Snead Missed More than Most

Some of the best players of the last decade will be leaving the SEC this year. Amongst them will be Tim Tebow, Rolando McClain, Dexter McCluster, Javier Arenas, Reshad Jones, Aaron Hernandez and Joe Haden, to name a few. The biggest loss however will not be any of these players, it won’t be a national championship winner, Heisman winner or record holder. The SEC knows all about the aforementioned players, what they have done (a lot) and exactly how good they are. With every great player or certain first round pick leaving school there is also a player that still has question marks. Someone draft experts are unsure about, who’s college career ended to soon. This year is no different.

The player the SEC will miss most this year is former Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead. This past year was supposed to be Snead’s break out year, having exploded late in 2008. Even pre-season Heisman discussions included Snead’s name on the strength of his 2008 year. So after accomplishing all he has why is Snead not ready to leave? And why will he be missed even more than Tim Tebow? Simply, because this year was so disappointing. Snead entered with all the talk surrounding him and Ole Miss, they climbed as high as number 4 in the country. Between them they achieved an almost unmatched mediocrity for the rest of the year. Snead’s bad year means he has so much more to prove, and SEC fans would want to see so much more.

The heights that Snead’s recruitment predicted never fully materialised, at least not fully. A prized prospect out of Stephenville, Texas, Snead may well have begun his college career in the SEC. It began with Urban Meyer who took interest in Snead, first after being sent tape at Utah and then receiving a commitment after Meyer’s move to Florida. When the Gators continued their pursuit of Tim Tebow the Texan de-committed and began looking closer to home. It’s difficult to be starting QB at the University of Texas, especially the year after the Longhorns won the National Championship, that’s the bed Snead chose. A bed he promptly leapt out of after the decision to start Colt McCoy, not exactly a bad decision in the long run by Mack Brown. In his one year in Austin Snead completed 53% of his passes for 371 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Not a great sales pitch, good enough however for Ed Orgeron and the Rebels in Oxford, Miss. By the time Snead became a sophomore and arrived on campus Houston Nutt had arrived from Arkansas, a completely fresh start. By the end of their first season together everyone involved with the Rebels team saw light at the end of the tunnel; 2762 yards, 26 touchdowns and only 13 picks. Not exactly bad for his first year deciphering SEC defences.

The 2009 season didn’t exactly go to plan, it wasn’t helped by the arrival of another big armed Texan quarterback in the SEC West. Ryan Mallett transferred to Arkansas the same year Snead left Texas but red shirted his sophomore year. Their senior years in Texas high school was the last time these two could be compared directly. Snead threw for 3,546 yards, 38 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, Mallett went for 3,353, 31 touchdowns and only 3 picks. Mallett was the number 2 quarterback in the country in 2007, the year before, Snead had been number 3. The importance of Ryan Mallett to Jevan Snead’s career is that Mallett shows precisely how much Snead has underachieved in his college career. In 2009 Snead had 2632 yards, 20 td’s and (deep breath) 20! interceptions. Yards and touchdowns went down from 2008, interceptions went up. Not a good combination. Mallett (the new SEC and NFL darling) threw for 3627 yards with 30 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. This highlights the problems that Snead has had, after outperforming the Hogs quarterback in high school he suddenly dropped off in performance when he got to college.

It could be simply that Snead is the model student-athlete. He has already achieved his degree, and he should be given a huge amount of credit for that, but what about his career? Like every college player Snead dreams of playing in the NFL, and because of this year his draft stock has plummeted. With the departure of Tebow, Kiffin and others, Ole Miss may have been poised to move into a position of SEC power with Snead at the helm. With something to prove he could have been doubly focused, especially without the distraction of school. Unfortunately we, the SEC public, will never know. I may be alone but I wish we could.