Big Ten and SEC Football: Where Have All the Quarterbacks Gone?

It's been a bit dull around here lately, hasn't it?

Two conferences that usually produce great quarterbacks have somehow managed to stop the assembly line production, and it's having a ripple affect.

Remember Troy Smith? Kyle Orton? Tom Brady? Drew Brees? Chad Henne? All great quarterbacks from the Big Ten who made every Saturday fun. Now we have Joey Elliot from Purdue as the highest ranked Big Ten quarterback in the country at No. 25.

The SEC is doing no better. Gone is Matthew Stafford. And who else? Think hard about that. Can we think of any great quarterbacks that have come out of the SEC in the last five years. Jason Campbell? Is that it?

David Greene? He's retired after being waived from three NFL teams—the same guy who holds the SEC all-time career passing yards record. Florida's Chris Leak wasn't even drafted—he was signed after the draft by the Chicago Bears and then was cut. Leak is currently playing in Canada, by the way.

LSU's JaMarcus Russell was drafted by Al Davis. That's all you need to know about him.

To be sure, the last great quarterbacks to come out of the Big Ten and SEC are Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. It's been awhile. Too long, in fact.

Sure we have Daryll Clark from Penn State, but let's face it, he's a system quarterback in a spread HD. Terrelle Pryor from Ohio State has been somewhat of a bust considering all the hype surrounding his recruitment, but there's always next year.

Juice Williams? He's getting sympathy tweets from Daryll Clark.

Tate Forcier seems to be the only real deal in the Big Ten, and lately, he's lost some luster after a great start.

The SEC is in similarly dire straits. The anointed ones are under-performing. Jevan Snead is having a bad year, despite everyone pointing to him as being the next great SEC quarterback. Joe Cox? Uh, no. Greg McElroy? Meh. Jonathan Crompton? He's a crap shoot.

Arkansas' Ryan Mallett is the only SEC quarterback ranked in the top twenty-five at No. 10. The next best quarterback is No. 27 Stephen Garcia. Yeah, the guy who was on a first name basis with the local police last year.

The lack of marquee quarterbacks coming out of these two conferences is alarming.

When Indiana's Ben Chappell is one of the highest ranked quarterbacks out of the Big Ten, something is wrong.

Very wrong.

So what's the big deal, you ask. Are you kidding?

For the armchair football fan, watching Big Ten football or SEC football has been a complete bore. Go ahead and convince yourselves that the reason why the games are so exciting is because the defenses are so great, but you're drinking too much sweet tea and eating too many Brats.

The offenses are mediocre at best, and average-looking defenses are making average-looking offenses look, well, average.

LSU, always known for nasty defenses, allowed Washington to score 23 points and Mississippi State 26 points on their vaunted "D". Georgia, another great defensive team of lore, allowed South Carolina and Arkansas to score a collective 78 points on them over a two-week period.

Go ahead and rave about Florida's D, but who the heck have they played? Here's a rundown: one ranked team (LSU) and a bunch of SEC teams that don't have winning conference records.

In fact, Florida has played exactly one SEC team with a winning conference record.

LSU.

Recognize.

The Big Ten is also suffering from the lack of the "wow" factor. Iowa has beaten three Big Ten teams with winning conference records, but QB Ricky Stanzi's INT-TD ratio is 14-15. Not exactly awe-inspiring. And, he had some help with his win over Indiana, didn't he?

Penn State has played two ranked teams (Iowa and Ohio State) and lost to both. Their offense scored a collective seventeen points.

Tada.

Then there's Ohio State. With all the hoopla surrounding Pryor, you would think the Buckeyes would be exciting to watch. And they are. You just never know which quarterback is going to show up wearing Terrelle Pryor's jersey.

The Buckeyes' best offensive output in terms of scoring was against two teams that don't have winning records—New Mexico State and Minnesota.

So what's in the future for the SEC and the Big Ten?

Go nuts over Tim Tebow now, and he certainly is a winner and national MVP, but he's not a great quarterback.

Great kid. Great attitude. Nice guy. But he's ranked No. 82 in the country. And he won't sniff the first three rounds as an NFL draft pick.

So who will be the next quarterbacks to bring back some excitement in the SEC and Big Ten?

Right now, the No. 1 quarterback prospect, Jake Heaps, is committed to BYU. But Penn State has two of the top seven quarterbacks committed (Paul Jones and Robert Bolden) while Michigan has No. 4 Devin Gardner. Not bad. Get excited Big Ten fans.

The SEC on the other hand, hasn't fared as well so far. Alabama has a commit from No. 5 Philip Sims. That's it for the SEC in top twenty quarterback recruits. JUCO Randall Mackey, a top-25 rated recruit, has committed to Mississippi.

Has the spread finally taken its toll? Have the defenses finally figured out how to stop the spread?

Answers: Yes and yes.

It's simply too hard to recruit spread system quarterbacks and convince them they will succeed in the NFL. Until the NFL embraces the spread, you aren't going to see a lot of spread quarterbacks getting drafted highly.

And because of that, the schools who are running the spread are going to see less and less top recruits come to play for them because their prospects of getting highly drafted are not very good.

Greed is good. Cash makes the world go round. It's all about the Benjamins.

Urban Meyer made the spread a concept en fuego in the SEC. But how many quarterbacks are going to commit to a school that hasn't had a successful quarterback in the NFL recently?

Believe it or not, Ryan Mallett and Stephen Garcia are the future NFL quarterbacks from SEC country. Both are classic pocket passers.

So is Colt McCoy from Texas. And Sam Bradford from Oklahoma. Matt Barkley from USC. Jake Locker from Washington. The list goes on. All of these quarterbacks should get a high draft pick and sign a mega-contract.

The Big 12 and the Pac-10 are now the conferences of NFL quarterbacks. They still run pro offenses and use classic pocket passers as their field generals. The future of quarterbacks is out west.

The Big Ten and SEC are the conferences of spread quarterbacks. And while the SEC is still winning BCS trophies, their luck is about to run out.

The greatest college quarterback of all time will prove that on draft day when his prospects of being a tight end or linebacker are greater than playing quarterback.

And that's a shame.

Because Tim Tebow is the best thing to happen to college football in decades.