Post-spring SEC football power rankings: Alabama reclaims top spot from Georgia

Updated SEC power rankings after the completion of spring football. Can the SEC make it four straight national championships this winter?

With spring practice firmly in the rearview mirror, SEC football fans are eagerly anticipating where they stand in the over conference pantheon heading into Labor Day Weekend.

Though it is all speculation at this point, SEC fans will get a better understanding on where their beloved teams rank after SEC Media Days in Atlanta in July. With Alabama and Georgia arguably the two best programs in the Power Five, one would expect they will likely be playoff-viable again this season. As for the other 12 schools, have any of them attempted to close the gap just yet?

Here are the SEC football power rankings through spring practice and heading into the summer.

Alabama reclaims top spot in post-spring SEC power rankings

With Bryce Young and Will Anderson returning, anything short of a national championship game victory will be seen as a massive disappointment for Nick Saban and the rest of the Alabama Crimson Tide program.

Georgia may pull back a bit after winning its first national title in 41 seasons, but the Dawgs should be, at worst, a top-six team in the country. They are going to a New Year’s Six bowl, but anything short of a return trip to the College Football Playoff will be met with disappointment for Dawg Nation.

If any team in the SEC has a shot at making it into the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history this year, it is Texas A&M. The Aggies just assembled its greatest recruiting class ever. This team needs to win at least 10 games and make it to a New Year’s Six bowl. Figure it out.

Kentucky edges out Tennessee for the second best team in the SEC East for two reasons. One, Mark Stoops continues to do the lord’s work turning what was once a basketball school into a serious college football threat. And two, Will Levis is arguably the best quarterback in the conference not named Bryce Young. He has a terrific shot to be a first-round pick next spring.

What Sam Pittman is doing in Fayetteville is simply remarkable. The Hogs are not good enough to get to Atlanta just yet, but they can win about nine games this season. They will either be one of the last teams getting into a New Year’s Six bowl or one of the first teams who narrowly miss out.

Josh Heupel has the Tennessee Volunteers in their best spot since before it went to hell in a hand basket under Phillip Fulmer. Hendon Hooker is a beast at quarterback. The question is if the Vols have the defensive firepower to slow down the opposition and keep pace with rival squads like Georgia and Kentucky.

With Will Rogers entering another season in Mike Leach’s Air Raid system, Mississippi State will be among the most dangerous teams in the SEC this year. The only problem is Mississippi State is the type of team that could stun Texas A&M in College Station one week and then the get blown out at home by Auburn the next. This is what you sign up for with Leach calling all the shots.

This feels a bit too low for LSU, but it will take about a year or so for things to pop in Baton Rouge under Brian Kelly. He needs time to recruit members to his growing family. Remember, he is just getting started.

No doubt, Ole Miss will pull back a bit this year. Why would the Rebels not? Although they are not winning 10 games a year and getting to a New Year’s Six bowl, Ole Miss will still go bowling as Lane Kiffin and newcomer quarterback Jaxson Dart look to pick up where Matt Corral left off to the best of their abilities.

South Carolina is a team of great intrigue. After getting dunked in a sweet delicious mayo bath, Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer must build off a great first year in Columbia. He was able to land his former Oklahoma player Spencer Rattler in the transfer portal. Because the Gamecocks are a team of big variance, they can be as good as the second best team in the East … or the fifth.

Billy Napier will eventually get this thing right in Gainesville, but he needs about a year, probably two, to overcome Dan Mullen not doing his job on the recruiting side of things. Anthony Richardson will be must-see TV from the quarterback position, but the Gators will be lucky if they get to eight wins this season, including a bowl game victory.

You have to feel for Bryan Harsin. He has been put in a very difficult spot by the university’s administration. Some of these problems may be of his own doing, but he is without question the most likely SEC head coach to get fired this offseason. If he puts together another sub-.500 season down on The Plains, he gone.

Missouri is the definition of if you are not getting better, you are getting worse. Though the Tigers recruited very well last cycle, who is their starting quarterback and will the deploy anything better than the quintessential Texas Tech Big 12 pillow fight defense next fall? It’s not looking great.

Let’s be real. How many more years can Vanderbilt stay in the SEC? While college football fans wish nothing but the very best to Clark Lea and his staff, the Commodores are truly anchoring down the SEC. They have become a rusty boat anchor of an outlier on the college football gridiron.

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