Jake covered the SEC East and Lauren covered the SEC West and Vanderbilt

Alabama: How Will the Offensive Line Improve?

Alabama had the title of a high-powered offense in 2021. The offensive line answered many questions of how the team would compete with Bryce Young leading the offense. While Young himself won the Heisman and the team was the national runner up, the offensive line as a unit underwhelmed under Doug Marrone. In 2020, the Tide’s offensive line won the Joe Moore Award under Kyle Flood, allowing only nine sacks in 12 games. However, the team in 2021, under Marrone, allowed 42 sacks. While Young will create success despite the pressure he faced last season, it leaves us looking at how the offensive line will protect the quarterback (and probably a little peace for Nick Saban) under new coach Eric Wolford.

Arkansas: Can Last Season Be Repeated and Improved?

The Razorbacks entered the 2021 season following a 3-7 season in 2020 with a veteran team. They started 4-0 with wins over No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 15 Texas. The season would continue with close games against esteemed SEC teams and an Outback Bowl win against Penn State. With K.J. Jefferson returning under center, the team averaged 441.7 yards per game compared to the previous seasons 391.5. As a defense, the leadership of Barry Odom improved to compete with high-powered offenses such as Ole Miss. Sam Pitman continues to raise the standard in Fayetteville for recruits and current players to buy into a culture for the trend of Heartbreak Hogs to be no longer.

Auburn: Does the Team Have Faith in Its Head Coach?

The Twitter spaces, the frenzy of coaches meetings, Derek Mason leaving the defense for Oklahoma State, Bo Nix leaving for Oregon, and more. The Tigers have to put a complicated offseason behind them. As they start spring practice, the team will need to move past discussions that have the potential to keep them from prospering in a time of team growth. The Tigers will need to have faith in their head coach with a new defensive and offensive coordinator at the helm. Spring practice sets the tone for a team, and a noisy offseason has the ability to make the spring more chaotic than heartbroken Auburn fans would like.

Florida: Can Billy Napier Turn Around Dan Mullen’s Mess?

Billy Napier has his work cut out for him, to put it short. After an abysmal season, Napier will have to somehow get the Gators, once a national powerhouse, back into relevance, removed from the darkness of the Dan Mullen era. Napier is off to a good start, however, taking the Gators up into seventh in the SEC in the 2022 recruiting cycle despite having little time to put together a class that was decimated by Mullen’s tumultuous regime in Gainesville. Looking into 2022, Anthony Richardson is a good talent that, with Napier at the helm, should be able to realize the potential the Gator faithful have seen in limited snaps. Defensively, the Gators lack front seven talent, and this may be what ultimately holds Florida back once play begins in 2022.

Georgia: Will the Bulldogs Be Able to Keep Up Their Momentum?

The Georgia Bulldogs are a fascinating defending champion, as they are still being doubted despite an incredible season in 2021. A lot of this rides on the doubts of the play of veteran QB Stetson Bennett going forward. Head coach Kirby Smart has complete faith in the now sixth-year senior, and winning a national championship is all the proof he should need that Bennett is “his guy” to start the season and to come. Georgia does have many departures on defense, including its leader on and off the field in Jordan Davis, along with stars such as Nakobe Dean. They will be missed dearly, but there is little to fear in Athens for 2022. Georgia has re-tooled once again with the third-best overall class in the nation this cycle, and Smart will have the Bulldogs ready to defend come this fall.

Kentucky: Can the Wildcats Continue Their Offensive Rise?

Mark Stoops continues his and the Wildcats’ rise in the SEC East. To put it short, the Kentucky turnaround over the past few years has been astonishing and does not receive the coverage it should from the media. Kentucky’s offense improved from 11th in the SEC in scoring in 2020 all the way up to fifth this past season. This was in large part due to the production of Chris Rodriguez, who can break the Wildcats’ all-time record for career rushing yards, currently held by Benny Snell with another monster year in 2022 likely to come. As if these signs weren’t promising, Stoops had the Wildcats up to 13th in the country in the 2022 recruiting cycle, and more is to come going forward.

LSU: What Will the Offense Look Like Under Mike Denbrock?

The Tigers will look to make a change in the methods in which they score compared to the 2021 season, as the team excelled in the run game but has Garrett Nussmeier looking prepared to lead the offense and Myles Brennan returning. After averaging 26.5 points a game in 2021, the offense will hope to return to a high-scoring team that was in Baton Rouge just a few years ago. Mike Denbrock’s past offenses have created NFL tight ends, and as the offensive coordinator for Cincinnati in the 2021 season, he helped quarterback Desmond Ridder lead the offense to great success with a playoff appearance and a top 10 offense in college football.

Mississippi State: Can Will Rogers Continue to Grow as a Quarterback?

