Winter house-cleaning began on the sideline, where Lea brought in 5 new assistants and promoted 2 holdovers from last year’s staff to coordinators. He also put incumbent quarterbacks Ken Seals and Mike Wright on notice by signing 3 QBs in the incoming recruiting class, one of whom, AJ Swann, enrolled early to push the vets in the spring. Otherwise, Lea is banking on continuity. He largely shunned the transfer portal in favor of a lineup that returns most of last year’s main contributors, including their most productive player on either side of the ball, senior linebacker Anfernee Orji. Best-case scenario, a more mature team is competitive enough in enough games to avoid another goose egg in the standings. Worst-case, well, at least there’s nowhere to go but up.

Projected order of finish

SEC East

1. Georgia. Not even a defense with Georgia’s depth can expect to replace 5 first-round picks (plus its best player, Nakobe Dean) without a substantial drop-off. Still, it says a lot about just how far ahead of the pack last year’s D was that even accounting for a substantial drop-off this year’s group should easily rank among the nation’s best, as usual.

2. Florida. Dan Mullen lost the locker room last fall, but he bequeathed Billy Napier a perfectly cromulent roster for a rebound and a potential cornerstone talent in QB Anthony Richardson. If Richardson is a hit in the full-time job, a dark-horse run at the division is not out of the question.

3. Tennessee. Vol fans are much too well acquainted with the various stages of the rebuilding cycle at this point to hail Josh Heupel’s 7-6 debut in 2021 as a turning point. (Or they should be, anyway.) But it was a step forward, especially on offense, and with sixth-year QB Hendon Hooker back in the fold this may be their best chance to climb a rung or two in the divisional food chain since Georgia opened up the gap under Kirby Smart in the first place.

4. Kentucky. Wildcats cracked the preseason AP poll (at No. 20) for the first time since 1978, a major sign of respect for a program that’s posted a 33-17 record over the past 4 years. Beyond headliners Will Levis and Chris Rodriguez Jr., though, most of the core of last year’s success is gone. Holding steady amid rising expectations is another test of how far Mark Stoops’ program has come.

5. South Carolina. Arguably no team improved more over the course of 2021 than the Gamecocks, and no coach looked like he was having more fun at the end of it than Shane Beamer. The good vibes carried over into the offseason with the arrival of highly touted QB Spencer Rattler from Oklahoma. But the SEC is not a vibes-based economy, and with actual expectations looming in Year 2 credit is going to be quite a bit tighter. The product on the field will be better; whether the win column reflects it is TBD.

6. Missouri. Eli Drinkwitz is 11-12 over his first 2 seasons as head coach — right on track to match his predecessor, Barry Odom, who was fired with a 25-25 record over 4 seasons. It’s been a while since Mizzou fans had anything in particular to feel excited about and this team isn’t the exception.

7. Vanderbilt. Poor Vandy. The Dores’ most realistic chance to snap their SEC losing streak is probably an Oct. 22 trip to Missouri, and that’s stretching the definition of “realistic.”

SEC West

1. Alabama. Nick Saban already stands alone with 7 national championships in 3 different decades. If he claims No. 8, will that be enough? Or is that just more incentive to aim for an even 10?

2. Texas A&M. Jimbo getting fired up (or pretending to) over the implication that A&M “bought” its top-ranked recruiting class was the offseason’s most absurd narrative, mainly because come on, of course A&M bought its top-ranked recruiting class. It’s legal now! Quibbling over the details of exactly who cut the checks under whose direction is really beside the point. Haven’t the Aggies made it abundantly clear that spending their way into relevance is what they’re all about?

3. LSU. Brian Kelly can coach. Can he recruit? He might have more access to 5-star talent in Baton Rouge than he ever did at Notre Dame, but the competition is exponentially fiercer, too.

4. Ole Miss. Who knows what’s going to happen here. Half of last year’s starting lineup is gone, replaced almost exclusively by transfers in an unprecedented experiment in on-the-fly roster management. The one area where there’s some semblance of continuity: Offensive line, where holdovers Nick Broeker, Jeremy James and Caleb Warren have started every game the past 2 years.

5. Auburn. All things considered, the Tigers’ on-field collapse last November probably wasn’t as grim an omen for Bryan Harsin’s future as their 0-5 finish suggested. (All of the losses were competitive and they were literally 1 yard away from slamming the door on a season-defining upset in the Iron Bowl.) The real alarms didn’t start going off until after the new year, when coordinators Derek Mason and Austin Davis bailed out in short order – Mason for the same title and significantly less money at Oklahoma State, and Davis for no apparent reason after just 6 weeks on the job. (He’s yet to resurface elsewhere.) Harsin survived the subsequent investigation into whether he might have said or done anything to justify Auburn cutting him loose without being on the hook for his full buyout, but just barely, and with a clear message that the margin for error in Year 2 is nonexistent. The quarterback situation alone might seal his fate.

