Quarterbacks: There are a lot of them! Each week throughout the season, we’ll help you keep the game’s most important position in perspective by ranking the SEC starters 1-14 according to highly scientific processes and/or pure gut-level instinct. Previously: Week 1 … Week 2. … Week 3. … Week 4. … Week 5. … Week 6. … Week 7. … Week 8.

1. Hendon Hooker, Tennessee

Hooker showed no signs of a hangover in Week 8, following up his career-making performance against Alabama by bombing UT-Martin for 276 yards and 3 TDs on a short afternoon. Next up: Kentucky, an outfit with a track record of bringing out the worst in opposing quarterbacks. If Hooker can do to the Wildcats what he’s done to every other defense he’s faced so far, the next big existential date against Georgia on Nov. 5 looms as one of the defining games of the season.
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(Last week: 1⬌)

2. Bryce Young, Alabama

Saturday’s 30-6 win over Mississippi State was a throwback: As a team, the Crimson Tide’s 290 yards of total offense against the Bulldogs represented their lowest total since 2017, when they managed just 261 yards in a semifinal win over Clemson — in retrospect, their last win before embracing the high-flying, spread-passing identity that’s prevailed ever since. Don’t take it as a sign of things to come. If the Tide are going to add to the trophy case, Young is still the ticket.
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(Last week: 2⬌)

3. Stetson Bennett IV, Georgia

It’s been a sleepy month for Bennett, who has faded from the Heisman conversation amid a close shave at Missouri, a couple of standard-issue blowouts over Auburn and Vanderbilt, and an open date. No problem there: When good-not-great stat lines in routine conference wins are par for the course, you’re doing just fine. A big game against Florida in a national time slot is a chance to reassert himself in the mix.
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(Last week: 3⬌)

4. KJ Jefferson, Arkansas

Arkansas had Week 8 off following arguably the best game of Jefferson’s career in a 52-35 win at BYU in Week 7. Next up: At Auburn, a game the Razorbacks are tentatively favored to win on the road but which always has the potential to get weird.
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(Last week: 4⬌)

5. Jayden Daniels, LSU

Daniels’ mobility was no secret at Arizona State, but if they’re being honest, I suspect even his new coaches in Baton Rouge have to be a little surprised by just how crucial his legs have been to the offense. Few quarterbacks in America has been more productive as a runner. Through 8 games, Daniels:

  • Leads all FBS quarterbacks in rushing yards (643), excluding negative yardage on sacks; that’s already a single-season school record for a QB, and more than twice the current output of any LSU running back
  • Leads all FBS quarterbacks in missed tackles forced (31), per PFF
  • Is tied for the national lead among QBs in rushing touchdowns (9)
  • Ranks No. 2 nationally at any position in runs of 10+ yards (10)
  • Ranks No. 3 among all SEC rushers in average yards per carry after contact (4.2)
  • Leads SEC starters and ranks 5th nationally among QBs in rushing EPA

Factor in his rapid improvement as a passer, and the Tigers might really be onto something. After a subdued start in conference play, the light has come on the last two weeks against Florida and Ole Miss, with Daniels looking like a guy adapting his strengths to the offense in real time and vice versa. LSU scored on 14 of 18 offensive possessions in those games, with Daniels personally accounting for 11 touchdowns (5 passing, 6 rushing). By the end of Saturday’s 45-20 romp over the Rebels, he was trotting scot-free through the end zone like a baby deer.

A big reason the Florida and Ole Miss wins seemed like revelations is that far more of Daniels’ rushing output came on designed runs, as opposed to his frequent scrambles early in the season. Whether that’s sustainable against Alabama is a different question, especially given that the Tide have an extra week to suss out the wrinkles in the zone-read game. The biggest threat he poses is still his ability to escape the pocket under pressure, which he has been often and almost certainly will be against Bama’s blue-chip pass rush. He’ll have to have one of his best games as a passer to give the Tigers a chance, but to get them over the top he’ll have to supply the balance, too.
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(Last week: 6⬆)

6. Will Levis, Kentucky

The clock is ticking on Levis’ college career, and this weekend’s trip to Tennessee is arguably his last, best chance to make a lasting mark in Lexington before he moves on. For all his prowess on the mock draft circuit — and with all due respect to his 15-4 record as a starter — Levis has yet to deliver the kind of signature big-game performance that resonates with anyone but the scouts.

Of course, one big reason for that is that his team’s M.O. generally prefers it that way. Even Kentucky’s biggest wins over the past 2 years have tended to be defensively-driven slugfests in which the opposing quarterback played like he had food poisoning and Levis did just enough. The average score of the Wildcats’ 4 wins vs. ranked opponents in that span is UK 23, Opponent 16, and that includes a couple of non-offensive touchdowns on the UK side of the ledger. It does not, however, include a win vs. a team with anywhere near the offensive firepower they’ll face Saturday in Knoxville. We’re not feeling bold when we say Kentucky is probably going to have to score more than 23 points to upset the highest-scoring offense in the nation.

