SEC Football: Top 10 quarterbacks returning for 2022 season
By Matt Melton
6. Will Levis – Kentucky Wildcats
Not only is the previously mentioned Richardson drawing a significant amount of early 2023 NFL Draft buzz, but Levis is another name in that same boat. Entering his second season with the Wildcats after transferring from Penn State last offseason, Levis will be looking to build off his impressive 2021 campaign, one in which he completed 66% of his passes while accounting for 33 total touchdowns.
For a Kentucky team that is likely to be one of the SEC East’s best once again in 2022, the expectations for Levis will be high entering this season, and he will have to do it without his No. 1 option at receiver from a year ago in Wan’Dale Robinson. Combine that with the early 2023 NFL Draft buzz surrounding Levis, and it should make for an interesting 2022 season for the Kentucky starter.
5. Spencer Rattler – South Carolina Gamecocks
The other SEC Football transfer quarterback to make the Top 10, Rattler comes to South Carolina after three seasons at Oklahoma, one that includes a 2021 campaign in which he was surpassed on the depth chart by now USC starter Caleb Williams. Looking at the time he did play in 2021 however, Rattler completed 74.9% of his passes for an 11:5 TD:INT, coming off a sophomore season in which he was the Sooners full-time starter throwing for 3,031 yards with a 28:7 TD:INT.
A former five-star recruit, the jump that South Carolina makes in year two under head coach Shane Beamer will largely depend on what the Gamecocks get from Rattler at the quarterback position. Yes, he did lose the starting job at Oklahoma, but with the former five-star now cemented as the starter at South Carolina entering the year, don’t be shocked if Rattler surprises the college football world with his play in 2022 and catapults himself back up NFL Draft boards.