​When the college football season begins, there will be just six SEC programs that return their starting quarterbacks from a season ago.While more than half the teams have to replace their starting signal caller, the talent level is still impressive in one of the premier brands in all of football. With the transfer portal being an ever-growing entity, it’s not hard to find an elite quarterback during free agency, err, the portal. Here’s every SEC starting quarterback ranked heading into 2026. MORE: Ranking every projected Big Ten starting QB in 202613-16: Unproven quarterbacks and wildcardsNo. 16 – Jared Curtis, VanderbiltNo. 15 – KJ Jackson, ArkansasNo. 14 – Kamario Taylor, Mississippi StateNo. 13 – Keelon Russell, AlabamaApr 11, 2026; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Keelon Russell (12) looks for a receiver during the Alabama A-Day spring football scrimmage game at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Leong-Imagn ImagesThis grouping is pretty simple: either these quarterbacks haven’t taken a snap in college football, or they have very little experience. Both Kamario Taylor and KJ Jackson offer a dual-threat ability to Mississippi State and Arkansas, respectively, but neither signal caller has played a ton of football.Jared Curtis was the premier quarterback in the 2026 recruiting class and he is set to take over for Diego Pavia, but most quarterbacks take some time to develop — see Bryce Underwood at Michigan. Keelon Russell is the real wildcard of the bunch. He has the potential to leapfrog half of these quarterbacks, but as of now, he’s in a competition with Austin Mack. Alabama isn’t in any hurry to name a starter and while Mack has some experience, it’s Russell’s talent that should win in the end.No. 9-12: Could be good, but too many questionsNo. 12 – George Macintyre, TennesseeNo. 11 – Kenny Minchey, KentuckyNo. 10 – Aaron Philo, FloridaNo. 9 – Austin Simmons, MissouriTennessee quarterback George MacIntrye (15) warms up before the Orange & White spring game, Saturday, April 12, 2025.We have three transfers and one returner on this list. George Macintyre, a former five-star, is set to take over as the new starter at Tennessee and Josh Heupel will need to have some patience breaking in a raw, but talented, quarterback. Kenny Minchey comes over from Notre Dame, where he spent three seasons in total. Minchey has 29 pass attempts to his name and he will look to evolve Kentucky’s offense under new head coach Will Stein.Aaron Philo was next in line to start at Georgia Tech, but after two seasons, he chose to head to Florida to play under new head coach Jon Sumrall. DJ Lagway left the Gators after a disastrous season, and Philo will look to bring some normalcy to the position. After losing his job to Trinidad Chambliss, Austin Simmons is now at Missouri, where he is in line to start. The lefty has thrown 107 passing attempts, but has just six touchdowns and five inte