Not that it can’t be done. In last year’s meeting against Tennessee, Levis attempted a career-high 49 passes for 372 yards, added another 47 yards rushing, and accounted for 5 total touchdowns in a 45-42 loss, a performance that sent his draft stock soaring; on the other hand, he also threw a crippling pick-6 that forced the Wildcats into catch-up mode for the rest of the night. That still represents the only time they’ve put the game on his on his arm in a high-volume passing outing against a Power 5 opponent because it’s the only time the score left them with no choice. If they stand a chance against an even more explosive version of the Vols on Saturday, it’s time for Levis to give them one they’ll remember.
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(Last week: 8⬆)

7. Will Rogers, Mississippi State

Rogers was thoroughly overmatched against Alabama, throwing 60 times but finishing with career lows for completion percentage (50.0%), yards per attempt (3.9), overall efficiency (82.3) and Total QBR (38.9). He was sacked 4 times and went 0-for-5 on attempts that traveled 20+ yards. The only (sort of) positives: He wasn’t picked off, and the Bulldogs managed to avoid a shutout by scoring an otherwise meaningless touchdown as time expired. They still haven’t cracked double digits against Bama since 2017.
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(Last week: 5⬇)

8. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

Dart got off to a hot start against LSU but predictably struggled as the Tigers began to pull away and Ole Miss’ ground game became a non-factor. After putting together two sustained, 75-yard touchdown drives on their first two possessions, the Rebels didn’t find the end zone again, with Dart finishing 10-for-24 for 128 yards with 3 sacks and an interception over the final three quarters. In a scheme as dependent on RPOs and play-action as Ole Miss’, taking away the run is taking away its young quarterback’s lifeline.
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(Last week: 7⬇)

9. Anthony Richardson, Florida

After a week off, Richardson will return to the scene of his first career start: A 34-7 debacle against Georgia last October that established his reputation as an enormously gifted basketcase. The game was tight until just before halftime, when 3 rapid-fire Richardson turnovers in a row led directly to 3 Georgia touchdowns in a span of a little under 2 minutes – capped by a soul-crushing pick-6 – turning a 3-0 slugfest into a 24-0 romp. Richardson was benched in the second half and barely saw the field the rest of the season as the Dan Mullen regime spiraled toward its demise.

This time around, Richardson is a year older and … well, that’s about all. From one Saturday to the next remains an adventure. Possibly no other SEC quarterback is better equipped in terms of his raw talent to give the Dawgs a game, but then none of them are more likely to suffer a five-alarm meltdown, either. We’ll see which way it goes.
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(Last week: 9⬌)

10. Spencer Rattler, South Carolina

Rattler has overseen back-to-back conference wins against Kentucky and Texas A&M without budging from this spot, which is quite an accomplishment. Most of the credit for the streak goes to the defense, special teams, and emerging RB MarShawn Lloyd – Rattler’s main contribution consists of a screen pass that turned into 42-yard touchdown against the Wildcats and not screwing things up too badly otherwise. Under the circumstances, not screwing things up is a valuable skill. Continue to not screw up the next couple of weeks against Missouri and Vandy, and the Gamecocks are likely to be sitting at 7-2 with their blue-chip transfer QB coming in last on the list of reasons.
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(Last week: 10⬌)

11. Brady Cook, Missouri

Cook rises a couple of spots this week, although not because of any reassessment of his game. (Cook’s performance Saturday in a 17-14 win over Vanderbilt yielded his worst QBR score of the season.) It’s just a little overdue accounting: Each week the rankings consult a detailed spreadsheet to set the initial order, and the results lately can no longer justify slotting Cook and Vandy’s AJ Swann at the bottom of the heap below Texas A&M’s Haynes King and Auburn’s Robby Ashford. We’re not slaves to the sheet, but when a trend persists eventually we must heed its wisdom. Of the bottom four, only Swann projects as a potential long-term starter beyond this season, anyway, so the order from this point on amounts to quibbling over the arrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic.
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(Last week: 13⬆)

12. AJ Swann, Vanderbilt

Again, Swann is up based on a recalibration of his season to date, not anything he did in Vandy’s loss at Mizzou, his worst outing by almost every measure. (He served up his first career interception, among other lowlights.) He left the game midway through the third quarter with an undisclosed injury, which coach Clark Lea declined to elaborate upon after the game and likely won’t this week heading into an open date. Former starter Mike Wright got the call off the bench, and got credit on the Commodores’ only offensive touchdown when WR Gamarion Carter broke a short throw for an 80-yard score; with no official word on Swann’s status and depth chart to update this week, we’re sticking the freshman as QB1 until further notice.
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(Last week: 14⬆)

13. Haynes King, Texas A&M

The uncertainty at A&M is more urgent. King, still nursing a sore ankle he suffered in the Aggies’ last-second loss at Alabama, was knocked out late in Saturday’s flop at South Carolina with an apparent shoulder injury, leaving true freshman Conner Weigman to finish the game in his first career appearance. Weigman didn’t do anything notable, going 8-for-15 for 91 yards and dodging a couple of bullets on would-be INTs the Gamecocks couldn’t come down with. But his presence alone changed the dynamic for the rest of the season, just by making a potential redshirt that much less likely.

Jimbo Fisher said after the game that King’s throwing shoulder had to be popped back into place, and suggested on Monday that he’ll likely be available for this weekend’s visit from Ole Miss. With the season already on life support, though, what’s left to lose by handing the reins to Weigman for the stretch run? You’ve lost 3 straight, the offense is in the tank, and looking ahead to 2023 the only case for optimism is the emergence of the blockbuster 2022 recruiting class as the core of the lineup. Might as well get a head start.
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(Last week: 11⬇)

14. Robby Ashford, Auburn

Ashford’s problems begin and end with his accuracy, which has been abysmal: At 47.9%, he’s the only FBS quarterback with 100+ attempts this season who has completed fewer passes than he’s missed. But Auburn’s receivers haven’t done him any favors on that front, either. PFF cites the Tigers for 11 drops on Ashford’s watch, which works out an SEC-worst 14.1% drop rate on on-target attempts. Given that drops were also a red flag in 2021, maybe improving the options at wideout should be as high a priority for whoever is in charge this winter as addressing the situation behind center.
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(Last week: 12⬇)