College Football

A Fresh Start In The SEC

Updated Sep. 21, 2020 11:47 p.m. ET

With the SEC set to open the 2020 fall football season this weekend, several teams announced their starting QBs on Monday.

First of all, the defending national champion LSU Tigers named Myles Brennan the starter for the season opener against Mississippi State.

Brennan will look to fill the shoes of Joe Burrow, who completed one of the greatest single-season campaigns in college football history in 2019.

The Heisman winner threw for over 5,000 yards and an NCAA single-season record 60 TDs while leading LSU to an unblemished 14-0 season, before being selected as the first overall pick in the NFL Draft by the Bengals.

Brennan, a junior from Mississipi, played as the backup last season. He saw the field in 10 games and completed 24-of-40 passes for 353 total yards and a TD with one interception.

Brennan redshirted his sophomore year, playing in just one game, completing four of six passes for 65 yards. And his freshman campaign in 2017, he played in six games as a backup to Danny Etling.

LSU will try to run it back, but Burrow wasn't the only playmaker the Tigers will be missing, as the team heads into the season down 19 starters from last year.

Biletnikoff Award-winning WR Ja'Marr Chase opted out of 2020 season to prepare for the NFL Draft, and LSU lost star RB Clyde Edward-Helaire, WR Justin Jefferson and TE Thaddeus Moss to the league.

Former USC star QB Matt Leinart believes the most important thing for Brennan this season is to trust the process.

Meanwhile, at another SEC powerhouse down south, Mac Jones was named the starter for Alabama when they open the season against Missouri.

As a redshirt sophomore last season, Jones had four starts when Tua Tagovaila was out due to injury and posted a 3-1 record in games against Arkansas, Western Carolina, Auburn and Michigan.

Jones saw action in 12 of the Crimson Tide’s 13 games and threw for 1,503 yards, 14 TDs and 3 interceptions last season.

In the 35-16 victory over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl, Jones passed for 327 yards and 3 TDs with no interceptions to finish the 2019 season.

From Oct. 25 on, Jones recorded the second-highest QBR (92.7) second to LSU's Burrow.

Leinart is high on Jones after his strong finish to Alabama's 2019 campaign.

Jones will lead an offense that returns seven starters from last year’s team, including senior standout RB Najee Harris.

After Alabama was left out of the College Football playoff for the first time since the current four-team format was introduced in 2014, Nick Saban will look to have a bounce back year with Jones leading the way.