SEC Football Q&A: Which Team Will Be the Biggest Overachiever in 2016?
The first big wave of SEC spring games come this weekend when Florida, Auburn, South Carolina and Texas A&M hold their glorified scrimmages.
With those games come pressure. That pressure can go a long way toward coaches determining which players will see the field this fall in the nation's most rigorous college football conference.
Will we get a glimpse of some potential overachievers this weekend? That question and more are in this week's edition of SEC Q&A.
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I'm going to go with Ole Miss because the Rebels aren't going to be picked to be a top-tier program nationally after the losses of Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil, Laquon Treadwell, Cody Core, Trae Elston, Mike Hilton, C.J. Johnson and other impact players from the 2015 team.
That's OK, though, because while several of those players were blue-chip recruits who helped set the tone for head coach Hugh Freeze's career in Oxford, he has been able to follow them up with several solid recruiting classes that are more complete than the top-heavy 2013 group.
Yes, there are issues to overcome, specifically along the offensive line where Freeze not only has to replace Tunsil, but also the rest of the unit that protects quarterback Chad Kelly.
What do we know about Freeze, though? He has had plenty of practice dealing with roster holes—often on the fly—and figuring out how to make things work.
He lost Tunsil for seven games last season due to suspension, and he still found a way to top Alabama—which boasted the best front seven in college football—on the road at night in his absence. When linebacker Johnson was out, and fellow linebacker Denzel Nkemdiche struggled to stay on the field, DeMarquis Gates stepped up and finished with the team lead in tackles (76).
Because of the roster attrition, Ole Miss isn't going to be picked in the preseason top five. ESPN's Joe Schad has them 11th, and Athlon Sports did as well; the Rebels seem to be buried by the Alabama and LSU hype in the SEC West.
If Freeze can find a way to split his two big September games (vs. Florida State in Orlando on Sept. 5 and vs. Alabama in Oxford on Sept. 17), then don't be surprised if his Rebels make a run to the College Football Playoff.
Of course, a win over the Crimson Tide is more imperative considering the weight the division matchup holds.
He takes a backseat to LSU's Leonard Fournette and Georgia's Nick Chubb for a couple of reasons.
First, he hasn't proved that he's as much of a work horse as the other two stars. That's not a knock against Jalen Hurd. He's an awesome running back and certainly could be a work horse if needed. But the presence of mobile quarterback Joshua Dobbs over the last year-and-a-half and backfield mate Alvin Kamara took pressure off of him in 2015.
Nobody has taken pressure off of Fournette or Chubb.
Fournette gets no help from his quarterback, passing game, offensive philosophy or anybody else on the offense. Chubb came in for Todd Gurley in a pinch midway through the 2014 season, tallied 30 or more carries in three games and rushed for 1,547 yards in essentially a half-season as the starter.
Second, Tennessee has a reputation of building but not being there yet. No, LSU and Georgia haven't played in the SEC Championship Game either during the careers of their star running backs, but eyeballs have been on both programs from the start of each of the last two seasons.
Tennessee is the opposite. From a national perspective, it seems that fans and media take more of a "wait and see" approach for the Vols, which means Hurd has to earn his share of the spotlight more than Fournette and Chubb.
Without a doubt, it's Texas A&M.
Head coach Kevin Sumlin is loose, fun and has enough confidence to fill the Lone Star State. He even has the "Swag-copter" at his disposal to check in on prospects around the country.
Whether it was running back Ben Malena and the "cashing out" craze of 2012, the youthful exuberance former quarterback Johnny Manziel played the game with or the way Sumlin chest bumps his players after a touchdown or a big turnover on defense, the Aggies look like they're having more fun out there when things are going well—as is the case with their head coach.
When things don't go well, of course the enjoyment of football goes down the tubes. But the highs for the Aggies are high for the players and the coaches, and they don't shy away from showing it.
That's refreshing.
Top three might be a bit aggressive, considering Fournette and Chubb (as long as they are healthy) should be top-notch. Hurd is a monster, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn has produced 13, 1,000-yard rushers in 10 seasons as a college head or assistant coach, and Alabama and Arkansas are running back factories.
That doesn't mean Mark Thompson, a 6'2", 242-pound junior college transfer from Dodge City (Kansas) Community College can't be a star.
He absolutely can.
With a stature like Derrick Henry, who is 6'3", 247 pounds, and speed of a track star, Thompson can be a big-time weapon in a Florida offense that needs a bruiser at running back to become the focal point of head coach Jim McElwain's pro-style offense.
Top three in the SEC shouldn't be Thompson's goal—a solid 25 carries per game and a 1,000-yard season should be.
If he can do that, the Gators will have a good chance of repeating as SEC East champions.
Quotes were obtained firsthand, unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of CFBStats.com, unless otherwise noted, and recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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