College Football: Each Power Five conference’s top 3 quarterbacks for 2020

In a league that lost Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa and has a pair of incoming graduate transfers who have never played SEC football, it’s unfair not to consider Bo Nix one of the conference’s top quarterbacks.

Nix showed from day one he’s unafraid as he out-dueled eventual sixth overall pick Justin Herbert and Oregon in his college debut in a Week 1 statement. He led the Tigers to a nine-win season that included victories over then-No. 15 Texas A&M and No. 5 Alabama by throwing for 2,542 yards and 16 touchdowns on just six interceptions while adding 313 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.

The Auburn quarterback earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors and with winning experience under his belt, he should take a massive leap forward as a sophomore in 2020.

No returning quarterback in the SEC will have more league-wide experience than Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond.

Mond is entering his third full season as the Aggies’ starting quarterback and has played in all but three of the college games he’s been eligible for. In 2018 he threw for 3,107 yards and 24 touchdowns while rushing for 474 yards and seven touchdowns. He led the Aggies to the 2018 Gator Bowl, where they defeated NC State.

In 2019, Mond completed 62 percent of his passes and threw for 2,897 yards and 20 touchdowns while rushing for 501 yards and eight touchdowns. He was named MVP of the Aggies’ Texas Bowl victory over Oklahoma State by throwing for 95 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 117 yards and another score.

As a senior, Mond has gone through the ups and downs of the SEC and should be able to use the lesson he has learned to solidify himself as one of the conferences’ top three quarterbacks.

It took just 12 games for Florida’s Kyle Trask to become the SEC’s best quarterback entering 2020. A career backup, Trask was even a reserve in high school when he landed a chance with the Gators. After sitting out in 2017 and appearing in just three games in 2018, he was named the second-string quarterback behind Feleipe Franks entering 2019.

In the third quarter of Florida’s Week 3 game against Kentucky in Lexington, Franks suffered a season-ending ankle injury. Trask entered the game with the Gators down 11 heading into the fourth quarter. With seemingly no hope, he guided the Gators to an improbable comeback by throwing for 126 yards and scoring a rushing touchdown to lead Florida to a 29-21 victory.

He went onto finish the season with 3,103 passing yards with 25 touchdowns on just seven interceptions. The 6-foot-5 gunslunger led Florida to an 11-2 season, including an Orange Bowl title. In a 56–0 win over Vanderbilt, Trask passed for 363 yards becoming the first Gator to so since Tim Tebow.

After the season, Franks opted to transfer to Arkansas, leaving Trask the starting job for 2020.

Trask is writing a special story and with size, and plenty of skill a big-season could have him go from backup to first-round NFL draft pick.

Honorable mention: Jamie Newman, Georgia