ESPN releases SEC QB rankings after Week 2: Arch Manning fails to make top 5

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

ESPN college football writer Bill Connelly has updated his comprehensive ranking of all 16 SEC starting quarterbacks, featuring some positioning that would have absolutely stunned fans before the season.

However, Connelly has nary an ounce of sympathy for those who have underwhelmed. His rankings reflect the pure performance of these players, not their preseason expectation or their talent pedigree. The three top names on his list likely were not projected as the top three QBs before the season. But hey, that's why we play the games. Through two of them, here are Connolly's full rankings of the SEC quarterbacks, featuring FIVE first-year or former transfers up top...

SEC Quarterback Rankings

1. Beau Pribula | Missouri
2. John Mateer | Oklahoma
3. Taylen Green | Arkansas
4. Diego Pavia | Vanderbilt
5. Joey Aguilar | Tennessee
6. Garrett Nussmeier | LSU
7. Arch Manning | Texas
8. Gunner Stockton | Georgia
9. Ty Simpson | Alabama
10. Marcel Reed | Texas A&M
11. Austin Simmons | Ole Miss
12. LaNorris Sellers | South Carolina
13. Blake Shapen | Mississippi State
14. Jackson Arnold | Auburn
15. DJ Lagway | Florida
16. Zach Calzada | Kentucky

This list certainly asks one important question: What have you done for me lately? Guys like DJ Lagway, LaNorris Sellers, Marcel Reed, Gunner Stockton, they all played in and won massive SEC contests a year ago but are all stuck on the bottom half of the rankings because they haven't quite looked like superheroes so far this season. Instead, Connolly is rewarding present performance.

So, that's why a guy like Beau Pribula tops the totem pole, because he put up 334 passing yards and executed an electric fourth-quarter Tiger thunderstorm to completely flop the scoreboard from advantage Kansas to an 11-point win for Mizzou. Does he have consistency against SEC teams? Heck no! At least not yet. But Pribula did put together the most electric performance to date in the SEC.

Of course, you can see why Arch Manning dropped as well. With Connolly's philosophy, we're surprised Arch hung onto seventh place. Sure, he accounted for five touchdowns and tossed for nearly 300 years in the San Jose State victory, but that's a pedestrian outing compared to what guys like Reed, Sellers, Austin Simmons, and of course, Blake Shapen, have done either last year or early in this season.

Manning will need to make a statement early in the SEC slate if he wants to put the brakes on his slide down ESPN's most esteemed SEC quarterback rankings.

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