Last Week saw the SEC Football Season officially come to an end as the Texas Longhorns lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal. The Longhorns joined the rest of the SEC in looking forward to the 2025 season.
After missing the National Championship for a second year, the Conference as a whole has a ton to prove next season. The expectations may be sky-high once again as three teams are coming off College Football Playoff seasons while others went all in using the transfer portal top hopefully get to that point.
Heading into the 2025 season, here is out "Way Too Early" Power Rankings of the teams in the SEC.
The first year under Jeff Lebby was always going to be a tough year but, after the transfer portal year two may be the same. The Bulldogs lost Quarterback Michael Van Buren who was impressive as a freshman along with Wide Receivers Kevin Coleman, Mario Craver, Creed Whittemore, JJ Harrell, and Trent Hudson. 26 players leave via the transfer portal and another 22 come in, it may end up panning out but, that much turnover is difficult to make work.
After the disaster that was the 2024 season, Kentucky and Mark Stoops may be in trouble once again in 2025. Brock Vandagriff retired from football while Barion Brown transferred to LSU and Dane Key transferred to Nebraska taking key weapons away from an offense that struggled this year. The defense along with the offensive line loses some veteran pieces to the NFL Draft and Graduation. Kentucky will go the route of deploying a transfer quarterback once again with Zach Calzada but, it's hard to see how this team wins in the SEC.
This season was a Cinderella season for Vanderbilt especially as the Commodores knocked off Alabama. Even with the massive win Vanderbilt won just three games in the SEC and will face the same conference schedule next season. Diego Pavia is currently slated to be the starting quarterback as long as the JUCO ruling stands but, if not the Commodores are in deeper trouble. The losses of Micah Bell to Georgia and Gunnar Hansen to Florida State are steep to overcome.
The 2024 season was supposed to be the year Missouri made the College Football Playoff with a veteran quarterback, a first round wide receiver, and plenty of great pieces. Instead, Missouri felt outmatched against the best teams they played and will take a talent dip in 2025. How Missouri fares in 2025 will be solely up to how Beau Pribula plays in his first year starting after gaining experience at Penn State.
As time goes on, it looks like we won't see Sam Pittman take this team to that top tier yet, he'll be back in 2025. The Razorbacks lose a ton as their three leading wide receivers were Seniors as well as most of the starters on defense. The Razorbacks area where they should get better is that Taylen Green returns at quarterback while the Razorbacks added pieces up front to protect him but, he'll be passing to a new group of receivers.
This season, Ole Miss fell short of their goal to make the College Football Playoff with what was a loaded roster. In 2025, that roster takes a clear step back with Jaxson Dart, Tre Harris, Caden Prieskorn, Henry Parrish, Walter Nolen, Princely Umanmielen, and many others off to the NFL. Even with how active Ole Miss was in the transfer portal it's impossible to replace that level of top end talent without falling off. The biggest reason we'll likely see Ole Miss take a step back is as Austin Simmons will lead the offense as a first-time starter replacing Jaxson Dart who spent years in the offense.
Heading into 2025, the Florida Gators will have a ton of buzz as a team that could potentially win the SEC. Those expectations may be a little too high even if the Gators are improved from this season. DJ Lagway may be a very good quarterback but, he finished the year with 12 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Lagway also loses his three top wide receivers. On defense the Gators lose Jack Pyburn and Ja'Keem Jackson to LSU, TJ Searcy to Texas A&M, Justus Boone to Arkansas, and Kelby Collins to Alabama which is tough to get past for most teams.
The 2025 season may be a make or break year for Brent Venables and his tenure as Oklahoma's Head Coach. The Sooners made a ton of changes bringing in Ben Arbuckle from Washington State to call the offense and he brings quarterback John Mateer along with him. Mateer has the talent to take this offense to the next level but, the pieces around Mateer are questionable. The Sooners offensive line struggled this season and the top receivers Oklahoma missed this season mostly all transferred.
On Defense the Sooners will lose key veteran pieces like Danny Stutsman, Billy Bowman, and Dez Malone. The defensive line does return key pieces as does the secondary which can help the Sooners in fielding one of the better units in the Country.
