In an
effort to spice things up a bit, we enlisted the help of our faithful
Scout.com Southeastern Conference publishing brethren and/or their
writers, to select the team representing the best conference in
college football. Yes, best overall conference. Now, that statement
might just get me a step closer to the top of the “to be sued”
list by a certain entity in Tallahassee, who will be doing all of the
Christmas shopping last minute. This person is far too busy dropping
those committed to the Gators from four and five stars to two.
We’ve
added some components that should prove helpful help in situations
for our team. Offensively, we added a fullback for blocking purposes
when the defensive coordinator sends the troops and the push in short
yardage is needed. We also have a tight end for those wonderful goal
line situations and to open things up a bit when they focus on the
running game and wide receivers.
There
were only three offensive players who were selected unanimously.
Those were Florida center Mike Degory, LSU tackle Andrew Whitworth,
and Auburn running back Kenny Irons. There were several players who
were one vote away from the unanimous category.
The
starting group are all seniors who average a whopping 6-6 328, and
would be perfectly willing to have starting quarterback Jay Cutler
(Vanderbilt) spring for dinner. Cutler was another one of those
players who missed being a unanimous selection by one vote. After
carving up the Florida secondary, he earned my vote.
The
running backs come courtesy of The Heart of Dixie. The Crimson Tide
sent junior Ken Darby, while Kenny Irons arrived from The Plains. Our
fullback will be big bruiser LeRon McClain of the Crimson and White.
Young reserves Darren McFadden and Rafael Little certainly will
garner plenty of attention next season. McFadden was edged by Darby
by a single vote. D.J. Shockley gets the nod as our reserve
quarterback. Georgia was not the same team without him pulling the
trigger. Our reserve fullback is Florida’s Billy Latso, who was
an outstanding blocker and receiver for the Gators once they found it
necessary to insert him into the offense.
The
biggest surprises during the 2005 season came from a pair of freshmen
receivers. While nobody doubted their ability and athleticism did
anybody predict they would outperform many of those already
established? Both Earl Bennett (Vanderbilt) and Sidney Rice (South Carolina) missed being unanimously selected to the team by two votes.
Florida’s Chad Jackson was a unanimous selection. Leonard (Go
straight to the NFL) Pope was also a near unanimous choice.
Vanderbilt’s Dustin Dunning was easily the second team player.
(BOLD
indicates starter. Italics indicates a reserve player.
$=unanimous selection, *=Near unanimous selection)
Line
Mike
Degory $ 6-6 304 Sr. Florida
Max Jean-Gilles
* 6-4 340 Sr. Georgia
Marcus McNeill
* 6-9 338 Sr. Auburn
Andrew Whitworth
$ 6-7 322 Sr. LSU
Aaron Sears 6-4 338 Sr. Tennessee
Tim
Duckworth 6-4 315 Jr. Auburn
Randy Hand 6-6 310 Sr. Florida
Daniel Inman 6-7 328 Jr. Georgia
Matt McCutchan 6-3 295 Sr. Kentucky
Brian Stamper 6’5 295 Jr. Vanderbilt
Receivers
Leonard Pope (TE)
* 6-7 250 Jr. Georgia
Chad Jackson
* 6-1 205 Jr. Florida
Earl Bennett 5-11
195 Fr. Vanderbilt
Sidney
Rice 6-4 191 RFr. South Carolina
Dustin Dunning
(TE) 6’5 250 Sr. Vanderbilt
Dwayne Bowe 6-3 217 Jr. LSU
Dallas Baker 6-3 204 Sr. Florida
Tyrone Prothro 5-8 178 Jr. Alabama
Backs
Jay Cutler
* 6-4 225 Sr. Vanderbilt
LeRon' McClain 6-1 256 Sr. Alabama
Kenny Irons
$ 5-11 202 Jr. Auburn
Kenneth Darby 5-11 205 Jr. Alabama
D.J.
Shockley 6-1 206 Sr. Georgia
Billy Latsko
(FB) 5-10 230 Jr. Florida
Darren
McFadden 6-2 201 Fr. Arkansas
Rafael
Little 5-11 195 So. Kentucky
Defense
Defensively, only two
players were unanimous selections, while five others just missed the
honor. A pair of LSU Tigers will man the tackles positions. Offensive
line coaches will have a much more relaxing holiday knowing that they
won’t have to prepare for Kyle Williams and Claude Wroten next
season. The same can’t be said for Florida’s Marcus Thomas, who earned the second team honor. Big Jesse Mahelona was the
other choice for the reserve All-SEC honor.
