Every SEC Team's Greatest Quarterback of All Time

Justin Carter picks the greatest quarterback in school history for the 16 SEC schools. Who is the best QB of all time at schools like Alabama, LSU, and Texas?

The SEC has a long, storied history, and many great quarterbacks are part of that history. But who are the best quarterbacks to come through the conference's 16 teams?

This only takes into account college resumes, not professional careers. It also takes into account all the seasons in school history. We could have made this overly complicated by only counting the years that a team was in the SEC, but then you'd get some weird results.

Below is the greatest quarterback in each SEC school's history.

Alabama - Bryce Young

For a program as storied as the Crimson Tide, the fact that Bryce Young is the team's best quarterback feels wrong. Maybe you think the answer should be Joe Namath here, for example. If we were talking about the best quarterback to come from SEC schools, sure, it would be Namath, or maybe Jalen Hurts.

We're not talking about that, though. We're talking about college careers, and in that realm, Bryce Young is the top answer. He's the only Alabama quarterback to ever win the Heisman.

Young is also the single-season program leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns. Recent players like Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones had good careers, but Young tops them all.

Arkansas - Ryan Mallett

The Razorbacks have never had a consensus All-American quarterback, but you could argue Ryan Mallett should have been. In just two seasons at Arkansas, Mallett sits third on the team's all-time list in yards and touchdown passes.

Mallett sits first and third in the team's record book for single-season passing yards, throwing for a school-record 3,869 yards in 2010. His 32 touchdowns that year are also the most in program history.

Ryan Mallett vs. Vanderbilt 2010
409 yards passing and 3 TDs in 3 quarters pic.twitter.com/F9a9X1ookS

— WarMachine2013 (@WarMachine2013) June 30, 2023

KJ Jefferson has Mallett beat for career numbers, but he played parts of five seasons in Fayetteville and only beats Mallett by five touchdowns despite Mallett playing two years.

Auburn - Cam Newton

Sure, Cam Newton played just one season for Auburn, but that one season was one of the greatest seasons in college football history.

Newton won the 2010 Heisman after throwing for 2,854 yards and 30 touchdowns and rushing for 1,473 yards and 20 touchdowns. He led the nation in yards per pass attempt and led the SEC in rushing yards while leading Auburn to an undefeated national championship.

Florida - Tim Tebow

I really, really wanted to give this spot to Danny Wuerffel, who was slinging the ball around back in the mid-1990s, leading the SEC in passing yards twice and the entire Division I in touchdowns in both of those seasons. He led Florida to the 1996 championship.

Danny Wuerffel was named Sugar Bowl MVP in 1997 & Tim Tebow owns the Sugar Bowl single-game passing yards record.

The former Gator QBs were in New Orleans today giving back to the community.

More on what they were up to/their thoughts on tomorrow's Georgia/Notre Dame game: pic.twitter.com/sqIvrOEio0

— Jon Sokoloff (@JonSokoloff) December 31, 2024

Shoot, I'm starting to second-guess this pick. Let's quickly move on to talking about why Tim Tebow is the right pick.

Like Wuerffel, Tim Tebow won a Heisman and led the Gators to a title. Unlike Wuerffel, he was part of a second title season as well in 2006, though he was mainly used as a rushing gadget player while Chris Leak started at quarterback.

Tebow led the SEC in completion percentage in all three of his full-time seasons as the Gators starting quarterback and finished in the top five of the Heisman in each of those years. He also rushed for 57 touchdowns in his career.

Georgia - Aaron Murray

Georgia has never really been a quarterback factory, though the program has had Matthew Stafford and Fran Tarkenton grace its field. However, it's Aaron Murray who goes down as the team's greatest quarterback, beating out Stetson Bennett in a close battle.

Bennett led Georgia to two titles, but those never really felt like they were because of Bennett. Maybe that's not fair, but the Bulldogs just had so much star power in those seasons.

Murray never had that kind of talent around him, but he still is the all-time leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns in program history.

Kentucky - Tim Couch

Tim Couch doesn't get much respect these days because his NFL career was such a failure, but he was great in his time at Kentucky. In his final season, he completed 72.3 percent of his pass attempts for 4,275 yards and 36 touchdowns.

Couch had some turnover concerns, leading the SEC in interceptions twice, but for two years, he was an extremely prolific quarterback who made his mark with the Wildcats.

LSU - Joe Burrow

Oh boy. This was a tough one between Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels, two recent Heisman winners for the Tigers. However, Burrow won out because his 2019 season was one of the greatest ever.

That year, Burrow led the FBS in everything. His 76.3 percent completion percentage, his 5,671 passing yards, and his 60 passing touchdowns were all the best of any quarterback that year.

Burrow's yardage that season is tied for the fourth most ever. His touchdowns are the second most behind Bailey Zappe's 2021 campaign.