6. Arkansas. Echoes of the Chad Morris years are still a bit of a drag on the Hogs’ numbers in the spreadsheets I use to generate these picks, when in fact they’ve emerged from the dark ages more quickly under Sam Pittman than anyone could have imagined. Along with Tennessee, this might be the SEC’s most shootout-friendly team, and as long as the ball is in QB KJ Jefferson’s hands they’ve got a chance to win their fair share.

7. Mississippi State. Sorry, State fans, but somebody has to land in this spot and the spreadsheets are pointing at you despite respectable ratings across the board. This is where “respectable” in the SEC West gets you. The reality is that every team in the division is a top 40 outfit nationally and the pecking order behind Bama is wide open.

The players

MVP: Alabama QB Bryce Young

Under the circumstances, there was almost nothing Young could have done in his first year as a starter to exceed the hype, up to and including winning the Heisman. He merely was who he was supposed to be: Dynamic, efficient and poised beyond his years, executing from Day 1 like a seasoned point guard in firm command of his surroundings. He finished among the national leaders in passer rating and QBR, set school records for yards and touchdowns, and accounted for a higher share of Alabama’s total offense (66.5%) than Mac Jones, Tua Tagovailoa or Jalen Hurts in any of the previous 6 seasons. Prior to the national championship loss to Georgia, he threw for multiple TDs in every game and multiple interceptions in none.

The only box he didn’t check is the big one. Five different quarterbacks have led the Tide to a national championship in the Saban era – 6 if you count Tagovailoa’s dramatic turn off the bench in the 2017 title game – none of whom seemed as obviously destined to add their name to the list when they arrived on campus as Young. His bid for a second Heisman will be one of the season’s major subplots. But his bid for Rushmore status before he moves on will come down to closing the deal in January.

Offensive player of the year: LSU WR Kayshon Boutte

Boutte came on late in his freshman season and had what was shaping up as a prolific sophomore campaign cut short by a broken ankle. In between, he was unstoppable: In his past 9 games – the last 3 of 2020 and the first 6 of ’21 – Boutte accounted for 1,036 yards and 13 touchdowns, an All-American pace that exceeded the 5-star recruiting hype and put him on the fast track to becoming a first-rounder. No other college wideout is smoother in the open field or has a more finely attuned nose for the end zone.

Boutte’s rehab hasn’t been quite as smooth as his routes (he required a second surgery that kept him out of spring practice), and from the sound of it, neither was his first impression on new coach Brian Kelly, who at one point described his best player as “distracted.” Even in the same breath, though, Kelly conceded that he knows full well what he has with Boutte at full speed, adding, “I’m not that hard-headed.” If he picks up where he left off with a new quarterback, Boutte is overdue for a blockbuster year before he moves on.

Defensive player of the year: Alabama Edge Will Anderson Jr.

Anderson was the best player in college football in 2021, full stop, and may already rank as the best defender of the Saban era. As a true freshman in 2020, he started every game and led the nation with 60 QB pressures, per Pro Football Focus. As a sophomore, he was the most unblockable player in America, by far, generating a staggering 82 pressures and setting the FBS record for tackles for loss (34.5) since the NCAA began tracking the statistic in 2000. On a down-to-down basis, he posted the top PFF grade against the run on a unit that ranked No. 4 nationally in rushing defense. He was a unanimous All-American, won the Bednarik Award as the nation’s best defensive player, and finished 5th in a Heisman vote that by all rights he should have won.

In his last go-round on campus, the Heisman buzz seems beside the point. Anderson does have the advantage of being a known quantity with no shortage of preseason hype or goodwill in light of last year’s snub. He also faces distinct disadvantages: He still plays on the wrong side of the ball, he’s still forced to share the spotlight at Bama with a much more conventional candidate in Young, and measuring up to his own lofty benchmarks on paper will be close to impossible. Compared to last year’s iron-man workload, Anderson figures to yield more snaps to heir apparent Dallas Turner and a stacked group of underclassmen even if he remains healthy. The Vegas odds confirm him as a long shot, if they bother to list him at all.

