Alabama Football: Crimson Tide leads 30 best SEC players

Alabama football has more of the best players than any other SEC team

For Alabama football fans discussing what SEC team has the best players is fun. That’s because so often it has been the Alabama Crimson Tide. Last season, LSU, loaded with talent, was an exception.

A recent list by College Football News is the source for this post. As published, it is just a list, ranked No. 1 – No. 30 of the best players in the SEC. Bama Hammer offers no rebuttal on the full list. Fans of other SEC schools will be unhappy, convinced some top players were excluded. What we will consider is how accurate the Crimson Tide players were ranked and what other Crimson Tide players should have been chosen.

The College Football News list is junior and senior-heavy, with a few sophomores. No freshman made the Top 30. Three schools combine for half of the list. Alabama football has seven players, followed by Georgia with five and LSU with three. In the top eight selected, Alabama football has five, LSU two and Georgia, one. The two Bengal Tigers, Ja’Marr Chase and Derek Stingley Jr. are No. 1 and No. 2

Five SEC programs had two players selected: Florida, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Auburn. Five more are represented by just one player: Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and South Carolina. Kentucky is the only school without a player selected. Wildcats’ fans are no doubt sure, often mentioned future All-SEC center, Drake Jackson, was unfairly snubbed.

What about the Alabama Football Seven

Patrick Surtain II was the No. 3 player and the second cornerback selected. Placing him one place behind Derek Stingley Jr. seems fair. Correctly, Najee Harris (at No. 5) was the top running back selected. Dylan Moses (at No. 6) deserved being the top linebacker chosen. Following WR, Ja’Marr Chase as No. 1, were two Crimson Tide wide receivers. DeVonta Smith (No. 7) and Jaylen Waddle (No. 8) gave the Crimson Tide the only pair of wideouts in the list. Smith was the Tide’s leading receiver last season. Waddle is an explosive multi-threat, who some think should not return kicks in the coming season. Perhaps both of the Tide pair should have been higher, but not above Chase.

Two Crimson Tide linemen were selected. Alex Leatherwood is at No. 13 and the only tackle. Landon Dickerson at No. 22 was the only center selected.

Kyle Trask (No. 16), Kellen Mond (No. 18), K.J. Costello (No. 21), John Rhys Plumlee and Jamie Newman (No. 29) were the quarterbacks. That’s a bunch of QBs for a 30-player list. It is difficult to believe Mac Jones will be the sixth-best QB in the SEC.

Overall the 30-best list is a good one. It is certainly a good resource for fan discussions.