RETURNING PLAYERS TO WATCH, OFFENSE
DAKPRESCOTT,QB, MISSISSIPPI STATE. If you don’t know what the most talented quarterback in the SEC looks like, check out one of the regional covers of Sports Illustrated’s college football preview edition, which features Prescott. The senior returns after leading the Bulldogs to one of the more successful seasons in school history, but could struggle to match his 2014 numbers. That’s when he threw for 3,449 yards and 27 touchdowns passing and 986 yards and 14 more scores on the ground on the way to leading Mississippi State to the top spot in the AP poll for the first time.
DERRICKHENRY,RB,ALABAMA. If Nick Chubb and LSU’s Leonard Fournette are the SEC’s top running backs, then Henry is third on the list. He’s shared time with T.J. Yeldon the past two years, but with Yeldon now in the NFL, Henry should be the Crimson Tide’s No. 1 backfield option after rushing for 990 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2014. Henry has displayed explosiveness both running and receiving in his two seasons at Alabama, and his size — 6-foot-3, 242 pounds — gives the Tide a back who can grind between the tackles.
NICKCHUBB,RB,GEORGIA. The SEC Freshman of the Year seemed to grow stronger as the season progressed as he finished with 1,547 yards and 14 touchdowns rushing, two more through the air. With Chubb bludgeoning defenses, Georgia fans barely noticed that Todd Gurley, who is now with the NFL’s St. Louis Rams, was hurt most of the season. Chubb rushed for 202 yards against Arkansas, averaged 13.1 yards a carry in a win over Kentucky and then finished with 266 yards against Louisville in the Belk Bowl.