Anyway, if Anderson has to wait until next April for the NFL to confirm his value, I’m sure he’s fine with that. Alabama hasn’t had a player drafted No. 1 overall since Joe Namath in 1965, and that was in the AFL, a separate league at the time. (Namath went 12th in that year’s NFL Draft to the St. Louis Cardinals, who he spurned for a bigger contract with the AFL’s Jets.) Anderson breaking that streak after another dominant year on campus would be a fitting cap to what’s already shaping up as a Hall-of-Fame college career.

Most exciting player: Texas A&M RB/KR Devon Achane

Achane, an All-American sprinter in multiple events, is a legitimate candidate for the title of Fastest Man in Football at any level, under any conditions. Unlike a lot of track guys, he sacrifices none of that speed when the pads go on.

For some context, Next Gen Stats recorded only 3 NFL players who topped 22 mph last year with the ball in their hands, and none who hit 22.2. (The top speed in the Next Gen database, for the record, is an absurd 23.24 mph by Tyreek Hill in 2016.) At any rate, opposing defenses certainly don’t need to consult the analytics to fear that extra gear. In his first 2 years on campus, Achane scored 16 touchdowns on just 211 touches, 9 of them coming on plays that covered 20+ yards. Workhorse snaps may not be on the table for a guy listed at 5-9/185, but with Isaiah Spiller and his 15-20 touches per game off to the next level, Achane will have plenty of opportunities to add his name to the rich tradition of all-purpose A&M speedsters.

Most versatile player: Alabama RB/KR Jahmyr Gibbs

As a recruit, Gibbs was the highest-rated prospect to sign with Georgia Tech out of high school since Calvin Johnson, and his production there reflected it: His 1,805 all-purpose yards in 2021 more than tripled the output of any other player on the team. He was the Jackets’ leading rusher, second-leading receiver, and an All-ACC-caliber return man – none of it good enough to prevent them from going 2-9 vs. FBS opponents or getting outscored 100-0 in their last 2 games.

So, sure, Tech’s loss is Bama’s gain, the rich get richer, etc. But who can blame the man for leaping at an opportunity where his talents will not be wasted? If anything, Gibbs’ Kamara-esque skill set is an upgrade over the workmanlike Brian Robinson Jr., who was productive enough last year in the full-time role but limited as a receiver and generally seemed like a square peg in Alabama’s spread passing attack. All of the Tide’s portal additions on offense are breakout candidates – see also: WR Jermaine Burton (Georgia), WR Tyler Harrell (Louisville), and OL Tyler Steen (Vanderbilt) – but of the new faces, Gibbs is the only one who stands to add an entirely new element to the offense.

Fat guy of the year: Georgia DT Jalen Carter

Half of Georgia’s starting defense was drafted in the first round, a record-breaking exodus that featured 3 defensive linemen, including the No. 1 overall pick. Am I seriously about to suggest to you, the sober and sophisticated reader, that the lone returning member of that front was somehow the most physically dominant specimen of them all? Uh, yeah.

Although he technically came off the bench in all but 2 games, Carter led UGA’s interior d-line rotation in total snaps and almost everything else, including tackles for loss (8.5) and QB pressures (34). Beyond his own huddle, he posted the top PFF pass-rushing grade among Power 5 DTs, recording sacks against double teams, triple teams, and on moves that showed off his shocking athleticism for a 300-pounder. Outside of tossing around o-linemen at will, he served as a punishing lead blocker on the goal line, caught a touchdown pass out of the backfield, and blocked two kicks, one of them coming at a clutch moment in the national title game. A one-man gang can’t have the same effect as last year’s fully staffed wrecking crew all by himself, but when the man in question has Carter’s appetite and capacity for destruction, the drop-off doesn’t have to be nearly as steep as the departures suggest.

Breakout player of the year (offense): Ole Miss RB Zach Evans

None of the incoming transfer horde at Ole Miss arrived with more sizzle than Evans, a former 5-star who struggled to stay on the field at TCU but looked the part and then some when he did. In 2 years as a Frog, he averaged 7.7 yards a pop with 10 touchdowns on just 164 touches, and was on pace for a monster year in 2021 before a midseason ankle injury shut him down.

As a Rebel, he should fit right in as a slightly bigger version of the departed Jerrion Ealy, with breakaway juice to spare and arguably better vision. Unlike Ealy, who somehow went undrafted, Evans also tends to come in near the top of any list of draft-eligible RBs in 2023. (Although, as always, apply generous doses of salt to preseason draft buzz.) The only caveat is staying healthy enough to actually follow through.