Will Rogers has rewritten Mississippi State’s record book as he has taken over the Bulldogs’ offense since his first start against Texas A&M in 2020 after taking over for K.J. Costello against Kentucky. Rogers’ career has continued to grow as he is entering his third season playing under Mike Leach and his typical Air Raid offenses. With the records for completions and and completion percentages under his belt, Rogers looks poised for greatness in what is likely to be his final year in Starkville. Mississippi State did not lose many to graduation and the draft after a season of predominant success of underclassmen, so the team mostly returns its production from last year, minus leading receiver Makai Polk.

Missouri: Who Will Produce Offensively?

Mizzou continues to confuse me. Eli Drinkwitz is one of the most likable coaches in the SEC, if not in all of college football with a charisma that is something to behold. Unfortunately, charisma doesn’t win you ball games, especially in the SEC. The Tigers went 6-7 this past year losing to a bland Army team in the Armed Forces Bowl, which is unacceptable considering the Tigers were a team expected to improve in 2021. With that being said, the Tigers have lost a lot of talent entering 2022, the most notable being Tyler Badie, who was able to produce in many aspects of the offense. 2022 quarterback Sam Horn and wide receiver signees Luther Burden may be coming to Columbia this fall, but even that combination of a rocket-armed quarterback and elite receiver may not be enough to get the Tigers out of the basement of the SEC East.

Ole Miss: How Will Zach Evans Make an Impact?

Ole Miss made several changes to its offensive coaching staff for the 2022 season and secured a former five-star running back in the transfer portal in Zach Evans. As Ole Miss will be looking for its quarterback in the spring, the addition of a power running back has the power to change the offense. With Matt Corral in the NFL draft, the Rebels will look to maintain the points their offense was able to put up. Evans had 92 rushes for 648 yards in the 2021 season with TCU, and he’ll look to continue his success in Oxford behind the offensive line which includes more experience than many Ole Miss fans anticipated.

South Carolina: Is Spencer Rattler “The Guy?”

Shane Beamer’s grand project for the Gamecocks is finally unfolding in front of our eyes. The addition of QB Spencer Rattler from the transfer portal was a huge get for Beamer and crew, who look to continue their rise in the SEC East after a season that was plagued by injury at the QB position and had a graduate assistant starting for a significant part of the season that ended in a bath of mayonnaise for Beamer. Rattler’s play will likely plot the course of the season for the Gamecocks in 2022, with accuracy and pocket presence issues that plagued him during starts in 2021 for Oklahoma. Beamer, a former coach of Rattler’s at Oklahoma, will hopefully be able to light the spark in Rattler once again that made him such a great prospect in high school now that he’s in a new setting with familiar faces, such as TE Austin Stogner, who joins Rattler in Columbia in 2022.

Tennessee: Can Josh Heupel Keep Firing Away?

The Vols may just be the most fun team in college football. I mean that with little hyperbole. Any coach that has his offense moving at light speed will catch my eye, and Tennessee is no different. After Joe Milton’s starts went south (there’s just no way you can run out of bounds on a potential game-winning play), Hendon Hooker stepped up and dazzled for the majority of his snaps. This will be his last season with the Vols as he is now 24, but Hooker has the athleticism and arm talent that keeps him in the good graces of head coach Josh Heupel and could lead Tennessee to its best season in years. If this is not the year where Tennessee truly takes a step forward, I think it may be time to search the stadium for the being that haunts Tennessee football.

Texas A&M: How Do the Aggies Move On From Kenyon Green’s Leadership and Talent With New Offensive Line Coach?

The Aggies face a lot of change entering the spring. A new defensive coordinator, a new offensive line coach, as well as big names on both sides of the ball entering the draft. However, no name will be as missed as much as Kenyon Green. A starter since his freshman year, Green’s ability to play any position the line needed in any given week had been quite impactful for the Aggies in the past three years. New offensive line coach Steve Addazio enters a program that has a history of success at offensive line, with many players in the past several years entering the NFL but being inconsistent week-to-week as a cohesive unit at Texas A&M. Addazio’s career is highlighted by his success when leading an offensive line. With two returners in Bryce Foster and Reuben “Deuce” Fatheree, who were both named FWAA Freshman All-Americans last year, Addazio has all the tools to continue his success with the line. Spring ball will give the Aggies time to grasp what the line will be with emerging new leaders being more consistent ahead of the 2022 season.

Vanderbilt: Is There a New Vanderbilt?

One of the best signing classes in school history after Clark Lea won two games in his first season in Nashville shows there is a lock in with the Vanderbilt program under Lea.  Not a successful season by any means, but more points on the board than the previous season and Lea sharing in post-game pressers at the end of the season that the team’s character is high. Praise from a head coach to a team that won only two games and a successful offseason will lock in this team for spring ball to prepare for a Vanderbilt team locked in for success. There is a large retention of the team and improvements to the coaching staff on both sides of the ball. It’s apparent that Lea is putting everything he’s got into improving this team.