Ranking SEC Quarterbacks for 2022

min read
KJ Jefferson ranks among the best SEC quarterbacks of the 2022 college football betting odds season.
(AP Photo/Butch Dill)
BetMGM @BETMGM Nov 01, 2022, 9:08 AM
  • SEC football features a deep class of effective quarterbacks.
  • Hendon Hooker is the No. 1 quarterback and a current Heisman favorite.
  • Freshmen like AJ Swann and Connor Weigman have shown a lot of promise.

After two solid months of college football betting odds, we’ve seen some impressive performances from SEC quarterbacks. 

There are gunslingers, freak athletes and even a few guys at the top of the Heisman favorites list.

With that in mind, let’s do something that the internet is best-equipped for: Rank all the SEC quarterbacks.

SEC Football Rankings

The SEC is the healthiest it’s been in years; the conference is dominating the college football national championship odds at the online sportsbook.

That is a terrifying thought, considering the conference has won the last three national championships with three different schools, and the last three Heisman Trophy winners have all been members of the SEC.

SEC College Football: Today’s Quarterbacks, Ranked

Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young returns to run Alabama’s offense. Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi State will all return starting quarterbacks, thus making the middle of this league stronger than it’s been in years.

Then, South Carolina and Ole Miss have elite transfers set to take over. Lastly, LSU and Texas A&M are getting talented starters back from injury. And, by the way, none of that includes the player who just won the national championship – Georgia’s Stetson Bennett.

The quality of SEC quarterbacks is one of the reasons why the conference continues to dominate college football.

Hendon Hooker 

Hendon Hooker has a very good chance to be this year’s Heisman Trophy winner. 

Hooker has accumulated more than 2,300 passing yards and 25 total touchdowns through the first two months of the 2022 college football season, which was enough to overtake CJ Stroud in the Heisman Trophy odds market. 

Bryce Young

Most college football betting analysts with a brain understand it’s hard to replicate a Heisman trophy-winning season. 

Young has still been awesome this year, and he’s in a great position to be a top draft choice next April. But injuries, bad luck and inferior offensive playmakers around him have diminished his raw production and overall shine.

If not for Young, Alabama probably would have lost to Texas back in September. You can decide whether two-loss Alabama would be a college football playoff team.

KJ Jefferson

Arkansas is a middle-tier team in this year’s SEC, but it’s hard to blame that on KJ Jefferson. 

Jefferson has thrown for 200 yards or more in six of his last nine games, dating back to 2021, pacing an offense that must overcome a brutally bad defensive backfield. 

Jefferson has also been very steady with the ball, throwing just one pick all year.

Stetson Bennett

Stetson Bennett put on a show in Week 1 against Oregon, posting a 25-for-31 passing line that generated 368 yards, two touchdowns and numerous highlights. 

Two weeks later, Bennett played another epic game – this time, against South Carolina, throwing for 284 and two touchdowns. It was the highest QBR and passer rating of his season.

Those were the high points of Bennett’s season, as his job this year has been mostly to manage the offense and stave off total disaster. 

Still, Bennett shines as a bright example of what can happen when you take a capable quarterback and fill him with the confidence that a national championship naturally yields.

Jayden Daniels

This is around where the second tier of quarterbacks starts, and LSU’s Jayden Daniels belongs near the top. 

The Arizona State transfer is playing some of the best football of his career with Brian Kelly at the helm, accumulating 13 total touchdowns in big wins over Florida, Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

LSU is ahead of schedule, and a lot of that is because Kelly is a great coach. But Daniels has definitely played his role well.

Will Rogers

Rogers broke the SEC career completions record in October thanks to the Mike Leach system he’s been playing in since 2020.

Rogers hit an understandable rough patch in back-to-back road games at Kentucky and Alabama, but Mississippi State has been relevant in the SEC West this year largely because of Rogers’ heady play. 

Will Levis

Will Levis was one of the hottest names in college football in September, throwing for 1,185 yards and 10 touchdowns through the first month of the season.

The SEC eventually caught up with Levis, bringing him back down to Earth a bit. Levis missed the South Carolina game due to turf toe; in the three games he did play in October, he threw three touchdowns and four picks.

Jaxson Dart

The USC transfer is doing a fine job running Lane Kiffin’s offense in his first year in Oxford, throwing for 14 touchdowns and seven picks. 

Anthony Richardson

Anthony Richardson was considered a fringe Heisman contender before the season started, assuming he could stay on the field.

Early on, it looked like the Florida offense might deliver on the hype. Richardson was the best player on the field in the Gators’ Week 1 win over Utah, as Richardson ran for three touchdowns – including the game-winner in the final two minutes.

Since then, Richardson has led a mostly forgettable campaign, albeit against stiff competition. He’s recorded seven passing touchdowns and seven interceptions, which is a bottom-third dataset for FBS quarterbacks. 

AJ Swann

The guy tabbed as Vanderbilt’s quarterback of the future got his first start in Week 3 of the 2022 season, which was a 38-28 win over Northern Illinois. 

Since then, it’s been a see-saw back and forth, with Swann making regular appearances to get decked by some of the top teams in the conference: Ole Miss, Alabama and Georgia, among others.

Spencer Rattler

It’s easy to prosecute the case that South Carolina is succeeding in spite of Rattler and not because of him. Rattler has nearly twice as many interceptions as he does passing touchdowns, and his mobility has failed to add any extra dimension to the Gamecock offense.

Connor Weigman

It’s hard to say too much about the Texas A&M freshman, as he’s only played one game. But for a team that’s struggled as much offensively as A&M has this year, Weigman gave the Aggies a chance to beat a good Ole Miss team. 

Weigman might be the quarterback of the future in College Station.

Brady Cook

Missouri has a myriad of offensive problems, so it’s hard to be too critical of Brady Cook. He’s also coming off his best game of the year – Missouri’s road win at South Carolina.

Still, it’s safe to say that the Tigers are limited with Cook at quarterback. He’s never thrown multiple touchdown passes in a game against an FBS opponent. 

Haynes King

Like Cook, Haynes King is a decent quarterback who has been put in a poor position to succeed. I lay nearly all the blame here on Jimbo Fisher, as the Aggies are trying to run an outdated offense without the personnel needed to execute it effectively.

Mike Wright

Vanderbilt’s upperclassman dual threat was the quarterback to start the year in Nashville, but Clark Lea felt the unit operated better with Swann at the head. 

That doesn’t mean Wright has been relegated to a pure clipboard role, though, as he’s made spot appearances in multiple games since then. He also came in against Missouri in the second quarter after Swann was hurt. 

Robby Ashford

Auburn has a decent offensive line and a good running back room. 

Unfortunately, its quarterback play and offensive schemes have been so pedestrian that the team has fallen completely out of the picture in the SEC West. 

Ashford replaced TJ Finley during the Penn State game, but it hasn’t measurably helped the Tigers play better offense. They’re 1-5 and averaging less than 20 points per game since the Nittany Lions came to town.

SEC Football Predictions

For more on SEC Football, the College Football Playoff and general college football betting strategies, make sure you check out my podcast for BetMGM, The Lion’s Edge.

You can subscribe to The Lion’s Edge for regular intelligent, weekly insights into trends and betting tips across the online sports betting world. 

The Lion’s Edge is available on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Our BetMGM editors and authors are sports experts with a wealth of knowledge of the sports industry at all levels. Their coverage includes sports news, previews and predictions, fun facts, and betting.

Our BetMGM editors and authors are sports experts with a wealth of knowledge of the sports industry at all levels. Their coverage includes sports news, previews and predictions, fun facts, and betting.