Breakout player of the year (defense): Georgia LB Jamon Dumas-Johnson

By Georgia standards, Dumas-Johnson, a 4-star ranked 195th overall in the 2021 class by 247Sports’ Composite rating, was a relatively under-the-radar recruit. (Two other ILB signees in the ’21 class, 5-stars Xavien Sorey and Smael Mondon, were rated significantly higher.) As a freshman, though, “Pop” was often the first underclassman off the bench behind the starters and confirmed his status as heir apparent, finishing with 21 tackles, 3 TFLs, a pick-6 and a solid 81.0 PFF grade in 103 snaps. As a sophomore, he’s the front-runner to take over the “Money” position manned last year by Quay Walker, the 22nd overall pick in April, and to pick up more or less where his now-wealthy predecessor left off.

Most valuable transfer: South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler

South Carolina has not been completely bereft behind center over the years, but with all due respect to local legends Connor Shaw, Stephen Garcia and Steve Tanneyhill, there haven’t been any real difference-makers, either. The Gamecocks have never had an All-SEC quarterback – first or second team – and haven’t had a QB drafted in any round since 1990. (If you can name him without clicking the link, you’re a true ‘Cock for life.) There haven’t been any 5-star recruits along the way, and certainly no one who was ever considered a front-runner for the Heisman. So just by agreeing to wear the garnet and black in the first place, Rattler already occupies a unique place in Carolina history.

Of course, the hype is all relative. At Oklahoma, Rattler’s stock sank like a rock over the first half of 2021, culminating in a permanent midseason benching in favor of supernova freshman Caleb Williams. For a guy with Rattler’s, there’s no way to spin that as anything but a massive disappointment. Regression notwithstanding, though, expectations were high for a reason. As a redshirt freshman in 2020, Rattler easily led the Big 12 in yards per attempt (9.6), touchdowns (28), overall passer rating (172.6) and Total QBR (81.2), at the head of an attack that averaged 43.0 points per game. He won all five starts last year before getting the hook against Texas, and likely never would have been in danger of losing his job to a lesser talent than Williams. He’s not nearly as sure a thing as he seemed to be at this time last year. But as reclamation projects go, Rattler is a coup.

Comeback player of the year: Alabama CB Eli Ricks

It’s not really the case that the emergence of a free-for-all transfer market benefits the Alabamas of the world more than it does the sport’s Have Nots – most of the players in the portal are moving down the food chain, not up. But it is true that the Tide have taken full advantage of the opportunity to address specific holes in the lineup, and Ricks is a prime example. Bama lost both of last year’s starting cornerbacks, Josh Jobe and Jalyn Armour-Davis, and wasn’t satisfied with the backups after injuries sidelined the starters in the postseason. (Would Jobe or Armour-Davis have given up the go-ahead touchdown pass in the national title game loss to Georgia?) Enter Ricks.

A former 5-star who was heavily recruited by Alabama (along with everyone else), Ricks made a big splash as a true freshman at LSU in 2020, allowing just 13 receptions in coverage and returning two of his four INTs for touchdowns. He was off to a quieter start in 2021 before opting for season-ending surgery on his shoulder – one of the many midseason business decisions in Baton Rouge last October – but still crosses the rivalry line with impressive length, ball skills, and expectations intact. Opposite rising sophomore Kool-Aid McKinstry, the new corners come in well down the list of the Tide’s immediate concerns.

Best name: Kentucky RB Kavosiey Smoke

Honorable Mention: Ole Miss RB Ulysses Bentley IV … Mississippi State PK Massimo Biscardi … Kentucky FB Justice Dingle II … South Carolina DL Tonka Hemingway … Georgia WR De’Nylon Morrissette… Arkansas LB Bumper Pool … Tennessee OL Javontez Spraggins … Vanderbilt DL Linus Zunk.

Best position group: Alabama’s DBs

Bama lost both of last year’s starting corners, but with Ricks’ transfer from LSU and sophomore Kool-Aid McKinstry due for a leap on the other side the arrow is pointing up. The holdovers at safety (Jordan Battle and DeMarcco Hellams) and nickel (Brian Branch and Malachi Moore) are all former blue-chips slash future pros with a combined 76 starts between them. Assuming the Tide aren’t planning to spend much time in Dime personnel, the biggest challenge for this group will be divvying up the snaps.

Biggest X-factor: Texas A&M’s QB

So much of the Aggies’ fate boils down to a single question: Is QB an asset or a liability? Each of the contenders is viable in his own way: Conner Weigman is the hyped talent; Max Johnson has an actual track record (albeit mixed) as a full-time SEC starter; Haynes King, who won the job last year before a season-ending injury in Week 2, is the closest thing to an incumbent. At last check, Jimbo Fisher was waving off reports that King was the early front-runner, insisting all three are getting equal reps with the first team. Whichever way the decision breaks, if it’s a hit the Aggies are contenders. If not, this could go down as another lost year in the effort to close the gap.

