Few Arkansas fans would have been bold enough to predict last summer that Razorbacks senior Brandon Allen would arguably rank as the best quarterback in college football.
However, going by ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating metric, that’s exactly what Allen was in 2015. He 87.9 adjusted QBR (accounting for quality of defenses faced) was the best of any FBS quarterback, and his 81.6 raw QBR (not weighted by the strength of opposing defenses) still ranked fourth nationally.
Now Allen is chasing an NFL paycheck -- and he’s not alone among the SEC’s top quarterbacks. The conference had five of the nation’s top 24 quarterbacks in Total QBR last season, and three -- Allen, Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott and Alabama’s Jake Coker -- were seniors.