Who’s taking the snaps is common question in the SEC East

As spring practice across the league winds down, predictions for next season will flourish.

Examining the SEC East, the question surrounding almost every team is – who’s taking the snaps? Outside of Missouri and Tennessee, the others are breaking in new quarterbacks, which will influence the thinking on where they will finish.

Georgia lost Hutson Mason and has three replacement candidates – junior Faton Bauta, sophomore Brice Ramsey and redshirt freshman Jacob Park, the Goose Creek native who was named South Carolina’s “Mr. Football” in 2013.

“It’s still a race,” coach Mark Richt said. “I don’t think there’s any question that it will go through the summer and fall before we make that decision on who will start the first ballgame.”

Georgia probably will be picked to win the SEC East because with tailbacks Nick Chubb and Sony Michel and receiver Malcolm Mitchell returning, the thinking is that the new QB will only have to hand off. Then again, prognosticators may turn to the team that’s won the last two SEC East championships.

Mizzou has Maty Mauk, who threw for over 2,600 yards with 25 touchdowns last year, and tailback Russell Hansbrough rushed for 1,084 yards. The Tigers lost their top four receivers, though, with Bud Sasser, Jimmie Hunt, Marcus Murphy and Darius White combining for 175 of the team’s 221 receptions last year. Tight end Sean Culkin is back, but only had 20 catches with one TD, so Mauk will be looking to get one of the several young receivers quickly involved in the offense.

After a disappointing 7-6 season, South Carolina returns with some weapons on offense, notably star receiver Pharoh Cooper and a tailback tandem in Brandon Wilds and David Williams. Connor Mitch seems to have the best chance to succeed Dylan Thompson at QB, but Steve Spurrier and his players say the competition is wide open.

Perry Orth, Michael Scarnecchia and true freshman Lorenzo Nunez will challenge Mitch throughout the preseason, and a starter might not be known until a week before the first game.

In Florida, offensive guru Jim McElwain arrived to repair the fallen Gators, but is having to turn them from what they became under Will Muschamp (ground-and-pound) to what they were before Muschamp (spread). Treon Harris was the incumbent QB but had to miss four days of spring practice due to a death in the family, which placed Will Grier in the driver’s seat.

Grier exited spring practice as the No. 1 QB but McElwain said that could change before the first game. The Gators should be fine defensively, but McElwain has said throughout the spring that he can’t install his full offensive system with the players he inherited.

Kentucky finished a quarter short of a bowl game last year behind Patrick Towles at QB, and while Towles returns, he’s being pushed by redshirt freshman Drew Barker. Barker and Towles have split reps this spring, with Barker showing why he was such a highly touted prospect but Towles having the experience.

“There’s days when one or the other does separate himself, but not consistently, not every day,” coach Mark Stoops said. “Both guys are improving.”

At Tennessee, Joshua Dobbs is the guy after starting five of six games last year and winning four, including the TaxSlayer Bowl. A multi-tooled athlete, Dobbs guided the Volunteers’ offense to 431 yards and 36.7 points per game.

There’s no question it’s his show, but he has no proven backup. Four names behind Dobbs – Quinten Dormady, Jauan Jennings, Patrick Ashford and Devin Smith – have played in 13 career games, all by Ashford. More known as the team’s starting holder, Ashford also has the only career pass attempt of the backups, which he converted into a touchdown on a fake field goal last year.

Vanderbilt thought it had a solid QB in Patton Robinette but he decided to give up football, an injury-marred season in 2014 and his plans to attend medical school playing into it. That leaves Wade Freebeck, Johnny McCrary, Shawn Stankavage and incoming freshman Kyle Shurmur in the competition. Stankavage and Freebeck had the most action in the spring game (along with Robinette) but the carousel will continue to spin through the preseason.

This story was originally published April 13, 2015 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Who’s taking the snaps is common question in the SEC East."