The SEC media members have spoken with their preseason All-SEC picks and Alabama football dominated the offense selections.
The word dominated in the above heading should be in all caps. Alabama football DOMINATED the SEC media selections for the All-SEC offense, first team. The offensive formation chosen by the media included two running backs and two wide receivers in the eleven players chosen. Add in the returner and all-purpose positions and Alabama Crimson Tide players filled eight of the 13 first-team slots.
Crimson Tide players also filled four slots on the second and third offensive teams. Alabama football sophomore Jaylen Waddle picked up three selections; first team all-purpose and return specialist; plus second team wide receiver.
Adding in the all-purpose and return specialist positions, there were 41 players selected on the three offensive teams. Alabama football led the way with 12 players chosen, followed by Georgia with seven, LSU with four, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Florida and Kentucky with three. The Auburn Tigers had two players selected. Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas A&M each had one player selected.
What do the media selections tell us?
The SEC media members are sometimes scorned for oddball predictions of division and conference winners. For example, Auburn, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee each received one vote to be the 2019 SEC Champion. The media history for the overall selection of the SEC Champion is not good either. Only seven times, going back to 1992, has the media correctly picked the SEC Champion. The record is much better over the last five seasons with three correctly predicted SEC Champions.
Of the possible 260 votes, 203 went to Alabama football as the next SEC Champion. Georgia received 49 and LSU received three votes.
There is a simple answer to what do the All-SEC offensive teams’ selections indicate. The Alabama Crimson Tide will have, by far, the most weapons in the conference. Alabama football fans can look forward to another season of explosive offensive football.
Every defensive coordinator on the Tide’s schedule will hope a Clemson-like game plan will have similar results in 2019. The problem for those guys is none of them have a defensive line matching the 2018 Clemson team.
A quick review of the media’s All-SEC defensive selections shows only a couple of SEC West teams having defensive player strength. The Crimson Tide led the defensive selections with nine players, followed by LSU and Auburn with four each. LSU’s Dave Aranda and Auburn’s Kevin Steele can try to be ‘Clemson-like’ if they choose, but their defensive rosters may not have enough game-changer players.
The full list of Alabama football players chosen on ALL-SEC teams is: Tua Tagovailoa; Najee Harris; Jerry Jeudy; Henry Ruggs III; Alex Leatherwood; Jedrick Wills; Jaylen Waddle; Miller Forritall; Deonte Brown; Matt Womack; Dylan Moses; Anfernee Jennings, Raekwon Davis; Trevon Diggs; Patrick Surtain II; Xavier McKinney; LaBryan Ray; Terrell Lewis and Shyheim Carter.