IMHO a major reason that the SEC fell back this year was one position: QB. The SEC is well represented when one looks at starting QB's in the NFL: Ryan Tannehill, Eli Manning, Jay Cutler, Matthew Stafford, Cam Newton, Blaine Gabbert, and of course Dallas rookie Dak Prescott. However, this was really a down year for SEC quarterbacks for the usual SEC powerhouse teams. Old Miss's Kelly was lost for the year, LSU never really got any decent QB play (thus the new coach), Texas A&M had a couple of highly touted QB's transfer away, Auburn's QB play was unexpectedly inconsistent (although Soph Sean White shows promise), Georgia ended up starting a (admittedly very talented) true freshman Jacob Eason, and Florida QB situation was a disaster. Then there is Alabama, which had a talented junior QB and a 5-Star redshirt freshman that was widely viewed as potentially the best Alabama QB since Joe Namath, and to everyone's astonishment Nick Saban went with a comparatively unheralded true freshman instead, Jalen Hurts, who seems almost inhumanly poised (and unbelievably strong) for a true freshman.
I guess the point is that next year the QB situation be quite a bit better at a few strong SEC schools: Georgia's Eason could be very good, as could Auburn's White. Florida has a couple of highly ranked Freshmen QB's recruits that could be good. And I think it has become clear that Jalen Hurts could become a true star for Alabama in the next year or two, kind of a smaller, much more professional and mature version of Cam Newton. If LSU could ever manage to get a decent QB the SEC would be a powerhouse once again.
