SEC QB rankings: Kamario Taylor is taking the conference by storm

It's been a big couple of weeks for quarterbacks in the SEC. Arch Manning outdueled Julian Sayin to lead Texas to a comeback win over Ohio State in Week 2 and bump his name right toward the top of Heisman candidates. Trinidad Chambliss has almost singlehandedly propelled Ole Miss to a 3-0 start including victories over both Louisville and LSU. Keelon Russell just got done torching Florida State with both his arm and his legs.

And yet, none of the above are the name on everyone's lips right now. That would be Kamario Taylor of Mississippi State, who's been doing his best Lamar Jackson impression through three weeks and showing everyone why the Bulldogs might secretly be a dark-horse team in the SEC. 

All of which begs the question: With so much star power, which quarterback would you take if you had to win one game for your life? Just how high should a player like Taylor climb in the conference hierarchy? Below, we've ranked every SEC starter from 1 to 16.

Elite tier

1. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss Rebels

I was torn between Chambliss and Taylor as Nos. 1 and 2 in the conference, but ultimately decided on the former. The Rebels are undefeated this season with ranked wins over Louisville and now LSU. Chambliss has more than 300 passing yards in two of the three games this year, and both are against currently ranked opponents. We’ll have to see what the rest of this season will do with his draft stock, but it’s clear he’s the best in the conference — if not the country.

2. Kamario Taylor, Mississippi State Bulldogs

Everybody has been talking about Taylor and what he’s done with Mississippi State this season. He’s been the epitome of a dual threat, with 832 passing yards and 178 rushing yards. He’s averaging 6.6 yards per carry and has 11 passing touchdowns with one rushing touchdown. We’ll have to see how he looks against elite defenses, but for now, he’s carrying Mississippi State into the top 25 and toward SEC relevance.

Really good tier

3. Gunner Stockton, Georgia Bulldogs

Gunner Stockton is in his second full season as the starting quarterback in Athens, and he’s doing exactly what he needs to. Granted, the Bulldogs haven’t had a front-loaded schedule;; in fact, their slate has been so easy to start the season that they were running drills in between TV timeouts during the Arkansas game this past weekend. Stockton hasn’t been lighting up the box score yet this season, but he does have five passing touchdowns with no interceptions and nearly 600 passing yards. As long as he keeps playing well, expect things to be smooth sailing for Kirby Smart and Co.

4. Arch Manning, Texas Longhorns

Manning is off to a better start than he had in 2025. Texas is the No. 1 team in the country and already has a monumental win over Ohio State. Manning has shown he’s improved from last year, but he still hasn’t quite hit that elite status that his reputation suggests. He has 664 passing yards, seven passing touchdowns and just two interceptions this year. The win over the Buckeyes was huge, and the fact that he made the plays he did — which he didn’t do in last year’s loss in Columbus — shows maybe he is one of college football’s top quarterbacks after all. Then again, it was really just one quarter, and he's been up and down otherwise.

5. Keelon Russell, Alabama Crimson Tide

The Kentucky game was a bit of a hiccup for Russell, but in the grand scheme of this season so far, he’s handled being the starting quarterback at Alabama really well as a true sophomore. He bounced back this week to throw for 320 yards and three touchdowns against Florida State, adding 56 yards on the ground with a touchdown as well. He’s proving that he doesn’t have the nerves of a typical youngster making their first starts in college football. That said, we’ll have to see if he can keep this up as the conference slate picks up.

Good but has some flaws

6. John Mateer, Oklahoma Sooners

John Mateer is exactly why consistency is important at the quarterback position. Mateer started really strong in the Sooners’ season opener, but has struggled in each of the last two weeks. The Michigan game was at least somewhat understandable, but scoring 14 points on New Mexico wasn’t. Mateer was one of the more talked-about quarterbacks the last two seasons, and he hasn’t quite lived up to the billing despite significant investment in and around him.

7. Sam Leavitt, LSU Tigers

Considering Sam Leavitt was one of the top transfer quarterbacks last year, you would have expected him to look better than he has. That’s not to say he’s playing badly, but he needs to play better moving forward. The interception in the end zone on LSU's final play of the game against Ole Miss is the perfect example of how Leavitt can get better: Just because he led them on a game-tying drive doesn’t mean anything if they can’t finish with a score.

