Texas A&M's prospective breakout headlines preseason SEC power rankings
SEC fans are anxious for all the talking to finally be over and for the teams to actually hit the field— which will come to pass one week from today. Week 0's slate is not huge, but it marks the end of the longest offseason in sports.
That in mind, it's almost time for the SEC to actually take shape with wins and losses rather than projections. With only one week of talk left, though, it's time to make just a few more of those projections! Here's how the SEC stacks up here in the final week of the offseason.
Power ranking the SEC in 2025 preseason: #16 - Mississippi State
It is looking like it will be another tough year down in Starkville for Bulldog fans. Jeff Lebby's first season had a few bright moments, but they were never really able to translate those moments into wins. It looked like they had the upper hand against rival Ole Miss for a moment, but Kiffin and company eventually ran away with the game.
Of course, you expect some growing pains in year one, of course, but year two under a new coach is supposed to be when things kick up to the next level... right? Well, while that traditional wisdom usually holds, it becomes a little more complicated when almost every contributor goes out the door via the portal.
Leading passer Michael Van Buren is now at LSU— he wasn't the original starter, but his play had some favoring him over returner Blake Shapen for this year prior to the transfer. Three of their top four receivers— Kevin Coleman, Kelly Akharaiyi, and Mario Craver— are all out the door.
Davon Booth, the leading rusher for the Bulldogs and an all-around weapon, will be back, and they bring in a couple of helpful transfers like Brenen Thompson from Oklahoma, but I'm not too bullish on the ability of the Bulldogs to improve this upcoming year.