There was a battle at
defensive end. Willie Evans and Quintin Moses finished with the most
votes. However, there was a three way tie between Florida’s
Jeremy Mincey, Tennessee’s Parys Haralson, and Alabama’s
Mark Anderson for the reserve spots. There is plenty of room under
our cap and always a roster spot available.
Only two linebackers
stood out in this vote, with Ole Miss’ Patrick Willis getting
the nod as a unanimous selection. Willis and Bama’s DeMeco Ryan
were the top two vote getters. Arkansas’ Sam Olajubutu edged
out Vanderbilt’s Moses Osemwegie by a single vote for the final
spot on the first unit. Brandon Siler missed the first unit by three
votes.
Tim Jennings (Georgia)
was the unanimous selection at cornerback. After that, things really
got complicated. Votes came in for six different corners, with one
barely emerging for the opposite spot. South Carolina’s
Johnathan Joseph was the worthy recipient. Three others tied to lock
down a spot on the second unit, including Carolina’s Fred Bennett and Florida’s Vernell Brown and Dee Webb.
We included a nickel
package for additional coverage. It allowed us to move LaRon Landry
to the first unit. He is very deserving and secured a lot of votes
along the way. Ko Simpson led the vote getters on the second unit.
Muhammad Abdullah and Jarvis Herring tied with the fifth place votes.
The nickel came in handy. Besides, having a few extra defensive backs
available for special teams duty is hardly a bad thing.
Line
Kyle Williams
* 6-2 295 Sr. LSU
Claude Wroten
* 6-3 290 Sr. LSU
Willie
Evans 6-2 270 Sr. Mississippi State
Quintin
Moses 6-5 248 Jr. Georgia
Jesse
Mahelona 6-2 297 Sr. Tennessee
Marcus
Thomas 6-3 285 Jr. Florida
Jeremy Mincey
# 6-4 265 Sr. Florida
Mark Anderson
# 6-5 253 Sr. Alabama
Parys Haralson
# 6-2 248 Sr. Tennessee
Linebackers
Patrick
Willis $ 6-2 230 Jr. Ole Miss
DeMeco Ryan
* 6-2 232 Sr. Alabama
Sam
Olajubutu 5-9 227 Jr. Arkansas
Moses
Osemwegie 6-0 230 Sr. Vanderbilt
Brandon
Siler 6-2 239 So. Florida
Ali Highsmith 6-1 226 So. LSU
Backfield
Tim Jennings (CB)
$ 5-8 178 Sr. Georgia
Johnathan Joseph
(CB) 5-11 188 Jr. South Carolina
Greg Blue (SS)
* 6-2 214 Sr. Georgia
Roman Harper (FS)
* 6-1 200 Sr. Alabama
LaRon Landry
(N) 6-2 204 Jr. LSU
Fred Bennett
(CB) 6-2 186 So. South Carolina
Dee Webb (CB)
# 5-11 190 Jr. Florida
Vernell Brown (CB)
# 5-8 165 Sr. Florida
Ko Simpson
(SS) 6-1 201 So. South Carolina
Muhammad
Abdullah (FS) 6-0 205 Sr. Kentucky
Jarvis Herring
(N) 5-11 205 Sr. Florida
Kickers
Kody Bliss (P)
$ 5-10 183 Jr. Auburn
Gordon Ely-Kelso
(P) 6-2 234 Jr. Georgia
Brandon Coutu
(PK) 6-0 197 So. Georgia
Chris Hetland
(PK) 6-0 185 Jr. Florida
Punt
Returners
Rafael
Little 5-11 195 So. Kentucky
Skyler Green 5-10 185 Sr. LSU
Kick
Returners
Felix Jones 6-0 195 Fr. Arkansas
Draak Davis 5-7 186 Sr. Kentucky
Devin
Aromashodu 6-2 204 Sr. Auburn
Lucas Taylor 5-10 168 Fr. Tennessee
We’d like to
thank the Scout.com publishers and writers for their help in
selecting this team. They added some wonderful insight and a few
write-in votes that came in very handy down the stretch. We think
that you’ll agree- this would make for quite an imposing team
should the corporate brass at Fox Sports opt to purchase a team in
Los Angeles or Orlando. By simply drafting the All-SEC team in Round
One, the franchise would be off to great start. Until next December…