With the spring semester and the summer nearing, it is never too early to talk about the upcoming college football season and the rising stars.

The Southeastern Conference has been one of the most powerful conferences in football for the last 10 years.

The national champions have come from the same conference for the last five years and also have produced the last two Heisman trophy winners, Mark Ingram and Cam Newton. So, this year in the SEC, could it be a repeat occurrence in talent level?

A surging Tennessee quarterback, Tyler Bray, finished the season passing for 1,849 yards, 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Bray carried the young Volunteers to a bowl game under first-year head coach Derrick Dooley. After an impressive four-touchdown game in the Music City bowl against North Carolina, chances that Bray could be a star are rising.

“He needs to improve his decision making and put on more weight,” said UNA student and Tennessee fan, Julian Threet.

The question for the defending champion Auburn Tigers is who is going to be the next star to take over where Cam Newton left off?

Michael Dyer, running back for the Tigers, had a huge game in the National Championship game, recording 143 yards rushing and also passing the great Bo Jackson in most yards for a freshman at Auburn, with 1,093 yards rushing.

Alabama running back Trent Richardson has some huge shoes to fill after 2009 Heisman winner Mark Ingram left to enter the draft.

Many Alabama fans feel like he is the perfect guy to do it and could possibly be better than Mark Ingram. As a freshman on the national championship team, Richardson rushed for 751 yards, and, last season, after battling injury all year, rushed for 12 yards per carry.

Richardson could be a huge contributor for the Crimson Tide this season.

The SEC is looking to be wide open with a lot of the traditional powers losing most of their big talents. Remember, it is the SEC, and something surprising always comes out of the conference.

This year could be different if a player as huge as Cam Newton was to Auburn last fall or another Tim Tebow emerges as a national fan favorite.