2023 Post-Spring SEC Power Rankings: Georgia and then who? LSU or Alabama
With spring football in the rearview mirror, the transfer portal activity slowly — albeit not totally — starting to slow down, and coaches on the road out recruiting their next wave of future signees, now is a great time to assess where teams stand entering the summer before the 2023 season.
Naturally, we opted to kickstart the On3 series with the SEC, which has won the last four national titles and has three of the Top 5 favorites to win the national title again in Georgia, the reigning two-time champs, Alabama and LSU.
Here’s how I see the league stacking up in the 2023 SEC post-spring power rankings
1. Georgia
The reigning back-to-back national champions return one of the top offensive and defensive lines in the country, plus a deep set of playmakers and the best staff in America, led by head coach Kirby Smart.
Carson Beck seemed to grab the reigns of the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback job this spring, while former 5-star recruits Malachi Starks and Mykell Williams are the next names to know off of a defense that has produced seven 1st Round picks in the last two NFL Drafts.
2. LSU
Brian Kelly exceeded expectations in Year 1 with the Tigers, upsetting Alabama and winning the SEC West. Now, he returns an even better team in Year 2, with all five starting o-linemen back, plus quarterback Jayden Daniels, the best set of wideouts in the SEC and freaky linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. headlining a loaded front-seven, which also returns 5-star DL Maason Smith.
LSU has once again re-loaded its secondary via the transfer portal this offseason, and while the Tigers must play rival Alabama in Tuscaloosa this year, they enter the summer with fewer question marks than the Tide.
3. Alabama
The Crimson Tide signed the No. 1 recruiting class in 2023 — landing an insane 14 Top 100 prospects. And yet, Alabama enters the summer with plenty of uncertainty, as Nick Saban has two new coordinators (Tommy Rees and Kevin Steele), a quarterback battle to sort out and a quintet of transfers he hopes will provide more production than last year’s portal haul.
Still, no one can discount Alabama’s championship upside with an improved WR core, a better OL, and impact freshmen like tailback Justice Haynes and safety Caleb Downs, who will be a part of one of the best secondaries in the country this fall.
4. Tennessee
Coming off their best season in 25 years, the Vols are looking to continue on their upward trajectory under third-year head coach Josh Heupel. Joe Milton is the next man up at QB, with ballyhooed 5-star freshman Nico Iamaleava waiting in the wings.
Even without Hendon Hooker, Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman, Tennessee’s offense is expected to remain elite in 2023, with guys like Squirrel White and Bru McCoy the next future household names Knoxville. What sort of leap the can the defense make — with newcomers like BYU transfer Keenan Pili and freshman Arion Carter — remains the question?
5. Ole Miss
Lane Kiffin flirted with taking the Auburn job this offseason, but he opted to remain in Oxford, where he once again used the portal to reinforce the Rebels’ roster.
Ole Miss brings back one of the best tailbacks in the country in Quinshon Judkins, and it’s reloaded its offensive and defensive lines, as well as the secondary, via the portal. Jaxson Dart seemingly enters the summer with a leg-up in the three-man QB competition that includes transfers Spencer Sanders and Walker Howard.
Former Alabama DC Pete Goulding was brought in to shore up a defense that ranked No. 9 in the SEC in scoring in 2022.
6. Arkansas
For the first time as a head coach of the Hogs, Sam Pittman replaced both coordinators this offseason, tabbing Dan Enos to take over on offense and Travis Williams to control the defense.
KJ Jefferson is back at QB, returning as one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC in 2023. Star tailback Rocket Sanders is also back, and while Arkansas was hit hard by NFL and transfer portal departures this offseason, Pittman & Co., did a nice job supplementing the roster with a number of potential impact transfers — particularly rebuilding a secondary that really struggled in 2022, plus adding likely starters at edge rusher, wide receiver, tight end, linebacker and offensive line.
After avoiding physical practices in both spring and fall camp last season, Pittman had the Razorbacks get back to what made them a tough team to face in 2021 this spring.
7. Texas A&M
Talent isn’t an issue at Texas A&M, as the Aggies’ 2023 season mostly hinges on the marriage between Jimbo Fisher and new OC Bobby Petrino.
