Alabama Football: An early look at distribution of All-SEC talent

In recent weeks we have discussed the talent gap between Alabama Football and two rivals; Tennessee and Auburn. A recent, admittedly very early, prediction of 2021 All-SEC teams provided by Athlon, goes through first, second, third and fourth team projections.

Not surprisingly, Alabama Football is at the top with 15 players chosen on the four teams and 16 when specialists are counted. For this comparison, we’ll skip the frequent duplications of players chosen for a field position and a special teams position, working from an overall count of 15 Crimson Tide players.

Using the same calculation, the Georgia Bulldogs are No. 2 with 12 players. Texas A&M follows with eight Aggies selected. Each with seven players chosen are Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Kentucky. The Florida Gators are next at six, followed by South Carolina with five; Tennessee and Missouri with three each and Vanderbilt with two players projected.

To what extent do Athlon’s projections portend the outcome of fall games? Rosters are far from set and more players will join teams. As always, there will be good and bad player surprises in fall camp. Any list of the SEC’s best players will be incomplete until at least three or four games have been played.

Alabama football fans are no different from other fans. We want to consider any and all worthwhile clues to predict team outcomes. What Athlon has provided is a good starting point. There will be disagreement over which players were chosen and on what teams, but it provides a good overview.

Drilling down a bit deeper, it makes sense to assess how many potential game-changers are on each team’s roster. The first-team and second-team selections by Athlon are combined to give each team a list of potential game-changers.

Alabama Football Obvious Talent Dominance

Eleven of the 15 Crimson Tide players were projected as All-SEC first or second team. On the first team are John Metchie, Evan Neal, Will Anderson, Christian Harris and Jordan Battle. Tide players on the second team are Bryce Young, Jahleel Billingsley, Emil Ekiyor, Henry To’o To’o, Josh Jobe, and Malachi Moore. Brian Robinson Jr., LaBryan Ray and Chris Allen were third-team selections. Tim Smith was projected to the fourth team.

Other SEC Schools Projected First and Second All-SEC

• Texas A&M Aggies – Eight players on the four teams and six on the first and second teams.
• Georgia Bulldogs – Twelve overall and five on the first and second teams.
• LSU Bengal Tigers – Seven overall and five on first two teams.
• Arkansas Razorbacks – Seven overall and four on the first two teams.
• Florida Gators – Six overall and four on the first two teams.
• Auburn Tigers and Ole Miss – Each with seven overall and three on the first two teams.
• Kentucky Wildcats – Seven overall and two on the first two teams,
• South Carolina Gamecocks – Five overall and two on the first two teams.
• Missouri Tigers – Three overall and two on the first two teams.
• Tennessee Vols – Three overall and one on the first two teams
• Mississippi State Bulldogs – Seven overall and zero on the first two teams.
• Vanderbilt Commodores – Two overall and zero on the first two teams.

Georgia and Auburn fans will not like Athlon’s work. The Bulldogs are sure J. T. Daniels will be a Heisman finalist. Daniels’ Athlon projection is third-team in the SEC. Auburn’s Bo Nix did not make the four-team list.