SEC Spring Games: Quarterback battle season like no other

It’s Spring Game season in the SEC, and for the first time in some years, there is QB starter-battle warfare all over the shop.

There are four certainties: Jaylen Daniels (LSU), Will Rogers (Mississippi State) and KJ Jefferson (Arkansas) and Spencer Rattler (South Carolina). The rest is absolute bedlam, with the loser potentially walking out the door.

Florida had its Spring Game on Thursday, in which Graham Mertz didn’t shine. At all. So dim was it that Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South said: “If there’s 1 takeaway from the Florida spring game, it’s this: Napier needs another quarterback from the spring transfer portal (which opens Saturday for 15 days) to bridge the gap between another transition year and the arrival of 2024 5-star QB DJ Lagway“.

Because if Florida has an awful year and the Gators DON’T get a QB in the portal, Napier could be out on his ear before Lagway gets there.

But there are plenty of others.

ALABAMA

Jalen Millroe v Ty Simpson

Millroe’s been taking practices with the first team squad, and Simpson, a five-star QB who was in the Top 3 coming out of high school, is playing ‘ball with the second team. Millroe will give the team wheels, but we’re not sure about the arm, from the little that we saw of him last season. Nick Saban has told us nothing, apart from how pleased he is with both players’ progress.

AUBURN

Robbie Ashford vs TJ Finley vs Holden Geriner

TJ Finley was awful last season, and Ashford showed glimpses with his wheels, if not necessarily with his arm.

And for this year’s Spring Game, the weather was, to use British terms, shite. Here are some figures provided by SDS: 0 pass completions in first quarter, 1 pass for positive yards in first half, tons of dropped passes, 5 combined complete passes by 3 QBs.

Ashford’s the favourite, but there’s also four-starrer Holden Geriner waiting too. We honestly expect Finley to transfer soon.

FLORIDA

Graham Mertz v Jack Miller v Transfer Portal

We’ve talked a bunch about this already. Florida needs someone else. Both Mertz and Miller have something missing. And its accuracy and not being any good.

GEORGIA

Carson Beck v Brock Vandergriff v Gunner Stockton

If you were going by names only, this is less about football, and more about the threesome you saw going down the first at Bushwood Country Club.

Anyway, Beck’s got the most experience, and he’s got a cannon, too. Kirby’s got the ‘safe hands’ going with him. Then there’s Vandagriff, who’s spent what seems like decades (it’s only been 2 years) sitting behind JT Daniels and Stetson Bennett, twiddling his thumbs and doing nothing. And then there’s Stockton, a four-star who came in as part of the 2022 class.

Questions from UGA fans – who are never satisfied – will be about how the new QBs fit in with Mike Bobo’s offense. We don’t know.

KENTUCKY

Devin Leary v Kaiya Sheron 

Will Levis is gone, and he won’t be missed. It’s the Devin Leary era now, and he’s probably going to be named the No.1 QB in Lexington sooner rather than later. Unless Leary’s arrested for doing blow off the backside off John Calpairi’s wife’s behind with the team’s No.1 basketball recruit, it’s his job to lose.

The battle will really be for back-up, which Sheron’s favourite to win.

MISSOURI

Brady Cook v Sam Horn v Jake Garcia

Cook is one of the most hated quarterbacks in the history of Missouri football. Everyone hated Eli Drinkwitz for not giving Horn more of a chance, when it was obvious to anyone – including the blind dude outside the local CVS – that Cook was not up to the job. But Cook’s got health questions. So has Horn, who’s got a bad elbow. Now it’s up to Miami transfer Jake Garcia, who comes off a year where he only competed 58% of his passes.

Mizzou fans will be praying that it’s anyone other than Cook who gets the job.

OLE MISS

Spencer Sanders v Jaxson Dart v Walker Howard

One of college football’s most interesting QB battles features a redshirt dual-threat senior from Oklahoma State, who was inconsistent to say the least, to the guy who started last year and was pretty good, versus a freshman five-star in Walker Howard, who many believe will start in 2024, after Sanders has left. LSU fans were fuming after Howard walked out the door. Howard turned heads in the Spring Game with a gorgeous pass. Unfortunately for Dart and Howard, they’ve already transferred once, so doubling-up on transfers and playing in 2023 won’t be as easy as last year.

TENNESSEE 

Joe Milton v Nico Iamaleava 

Milton has a cannon for an arm. It’s undeniable. But Joe Milton’s cannon can end up with the ball hitting either the third deck, or overthrowing a WR by miles, or a secondary player sitting deep, waiting for such a screw-up. It’s happened in Milton’s history a lot – a reason why he left Michigan two years ago. Iamaleava is seen by many as being The Second Coming Of Peyton Manning (mind you, we heard that about Kasey Klausen too, right?), and he pleased many during the Spring Game. What Iamaleava doesn’t have is SEC experience, and Milton still the experience to be the leader in the clubhouse.

TEXAS A&M

Connor Weigman v Marcel Reed

Jimbo’s calling it an ‘open competition’, so why shouldn’t we? Weigman took the place for an inept Haynes King last season, and he was pretty good, even if almost everything that was Texas A&M football in 2023 was a turgid mess. Freshman Reed provides Fisher with a speedy, four-star dual threat option with a great arm who’s going to cause SEC defenses problems. The problem for Fisher is interesting: If Weigman stays around, does Reed go where there’s more of a chance of playing time for longer? Weigman, after all, is a sophomore, and if Reed stays around, it could be a waste of his talent.

VANDERBILT

AJ Swann v Ken Seals

People are still really excited about four-star QB AJ Swann, who had 1,274 yards, 10 TDs and 2 INTs last year – although is completion percentage wasn’t great. Ken Seals was injured in 2022 and lost his job, about he’s still there or thereabouts. And Clark Lea hasn’t named his No.1 starter. There is a lot of belief that Vanderbilt is going places (which for most people would be 6-6, not being the bottom team in the SEC, and not be the laughing stock of the conference).