Preseason All-SEC team

Here’s my personal all-conference lineup for the coming season, based strictly on my own projections for the season. (That is, it doesn’t reflect the projections or opinions of anyone else at Saturday Down South.) If an obviously deserving player from your favorite team didn’t make the cut, it can only be because I harbor a deep, irrational bias against him personally, and certainly not because some of these decisions were tough calls between more credible candidates than I could accommodate.

OFFENSE
Quarterback: Bryce Young • Alabama
Running back: Tank Bigsby • Auburn
Running back: Jahmyr Gibbs • Alabama
Wide receiver: Kayshon Boutte • LSU
Wide receiver: Jermaine Burton • Alabama
Wide receiver: Cedric Tillman • Tennessee
Tight end: Brock Bowers • Georgia
Line (T): Warren McClendon • Georgia
Line (T): Broderick Jones • Georgia
Line (G): Emil Ekiyor Jr. • Alabama
Line (G): O’Cyrus Torrence • Florida
Line (C): Ricky Stromberg • Arkansas
– – –
Honorable Mention … QB: Spencer Rattler (South Carolina) … KJ Jefferson (Arkansas) … Will Levis (Kentucky) … Hendon Hooker (Tennessee) … Stetson Bennett IV (Georgia) … RB: Chris Rodriguez Jr. (Kentucky) … Devon Achane (Texas A&M) … Kenny McIntosh (Georgia) … Zach Evans (Ole Miss) … WR: Jonathan Mingo (Ole Miss) … Ainias Smith (Texas A&M) … Josh Vann (South Carolina) … Justin Shorter (Florida) … TE: Darnell Washington (Georgia) … Arik Gilbert (Georgia) … Jaheim Bell (South Carolina) … Austin Stogner (South Carolina) … Cameron Latu (Alabama) … OL: Layden Robinson (Texas A&M) … JC Latham (Alabama) … Jeremy James (Ole Miss) … Nick Broeker (Ole Miss) … Sedrick Van Pran (Georgia) … Javion Cohen (Alabama) … Bryce Foster (Texas A&M) … Reuben Fatheree II (Texas A&M).

DEFENSE
Edge: Will Anderson Jr. • Alabama
Line (DT): Jalen Carter • Georgia
Line (DT): Colby Wooden • Auburn
Edge: Nolan Smith • Georgia
Linebacker: Henry To’o To’o • Alabama
Linebacker: Bumper Pool • Arkansas
Cornerback: Eli Ricks • Alabama
Cornerback: Kelee Ringo • Georgia
Nickel: Antonio Johnson • Texas A&M
Safety: Jordan Battle • Alabama
Safety: Jalen Catalon • Arkansas
– – –
Honorable Mention … DL: Gervon Dexter (Florida) … Byron Young (Alabama) … Jaquelin Roy (LSU) … Zacch Pickens (South Carolina) … Maason Smith (LSU) Edge: Brenton Cox Jr. (Florida) … BJ Ojulari (LSU) … Derick Hall II (Auburn) … Byron Young (Tennessee) … Ali Gaye (LSU) … Dallas Turner (Alabama) … Isaiah McGuire (Missouri) … LB: Owen Pappoe (Auburn) … Ventrell Miller (Florida) … Troy Brown (Ole Miss) … DB: Emmanuel Forbes (Mississippi State) … Cam Smith (South Carolina) … Brian Branch (Alabama) … Jason Marshall Jr. (Florida) … Demani Richarson (Texas A&M) … DeMarcco Hellams (Alabama) … Christopher Smith (Georgia) … Jarrick Bernard-Converse (LSU) … Jaylon Jones (Texas A&M) … Kool-Aid McKinstry (Alabama) … Kris Abrams-Draine (Missouri).

SPECIALISTS
Kicker: Harrison Mevis • Missouri
Punter: Nik Constantinou • Texas A&M
Returner/All-Purpose: Devon Achane • Texas A&M
– – –
Honorable Mention … K: Will Recihard (Alabama) … Cam Little (Arkansas) … P: Oscar Chapman (Auburn) … Paxton Brooks (Tennessee) … KR/AP: Jahmyr Gibbs (Alabama) … Kris Abrams-Draine (Missouri) … Lideatrick Griffin (Mississippi State) … Ainias Smith (Texas A&M) … Kearis Jackson (Georgia) … Juju McDowell (South Carolina).