Alabama Football: Crimson Tide racks up All-SEC honors and two surprises

Alabama Football led All-SEC first-team player selections with nine Crimson Tide players, plus a couple of surprises.

Alabama football players received due acknowledgment Tuesday with All-SEC honors. The Crimson Tide had nine players chosen for the All-SEC first team and three more on the second team. Three Tide players were named to the All-Freshman team.

There were other awards for members of the Alabama football team, including the most deserving choice of Nick Saban as the SEC Coach of the Year.

Earning additional player awards for the Alabama Crimson Tide were: DeVonta Smith as Offensive Player of the Year; Patrick Surtain II as Defensive Player of the Year; Mac Jones as Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Landon Dickerson and Alex Leatherwood shared the Jacobs Blocking Trophy.

Eleven of the SEC’s 14 schools had players chosen for the first-teams. Trailing well behind the Alabama Football output of nine players were Florida, Georgia and Auburn with three players each.

As always, the selections were made by the league’s coaches, who could not vote for their own players.

Alabama Football First Team All-SEC Players

• Offensive Line – Alex Leatherwood and Deonte Brown
• Center – Landon Dickerson
• Wide Receiver – DeVonta Smith
• Quarterback – Mac Jones
• Running Back – Najee Harris
• Defensive Line – Christian Barmore
• Linebacker – Dylan Moses
• Defensive Back – Patrick Surtain II

 Alabama Football Second Team All-SEC Players

• Linebacker – Christopher Allen
• Defensive Back – Malachi Moore
• Return Specialist – Jaylen Waddle

 Alabama Football All-SEC Freshmen Players

• Offensive Line – Javion Cohen
• Linebacker – Will Anderson
• Defensive Back – Malachi Moore

For Alabama football fans, two or three of the All-SEC selections were a surprise. Many Crimson Tide fans have been disappointed in the play of Dylan Moses this season. It is great to see other SEC coaches disagree. Javion Cohen earned his recognition with only 27 snaps of competition. Javion may be as surprised as are Crimson Tide fans. Quietly, he has shown he will be a key player for the Alabama Crimson Tide next season.

One omission on the All-SEC teams is glaring. Crimson Tide placekicker, Will Reichard is perfect on the season. How that does not qualify him as an All-SEC selection is baffling.

The complete list of All-SEC player selections is here.

The All-SEC teams are another example of the success Nick Saban has had recruiting and developing players. This year’s selections were the 13th consecutive season the Alabama Crimson Tide has led the SEC in All-SEC players.