Devy Conference Review: SEC

After Ohio State dispatched Texas in the national semifinals, the dunking on the SEC – which has been in vogue this winter – continued with fervor. Fans outside of the southeast have reveled in the fact this was a relatively pedestrian year of the league, with no truly elite team and no individual player figured into 2024’s Heisman race. Some believe it spoke to a new era, a time when the SEC was falling back to the pack, a far cry from the days when the conference won seven consecutive national championships.

While NIL and the transfer portal may mute the SEC’s natural recruiting advantage to a degree, this is still the standard for any league. Nick Saban moved on – removing college football’s most decorated coach – but the coaching and personnel remain elite. Expect better in 2025 as the league rebuilds for a run at the national championship.

What Went Right

Ryan Williams’ Reclassification

Perhaps more than any other sport, football requires physical maturity to truly thrive. It is what prevents many freshmen from contributing as they get their bodies ready to compete at a high level. Nobody shared this limitation with Ryan Williams, Alabama’s 17-year-old phenom who reclassified from the 2025 class to the 2024 class and dominated nonetheless, posting a 48-865-8 line for a Tide team that desperately needed his game-breaking ability.