For now, the vibes are good in College Station. Fisher likes his team, with two capable quarterbacks in Conner Weigman and SEC veteran Max Johnson. Evan Stewart has the skills to be one of the best WRs in the conference this fall, and Texas A&M’s defense — from a front-four stocked with 5-stars to a talented secondary — should be one of the best in the league.
But this is a coach — and team — that’s constantly stepped on the rake and gotten in its own way in recent years. Is this finally the fall where Fisher wins 10 games with the Aggies?
8. Kentucky
Mark Stoops landed one of the most marquee transfer quarterbacks in former NC State vet Devin Leary, who just two years ago threw for 35 touchdowns and just five picks before suffering a torn pectoral last season.
The Wildcats should be solid defensively, and they’ve landed other impact transfers like former Vadny tailback Ray Davis.
But the backbone of Stoops’ program has been built by the Big Blue Wall. Kentucky didn’t have a punishing OL in 2022. Will a reshuffled group — with a couple of new faces likely to start — get back on track in 2023?
9. South Carolina
Coming off a momentous end to the 2022 season, the Gamecocks could easily rank higher on this list if not for a major offseason blow to its roster.
While Shane Beamer was able to replace some losses in the transfer portal with some notable signees, and quarterback Spencer Rattler and wideout Juice Wells are back, too, the late spring injury starting left tackle Jaylen Nichols is a significant blow for a not-so-deep OL group and an offense that was plagued by inconsistencies last fall.
The Gamecocks do like their new OC in Dowell Loggins, but if an OL group that allowed the third-most sacks in the SEC in 2022 is even more up-and-down this fall, the unit’s upside looks limited. Pass rush remains a big question mark for a team that had just 20 sacks last season, too.
10. Mississippi State
First-year head coach Zach Arnett takes over the Bulldogs’ program after the tragic sudden death of head coach Mike Leach late last season. Mississippi State has the luxury of bringing back veteran QB Will Rodgers, but it will pivot away from a true Air Raid attack under new OC Kevin Barbay.
Defensively, Arnett, the former DC, is ceding play-calling duties, and MSU’s defense does return a deep LB core but its secondary is totally new after losing four starters, including 1st Round pick Emmanual Forbes.
11. Auburn
Hugh Freeze has methodically positioned the Tigers to be a bowl team in 2023, using the initial transfer portal window in the winter to retool Auburn’s offensive line, defensive line and linebacking core.
He also grabbed a couple of playmakers in tailback Brian Battie and wideout Nick Mardner, but post-spring, the Tigers have aggressively hit the portal to address added needs at receiver, pass rusher, and most notably, quarterback.
While Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne isn’t a future All-American, he potentially raises Auburn’s floor and ceiling in the fall.
12. Florida
It’s been a mixed offseason for Billy Napier & Co., in Gainesville, as the Gators have recruited really well for the future of the program — but the present remains a real unknown.
After an NIL fiasco with 2023 recruit Jaden Rashada, Florida is banking on a major bounce-back season from Wisconsin transfer quarterback Graham Mertz, plus hoping that baby-faced DC Austin Armstrong just 29, is the defensive wunderkind who can fix a leaky unit that’s struggled the last several seasons.
The schedule is brutal, though, with an opener at Pac-12 champs Utah, plus games against likely Top 25 foes Georgia, Tennessee, LSU and Florida State.
13. Missouri
Eli Drinkwitz enters a pivotal Year 4 after consecutive 6-7 seasons. The Tigers enter the summer with an ongoing QB battle between incumbent Brady Cook, who missed the spring with an injury, Miami transfer Jake Garcia and redshirt freshman Sam Horn.
Mizzou suffered a couple of notable intra-SEC transfer portal losses in top wideout Dominic Lovett going to Georgia and pass rusher Trajan Jeffcoat landing at Arkansas, but popular DC Blake Baker is back and his unit has a chance to remain one of the better groups in the league if a retooled group comes together.
14. Vanderbilt
Clark Lea exceeded expectations in Year 2, nearly making a bowl game after upsetting Florida and Kentucky late in the 2022 season.
A.J. Swann is back at quarterback, and the ‘Dores have a solid set of emerging wideouts to compliment their sophomore QB, too.
But has Lea fixed a terrible defense? While Vanderbilt has been able to put up points offensively, the Dores’ have shown no signs of stopping opposing offenses — ranking last in the SEC defensively in 2022 in scoring and yards per play allowed.