MARLER: Top 5 Most Improved Position Units in the SEC

 By Chris Marler

Honorable Mention – UGA PR Team

Based on experience alone they should be near the top of this list. 

Alabama Offensive Line 

We’re a little over a year since Alabama OG Tyler Booker announced that the Crimson Tide offensive line was going to get back to “joyless murder ball”. He had one word right in describing watching the Tide’s line play for sure, and that was “Joyless.” 

Alabama allowed 49 sacks last year. And before anyone starts in about that being Jalen Milroe’s fault, let’s keep in mind that those 49 sacks were…

• The most in program history
• 11 More than UGA has allowed in the last 3 seasons combined
• More than Washington, Oregon, Michigan, and UGA allowed combined

Alabama should be better up front, especially in the interior featuring 2 of the best guards in the conference and a center who should at the very least be able to snap the ball accurately. Something Alabama didn’t have a year ago considering that 33 of the 65 total snaps in the Rose Bowl vs Michigan were off target. Yikes. 

Auburn Wide Receiver

I didn’t rank any of these five in order. However, let me be clear when I say that if I did then Auburn’s WRs would be number one, and it wouldn’t be particularly close. In fact, I think this will be the most improved unit in all of college football in 2024.

At one point dating back to the end of the 2022 season and the start of the 2023 season, Auburn failed to throw for 100 yards in five straight games versus Power Five teams. That’s bad. Real bad. They have only three 300 yard passing games in the last three years, and one of those was against Samford. Sure, some of that falls on the QB, but the lack of talent at the wide receiver position for Auburn last year was more than noticeable. 

Fast forward to a year later, and Hugh Freeze and staff have brought in one of the best wide receiver recruiting hauls we’ve seen in years complete with two five-stars that should play immediately in Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson. Add in four-star Penn State transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith who led the Nittany Lions in receiving yards and receptions last year. Now, again, it’s going to fall on Payton Thorne to improve at QB. If Hugh Freeze can make Bo Wallace a two-time 3,000-yard passer, I’m sure he can help Thorne be adequate enough with this surrounding help. 

LSU Secondary

Listen, the bar is low, and that’s one of the reasons this unit is on here. DBU is coming off what is statistically the worst performance in program history. Again. The 2020 LSU defense was nightmarishly bad, but 2023 definitely gave it a run for its money. I don’t care about depth, lack of experience or whoever the coordinator was, DBU should NEVER be ranked 106th nationally in yards per attempt allowed (7.9) and 118th in pass yards allowed per game (255.6). 

This entire defense is going to look night and day, and I, just like everyone else in Baton Rouge, cannot wait to see it. Why? Brian Kelly knows that last year was a missed opportunity. Having the best offense in the country, two first round wide receivers AND a Heisman winning quarterback should never translate into a 9-3 regular season. So credit Kelly for going out and fixing things immediately. A complete defensive overhaul with five new defensive coaches including Bo Davis, Corey Raymond and new coordinator Blake Baker. 

There is talent all over this defensive roster and you can absolutely believe that Blake Baker and company will get the most out of it. 

South Carolina Offensive Line 

South Carolina finished last season with 41 sacks and 92 tackles for loss allowed from their O-Line. Both numbers ranked not only near the bottom of the league but also 118th and 123rd nationally, respectively. The Gamecocks have ranked 11th or worse in the SEC in sacks allowed in three of the last four years. However, this year’s unit should have one thing that others have severely lacked: depth. 

Not only did you add depth from the portal, but USC added former On3 five-star offensive tackle Josiah Thompson. Whether Thompson starts day one or not is still up in the air, but folks close to the program are high on his potential upside and even higher on the excitement that there are nine guys on the roster currently working for five spots on the OL. 

Kentucky Quarterback

I originally wanted to say wide receivers here for the Wildcats, but I think it makes more sense to focus on quarterback. Last year Kentucky returned its top five pass catchers entering the season. It felt like a season of underachievement considering they ranked 10th or worse in the conference in almost every major passing statistic. However, the Cats did have three players over 500 receiving yards, and I don’t put the statistical shortcoming solely on the wide outs. 

Kentucky’s QB situation should greatly improve this year with transfer QB Brock Vandagriff coming to Lexington. This is the third straight starting quarterback for Kentucky that has been a high-profile player from the portal, Will Levis and Devin Leary being the first two. I was never high on Levis because of his turnovers and that whole mayo in his coffee thing. Which, let’s be clear, was absolutely disgusting. But I was high on Leary because I thought he’d protect the football better based off his resumé at North Carolina State. I was wrong. 

Kentucky QBs have thrown 38 total INTs in the last 3 seasons combined. That is by far the most in the SEC. What they are getting in Vandagriff is a former five-star recruit who has been playing against elite competition for two full years at Georgia. He will be an instant upgrade from Leary, and all he has to do to improve on the last three years’ interception numbers is not throw double digit picks. Should be easy enough with a talent like him in this new offense.