Mississippi State - Dak Prescott

Will Rogers might have better numbers, but Dak Prescott is the clear winner in the battle for the title of Mississippi State's GOAT quarterback.

Prescott led the Bulldogs to a bowl game in all three of his seasons as the team's starting quarterback. That includes a 10-win 2014 season, the team's first double-digit win year since 1999 and only the third in program history.

While the Air Raid offense helped Rogers have better numbers than Prescott, Dak is still second in program history in passing yards and passing touchdowns. He also threw fewer interceptions than Rogers.

Missouri - Brad Smith

This is a shockingly close race. Chase Daniel, Drew Lock, and Brady Cook have all thrown for more yards than Brad Smith and Daniel has almost double his touchdown passes, but Smith's ability as a dual-threat quarterback just inches him past the other names.

Did you know Brad Smith is Missouri's all-time rushing leader and top 5 in Big 12 history? Underrated dual-threat QB (2002-2005)@RealBradSmith | @MizzouFootball pic.twitter.com/NDcqZXSaGi

— CFB History (@CFB_History) May 7, 2022

I know this is a controversial take. Ask most people the answer here and you'll hear Daniel's name, but what Smith did was unheard of at the time, as he's the all-time leading rusher in school history, including a 2005 season where he led the Big 12 in rushing yards while also throwing for 2,304 yards.

Oklahoma - Baker Mayfield

How does one pick between a team with four Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks already this century? By defaulting to the stats, which is why Baker Mayfield edges out Sam Bradford, Kyler Murray, and Jason White. That's not even to mention other names like Jalen Hurts or the program's all-time passing yardage leader, Landry Jones.

Mayfield finished in the top four of the Heisman voting in all three of his seasons as the Sooners quarterback and led the FBS in completion percentage twice. He was the best quarterback in college football over that three-year span, which is impressive since Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson were in college at the time.

Ole Miss - Eli Manning

Jaxson Dart might have the statistical case on Eli Manning, throwing for more yards in four fewer games, but it's impossible to pick anyone but Manning here.

Manning led the SEC in passing yards and passing touchdowns as a senior, finishing third in the Heisman voting and winning the Maxwell Award.

South Carolina - Connor Shaw

Steve Taneyhill has a strong argument, but Connor Shaw was able to do things thought unthinkable at the time in Columbia.

Shaw took over as the Gamecocks quarterback in 2011. He led the team to bowl appearances all three of those seasons, winning 11 games in each season as the starting quarterback for the Gamecocks.

Connor Shaw was a problem that didn’t get near the recognition https://t.co/SYFA6r7FiB pic.twitter.com/aMwOuErzwz

— KnightWriter (@DK3000SC) December 14, 2024

South Carolina hasn't won double-digit games in any season since Shaw left. The program also had only one double-digit-win year before Shaw, winning 10 games as an independent school in 1984.

Tennessee - Peyton Manning

Oh, look, another member of the Manning family makes an appearance on this list!

There's not much to say here. Peyton Manning is the only consensus All-American quarterback in Tennessee history. He leads the program in career yards and career touchdowns. Of the top-10 quarterbacks in school history in passing yards, his 62.5 percent completion rate ranks second to Hendon Hooker.

Also, he's Peyton Manning. That's all I should have to say here.

Texas A&M - Johnny Manziel

I went through a phase in my early teens where I was convinced I was going to go to Texas A&M. That phase passed, but Reggie McNeal was the quarterback during that era, so part of me wanted to name him here for nostalgia's sake.

However, there's only one answer, and that's the only A&M quarterback to win the Heisman, Johnny Manziel.

Yes, Manziel's entire college career was controversial. And yes, he only played two seasons in College Station, but winning the Heisman as a true freshman while leading the SEC in completion percentage is enough to earn him this spot.

Following that up with a sophomore season where he led the SEC in completion percentage again and also in touchdown passes was just the icing on the cake.

Texas - Vince Young

This is where vibes matter. Vince Young threw 68 fewer touchdown passes in his time with the Longhorns than Colt McCoy did, but I simply can't name anyone other than Young as the Texas GOAT.

Never forget Vince Young’s legendary performance at the 2006 Rose Bowl against USC
pic.twitter.com/rFzquCTA5U

— Football Reels 📽 (@TheFBReels) March 30, 2024

Young brought the Longhorns their first national championship since 1970. He had the greatest moment in school history when he ran for the game-winning touchdown with 19 seconds to play against USC in the Rose Bowl to clinch the title. He's the only answer here.

Vanderbilt - Kyle Shurmur

No offense to Jay Cutler and his career at Vanderbilt, but Kyle Shurmur did something Cutler never did: he beat Tennessee multiple times.

Shurmur lost to the Vols as a freshman but led the Commodores to wins against their in-state rivals three times in a row after that. For a program with a less-than-stellar history, that's enough for Shurmur to eke out this spot.

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