What the media got right and wrong with its preseason SEC picks
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — At SEC Media Days this week in Texas, the press who cover the league predicted how things would finish (they have the Gators 12th) and which players would be all-conference. After looking over those selections, here’s my take on what the media got right and what it got wrong.
WHAT THE SEC MEDIA GOT RIGHT WITH ITS PREDICTIONS
The top two teams in the preseason conference rankings:
The media has Georgia first and Texas second, followed in order by Alabama, Ole Miss, and LSU. I think, on paper, heading into this season, Georgia and Texas should be the frontrunners. Alabama has a talented roster, but what will they look like after the Nick Saban era? Ole Miss beefed up its line of scrimmage and could make some noise but, right now in July, I think the easy picks for the two best teams are Georgia and Texas. We’ll get to see those two matchup this October in Austin.
The top three quarterbacks
The league has several quality quarterbacks, but the selections of Georgia’s Carson Beck (first team), Texas’ Quinn Ewers (second team), and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe (third team) make sense.
I personally ranked Ewers over Beck when I power-ranked the quarterbacks Florida will face this season. That’s probably just more of a preference thing. Milroe should thrive in Kalen DeBoer‘s offense and should be a good pick. If the list had five, I would include Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart and Florida’s Graham Mertz.
Montrell Johnson getting All-SEC second-team recognition:
Having shared the spotlight with Trevor Etienne (now at Georgia) the past two seasons Johnson never has truly gotten his done. But this selection acknowledges the player he has been and can be. Johnson will go over 3,000 career rushing yards this season. He’s never finished a season with fewer than 800 rushing yards and, this year, he’ll be the featured back in a system that wants to run the football.
WHAT THE MEDIA GOT WRONG WITH ITS PREDICTIONS
Florida’s predicted finish is too low:
I get that the schedule is murder and the team won just five games last season, but with a much-improved roster, Florida has a chance to be better than their projected 12th-place finish. They’ll have the chance to prove that this fall. Florida will play four of the predicted top-5 teams and eight of the top 10.
The absence of Gators receiver Eugene Wilson on the All-SEC squads:
This arguably is the biggest head-scratcher from all the predictions and, quite frankly, Wilson has been getting slighted all offseason. Wilson was named to the Freshman All-SEC team last year. He led all FBS true freshmen in receptions per game (6.1) while ranking second in receptions (61), tied for second in receiving TDs (six), fourth in receiving yards per game (53.8), and fourth in receiving yards (538).
Where’s the love?
Jeremy Crawshaw should have been the first-team punter:
The one I know everyone is wringing their hands about. I’ll just let the stats speak for themself. Crawshaw has been No. 4 in the nation in net punting. He led the SEC in yards-per-punt (48.9) last season and was No. 2 in the country in the metric. He hasn’t punted enough times in either of the last two seasons (Florida has gone for it on 4th down 54 times the last two seasons) but if he does hit the minimum threshold for total number of punts, he’s a Ray Guy Finalist and the best punter in the conference.
What’s in an abbreviation?
When the SEC sent out the list of preseason predictions something most people probably missed were the school abbreviations after players. Here’s a sample.
The University of Texas has long been referred to as UT, however, the league used TEX as an abbreviation for Texas while letting Tennessee hold on to the UT abbreviation. What’s in an abbreviation and will the Texas fans be more upset about this slight or when some random Vanderbilt player or fan throws up a “horns down”?
The post What the media got right and wrong with its preseason SEC picks appeared first on On3.
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