This past season is tough to gauge for Texas A&M as they saw the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in year one of the Mike Elko Era. The Aggies will head into 2025 with Marcel Reed at Quarterback and went out to surround him with great weapons at wide receiver. The Aggies however have a gauntlet of a schedule and Marcel Reed will need to take a massive step forward if they're going to finish higher than the middle of the pack.
The story of Auburn's season was inconsistent to terrible quarterback play which kept Auburn from maximizing its potential. Hugh Freeze has addressed that issue bringing in transfer quarterbacks Jackson Arnold, Tanner Bailey, and Ashton Daniels along with highly touted freshman Deuce Knight. The new quarterback will get to throw to star receivers in Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton Jr which should give the Tigers one of the top offenses in the Conference after what was a down season.
The Tigers defense wasn't the issue this season as they allowed just 21.3 points per game which ranked 28th in the Country. The upside for Auburn is that the younger pieces on the defense are back for another season and with the incoming transfers it should be a year where Auburn takes a massive leap.
This season we saw a really inconsistent Alabama Football team as they could beat Georgia but, they could also lose to teams such as Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. In Year Two of Kalen DeBoer, we'll see a new quarterback as Jalen Milroe is off to the NFL meaning Ty Simpson, Austin Mack, or Keelon Russell will lead the offense. The Crimson Tide will have all the weapons available to the first time quarterback but, will they get good enough play from the Quarterback?
On defense, Alabama brings nearly everyone back from a really solid unit in 2024. The Crimson Tide allowed just 17.4 points per game which ranked 10th Nationally and with the pieces coming back in year two of the scheme it should remain a top unit in the Country.
While this year's Georgia team made the Playoff and won the SEC Championship, it wasn't the same Georgia we're used to seeing. The team got awful play from their wide receivers who dealt with drops the entire season limiting what Carson Beck could do. The offense is now turned to Gunner Stockton as Carson Beck transfers to Miami. The Bulldogs have solved their wide receiver issues bringing in transfer Zachariah Branch, Noah Thomas, and Micah Bell meaning it's all up to the development of Gunner Stockton.
This season no team was more exciting down the stretch than the South Carolina Gamecocks who found themselves in the College Football Playoff discussion after starting the season 3-3. The reason to be excited is that LaNorris Sellers was starting for the first time at quarterback, Nyck Harbor was only a Sophomore, and Dylan Stewart was only a Freshman. The team will lose key pieces on the defense and on offense but, as the defense may take a step back, the offense should only get better.
The Tennessee Vols made the College Football Playoff this season but, the passing attack never fully clicked. Now that Nico Iamaleava has a full season under his belt, we may see the second year jump with Nico that most quarterbacks take. The Volunteers offensive line will be a concern losing some key pieces but, the Wide Receiver core will be older and should take another jump along with Nico Iamaleava.
On defense, the defensive line will lose some veteran pieces headlined by James Pearce but, a ton of younger players rotated in this season. In the secondary, Tennessee played a ton of younger pieces this year and they held up nicely, with another year of experience it'll only get better.
The LSU Tigers went out and pushed all their chips in the middle this offseason using the transfer portal to bring the pieces it needed into the fold. The Tigers return Garrett Nussmeier at quarterback as well as supporting pieces like Caden Durham, Aaron Anderson, Chris Hilton Jr, and Trey'Dez Green among others. Add to that mix playmakers such as Nic Anderson, Barion Brown, Destyn Hill, and Bauer Sharp and the Tigers are set to be loaded on offense.
On defense, LSU returns Whit Weeks, Harold Perkins Jr, Dahvon Keys, Dominick McKinley, and some other experienced pieces. Due to a lack of experience, LSU brought in Patrick Payton, Jimari Butler, and Jack Pyburn up front along with Ja'Keem Jackson, Mansoor Delane, and true Freshman DJ Pickett to bolster the secondary. Brian Kelly has gone in bolstering this roster and the Tigers should see the results pay off in 2025.
This season, Texas made it all the way to the College Football Playoff semifinal game in a year where it felt like the offense never truly clicked. Next season, Arch Manning takes the reins of the offense and his ability to run brings a whole new dynamic to the offense. On the other side of the football, Texas returns young emerging stars like Colin Simmons, Anthony Hill Jr, and Malik Muhammed while one or two draft decisions could give Texas the best defense in the Country.