Not bad but needs more time

8. Kenny Minchey, Kentucky Wildcats

Kenny Minchey torching Texas A&M’s defense is exactly what you want to see in a bounce-back game. Minchey struggled against Alabama’s defense but took down the Aggies and proved why Will Stein lured him from Notre Dame this offseason. The Wildcats don’t have an easy conference slate. But if he plays like he did against Texas A&M the rest of the way, he’ll quickly start climbing up the QB rankings — and possibly even up draft boards.

9. Faizon Brandon, Tennessee Volunteers

Faizon Brandon beat out George MacIntyre for the starting job in Knoxville and has looked really good so far, especially considering he’s a true freshman. The problem is that Tennessee hasn’t really played anybody yet this year. That’s not to take away from the strong start he’s had, which features 552 passing yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions. The Vols had a fairly easy schedule to start this season; if Brandon passes the test against Texas this week, he’ll prove he’s every bit worth the five-star hype.

10. Austin Simmons, Missouri Tigers

Much like Brandon, Austin Simmons still needs to prove he’s of SEC caliber when it comes to quarterback play. He’s not been playing poorly, but it's been more up and down than you'd like. He torched Kansas’ secondary last weekend, then had just 91 passing yards against Troy in a game that Mizzou only won by 10 points. Simmons was benched at Ole Miss last year ,so he has even more to prove to show he’s not just an SEC-caliber quarterback but good enough to take Mizzou to a level it hasn’t been in years. 

11. Aaron Philo, Florida Gators

Florida is off to a 3-0 start this year, back in the AP top 25 poll, and Aaron Philo has a lot to do with that. The Georgia Tech transfer is in his first season as the starter and he seems to be handling the job well. You could make the argument he could be a tier higher, but he also hasn’t had a particularly tough schedule to start this season (not to mention he's gotten a ton of help from RB Jadan Baugh). With Ole Miss on tap this week, if he shines against that defense, he would quickly show he’s one of the best in the conference. 

12. Byrum Brown, Auburn Tigers

Byrum Brown’s welcome-to-the-P4 moment struck in Week 1, with his three interceptions nearly singlehandedly costing Auburn the game against Baylor. He’s since bounced back, which is why he’s in this tier, but he still has to show he’s ready for SEC defenses. He’ll have to face Tennessee, Georgia, LSU and Alabama over the rest of the season; I’m not sure he’s going to play well against those types of defenses based on how he’s started. 

13. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina Gamecocks

LaNorris Sellers was talked about as one of the top quarterbacks in the 2027 class at one point, and now we need to see if he can even be one of the top quarterbacks in the SEC. After his breakout freshman season, he just hasn’t really turned into the playmaker pundits expected him to be. I’m not sure how much time we’ll need to know if he’s ready for the NFL, but this season is paramount for his future — and he has to ramp it up after South Carolina dropped its conference opener against Mississippi State.

14. Jared Curtis, Vanderbilt Commodores

Jared Curtis got a win in his first start at Vanderbilt thanks to some truly wild luck with a fumble recovery in the end zone as time expired. While he looked good in his debut against NC State, we still need to see just how good Curtis can be right away in college. There was a lot of hype around his recruitment, specifically flipping his commitment from Georgia to Vandy. He had some big shoes to fill from Diego Pavia last season, but he could very well work his way toward the top of the conference with a strong freshman season.

Bottom of the SEC barrel

15. Marcel Reed, Texas A&M Aggies

It might be a bit harsh to put Marcel Reed this far into the depths of the SEC’s quarterback rankings, but let’s be honest, he’s played poorly against the good teams on the Aggies' schedule. We can’t excuse that just because he looks really good against bad ones. Last season in Texas A&M’s final two games (against Texas and Miami) he had zero touchdown passes and four interceptions total. Against Kentucky this year, he had one touchdown pass and two interceptions. He has to clean it up before he can be considered one of the conference’s best. 

16. KJ Jackson, Arkansas Razorbacks

In the last two weeks, KJ Jackson hasn’t looked that good at all. In fact, since a Week 1 game against North Arkansas, he’s struggled. He has one touchdown and one interception while averaging 175.5 passing yards per game during that span. Georgia and Utah aren't easy teams to play by any means, but Jackson hasn’t really looked that much better this year after flashing dual-threat upside in 2025. It’s his first season as the full-time starter, so maybe he needs more time, but as for now, he’s at the bottom of the SEC quarterback rankings. 

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