John Adams: Only the right QB recruit can beat Alabama's recruiting

Alabama  overshadowed the rest of the SEC in recruiting Wednesday. No news there.

But beneath the Tide’s No. 1 national ranking, the conference’s balance was apparent. Eleven other conference teams ranked from third (Georgia) to 30th (Ole Miss) in 247Sports’ composite rankings.

Those results reflect what happened on the field this past season. Take out Alabama, and the SEC still can brag about how balanced it is.  

Alabama went 8-0 in the league and routed Florida in the SEC championship game for its third consecutive conference title. But balance was evident in the rest of the West with LSU and Auburn tied for second, and Texas A&M only a game behind them.

The East was even more balanced. Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky were tied for second behind Florida. South Carolina and Vanderbilt were a game back.

The conference could be even more balanced in 2017 - excluding Alabama, of course. 

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So what if Alabama is losing 11 starters and three prominent assistant coaches. Personnel losses don’t faze a program that has won four of the past eight national championships. And everyone in the prediction business has taken note.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach published his top 25 update for 2017 after National Signing Day. You Know Who was No. 1.

Never mind the losses. Alabama minimizes them by stacking one top-ranked recruiting class on top of another. It loses star linebackers Reuben Foster, Ryan Anderson, and Tim Williams but responds by signing outstanding linebacker prospects, highlighted by five-star recruit Dylan Moses.

It's obvious no one in the SEC will out-recruit Alabama as long as coach Nick Saban is in charge. So how can the rest of the SEC hope to beat the Tide?

Clemson showed how in the national championship game. So did Ole Miss in 2014 and 2015. Auburn beat Alabama in 2010 when it won a national title and in 2013 when it almost won a national championship.

All those teams had mobile quarterbacks. So did Texas A&M, which upset the Tide in 2012 behind Heisman Trophy quarterback Johnny Manziel.

When you look for SEC challengers to Alabama in 2016, eliminate anyone without a dual-threat quarterback.

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Georgia should be favored to win the East, but quarterback Jacob Eason can’t run well enough to take down the Tide in a conference championship game. Nor does Florida seemingly have a quarterback who fits the beat-the-Tide profile. And for all of LSU’s talent, its quarterback shortcomings again should leave it short of Alabama in the West.

Tennessee’s next quarterback has yet to be determined. Both Quinten Dormady, who backed up Joshua Dobbs this past season, and redshirt freshman Jarrett Guarantano are former four-star recruits with great potential. But Guarantano’s running ability would make him a more likely candidate to knock off Alabama.

Quinten Dormady ready for his shot to start at Tennessee

Auburn’s Jarrett Stidham is an even better candidate. The Baylor transfer is a talented passer who can run the option and also runs well enough to threaten a defense.

A quarterback like Stidham is the SEC’s best hope against Alabama. If you can’t beat it in recruiting, maybe you can recruit a quarterback who can beat it on the field.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @johnadamsKNS