Assessing the Roster and Coaching Changes in the SEC East

The Georgia Bulldogs have been the dominant force the the Eastern division of the SEC since the 2017 season. In the past six seasons, the Bulldogs have appeared in 3 national title games, 5 SEC Championship, and have lost just a minuscule two games to opponents in the Eastern Division. With that, teams have been making changes to try to catch up with Kirby Smart's program. Here are some of the moves that other teams in the East have made this off-season.

Tennessee

After completing its best season in recent memory thanks to a powerful offense, the Volunteers went ahead and extended head coach Josh Heupel through the 2028 season. Unfortunately, with the departure of quarterback Hendon Hooker and offensive coordinator Alex Golesh. Heupel's offense will be without many components that brought him success in 2022. However, Joe Milton's performance in the Orange Bowl proved that he was no slouch and new offensive coordinator Joey Halzle has worked with Heupel for nearly 15 years. With the addition of a top-10 recruiting class, Tennessee will likely be Georgia's biggest threat in the 2023 regular season.

Vanderbilt

Given the state of the Vanderbilt football program, it is not shocking that there has not been a ton of news about the team this offseason. The Commodores signed the 64th ranked class this season and currently have a transfer rank of 84th. They did lose former quarterback Mike Wright to the transfer portal after he was presumably beat out by AJ Swann for the starting role. While Wright's departure will probably not have a massive effect on Saturday's, it certainly weakens the depth at a position that the Commodores already lack experience in.

South Carolina

Shane Beamer's 2nd season as the Gamecock's head coach certainly finished with a bang after defeating two top-10 teams before losing to Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl. However this season, Carolina will rely on the play-calling of Dowell Loggains as the new offensive coordinator. With starting quarterback Spencer Rattler returning for the 2023 season and a signing class that composed of numerous Blue-chip players. South Carolina could be in for another exciting season under Beamer.

Missouri

Despite finishing under .500, the Missouri Tigers and head coach Eli Drinkwitz agreed to a 2 year contract extension at the end of the 2022 season. With that, the Tigers inked the 44th ranked class in the nation which included 4-star tight end Brett Norfleet. Perhaps the worst news of the Tiger's offseason came in the form of a departure by star wide reciever Dominic Lovett as he was nabbed by the Bulldogs in the transfer portal.

Kentucky

While Kentucky is certainly not a Georgia or Alabama, the Wildcat's program has undoubtedly reached a new level of success under Mark Stoops. After becoming the winningest coach in Kentucky Football history, the University extended the 55 year old coach through the year 2031. He will unfortunately face the uphill task of replacing starters Will Levis, Christian Rodriguez, DeAndre Square and Carrington Valentine in the 2023 season with just the 27th ranked recruiting class in the nation.

Florida

Billy Napier's 1st season started with promise before facing reality in the final 6 games of the season. To make matters worse, the offseason has not been much kinder. The Gators lost an astonishing near 25 players to the transfer portal and suffered other massive departures such as starting quarterback Anthony Richardson to the NFL draft. They did manage to bring in former Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz and signed a top-10 recruiting class this season, so there will be potential improvements in the 2023 season.

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