Ranking SEC football teams by returning production

The SEC had a bit of a down year in 2024. The SEC had three teams make the first 12-team College Football Playoff, but none of them advanced to the national championship game.

The Georgia Bulldogs won the 2024 SEC championship against the Texas Longhorns, but both Georgia and Texas lost 14 players that received invitations to the 2025 NFL combine. Both Georgia and Texas lost their starting quarterbacks from 2024. Additionally, SEC power Ole Miss lost a ton of their elite talent from the 2024 season even though the Rebels came up short of the playoff. Georgia, Texas, and Ole Miss all rank among the lowest Power Four teams in the country per ESPN’s returning production metric (subscription required).

What does all that mean? The SEC championship race looks pretty wide open in 2025. The conference’s top team that returns its starting quarterback is the Tennessee Volunteers. However, both Georgia and Texas are ranked ahead of Tennessee when going by the 2025 national championship odds.

Other potential 2025 SEC championship contenders include the Florida Gators, Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas A&M Aggies. This trio of teams returns a significant amount of talent, but none of them made the playoff last year.

How the SEC ranks in returning production

1. Texas A&M Aggies (71% returning production, No. 6 nationally)

2. Vanderbilt Commodores (70% returning, No. 8 nationally)

3. Oklahoma Sooners (69% returning, No. 10 nationally)

4. Florida Gators (66% returning, No. 18 nationally)

5. Auburn Tigers (65% returning, No. 22 nationally)

6. Alabama Crimson Tide (63% returning, No. 35 nationally)

7. Miss. State Bulldogs (62% returning, No. 37 nationally)

8. LSU Tigers (62% returning, No. 38 nationally)

9. Missouri Tigers (60% returning, No. 51 nationally)

10. Kentucky Wildcats (60% returning, No. 52 nationally)

11. Tennessee Volunteers (58% returning, No. 58 nationally)

12. Arkansas Razorbacks (57% returning, No. 64 nationally)

13. South Carolina Gamecocks (56% returning, No. 71 nationally)

14. Texas Longhorns (45% returning, No. 103 nationally)

15. Georgia Bulldogs (45% returning, No. 105 nationally)

16. Ole Miss Rebels (42% returning, No. 113 nationally)

Georgia football 2025 schedule

• Aug. 30: Marshall Thundering Herd (home)

• Sept. 6: Austin Peay Governors (home)

• Sept. 13: Tennessee Volunteers (away)

• Sept. 27: Alabama Crimson Tide (home)

• Oct. 4: Kentucky Wildcats (home)

• Oct. 11: Auburn Tigers (away)

• Oct. 18: Ole Miss Rebels (home)

• Nov. 1: Florida Gators (neutral site in Jacksonville, Florida)

• Nov. 8: Mississippi State Bulldogs (away)

• Nov. 15: Texas Longhorns (home)

• Nov. 22: Charlotte 49ers (home)

• Nov. 29: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (neutral site in Atlanta, Georgia)

This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Where Georgia football’s returning production ranks in the SEC