To become – and remain – a starting quarterback for an SEC football team is one of the most difficult things to accomplish in college football. The players who do so possess a considerable amount of talent that began developing in their high school days or earlier. Following is a look at the high school careers of half of the SEC starting quarterbacks from Week 1 of the 2022 season. Stay tuned next week, when we’ll present the other half.
Alabama – Bryce Young
The reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Young was arguably the most well-known of the 2022 SEC starting quarterbacks during his high school days. The current Alabama starter was considered both a five-star prospect and a top-five national player in the 2020 class out of national powerhouse Mater Dei High School in California. He concluded his prep career with 13,250 yards passing and 178 touchdowns for the Monarchs.
Arkansas – KJ Jefferson
A returning starter for the Razorbacks, Jefferson was a four-star prospect in the 2019 class from North Panola High School in Mississippi. One of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks at the time, Jefferson concluded his high school career with 9,582 passing yards and 143 total touchdowns.
Auburn – TJ Finley
Finley, now the starter at Auburn, began his collegiate career at LSU as a three-star prospect from in-state Ponchatoula High School. During his high school career, he accumulated 7,357 yards and 72 touchdowns.
Florida – Anthony Richardson
The new primary starter at Florida, Richardson was a Gainesville-area standout and a four-star product of Eastside High School in 2020. He accounted for 4,633 passing yards during his high school career, along with 78 total touchdowns, including 41 rushing.
Georgia – Stetson Bennett
Of the 2022 SEC starting quarterbacks, Bennett might have been the most unheralded out of high school. He came to Georgia as a three-star walk-on in the 2019 class from southeast Georgia’s Pierce County High School, where he threw for 3,700 yards and 40 touchdowns as a senior. He returns as the starter for the defending national champions as a sixth-year senior.
Kentucky – Will Levis
The returning starter at Kentucky, Levis originally began his collegiate career at Penn State, committing to the Nittany Lions as a three-star prospect in the 2018 class out of Xavier High School in Connecticut. Levis posted an impressive senior season at Xavier, throwing for 2,793 yards and 27 touchdowns.
LSU – Jayden Daniels/Garrett Nussmeier
At the time of this writing, LSU had yet to officially name a starting quarterback, so we’ll discuss both here. Daniels began his collegiate career at Arizona State after performing as a highly touted four-star prospect at California’s Cajon High School in the 2019 class. The same was true for Nussmeier in the 2021 class out of Marcus High School in Texas.
