Alabama Football: Bama’s and SEC’s players in CFB’s highest rated

A recent rating of college football’s 103 top players might interest Alabama football fans. The list is reviewed in detail below. The odd number of 103 is a followup to a preseason list of 100 players, plus one and two more to include a punter and a placekicker.

How good is the list? No college football fan is likely to agree with all 103 selections and where they are ranked. For the sake of this review, let’s stipulate that the list is sound enough to have merit, and debates about individual players can be pushed aside.

There are four Alabama Crimson Tide players on the list. Add 10 other SEC schools having players chosen and the SEC total is 29 of the 103. The only SEC programs having more players selected than the Alabama Crimson Tide are Georgia with seven Bulldogs and LSU with six Bengal Tigers.

Alabama Football Top Players

• No. 12 – Dallas Turner
• No. 18 – Kool-Aid McKinstry
• No. 29 – JC Latham
• At an undefined No. 102 or No. 103 – James Burnip as the top punter

Top Players on other SEC teams

• Georgia Bulldogs – TE, Brock Bowers, No. 3; Safety Malaki Starks, No. 12; DB, Javon Bullard, No. 25; CB, Kamari Lassiter, No. 54; Center, Sedrick Van Pran, No. 64; QB, Carson Beck, No. 86 and LB, Smael Mondon, No. 98
• LSU Bengal Tigers – QB, Jayden Daniels, No. 2; WR, Malik Nabers, No. 5; LB, Harold Perkins, No. 32; OT, Will Campbell, No. 59; WR, Brian Thomas, No. 90 and DL, Mekhi Wingo, No. 96
• Texas A&M Aggies – DL, Walter Nolen, No. 45; WR, Evan Stewart, No. 50 and LB, Edgerrin Cooper, No. 70
• Missouri Tigers – WR, Luther Burden, No. 16 and CB, Kris Abrams-Draine, No. 46
• Kentucky Wildcats – RB, Ray Davis, No. 65 and CB, Maxwell Hairston, No. 78
• Auburn Tigers – DB, Jaylin Simpson, No. 38
• Tennessee Vols – Edge, James Pearce, No. 41
• South Carolina Gamecocks – WR, Xavier Legette, No. 68
• Florida Gators – QB, Graham Mertz, No. 95
• Arkansas Razorbacks – Placekicker Cam Little (like Burnip at No. 102 or No. 103)

What conclusions can be drawn from the top player ranking? Certainly, it takes much more than a few or even several great players for a team to have championship success. A team can be good and even very good, with zero top players. Not a single Ole Miss player made the list, but according to the AP Poll, the Rebels are the 12th-best team in college football.

At least three more Alabama football players are worthy of inclusion in any ‘top players’ list; Will Reichard, Tyler Booker, and Terrion Arnold.