Some of the preseason picks for top players in the SEC seemed easy to choose in July. But looking back, many of the top players this year didn’t even sniff a third team selection.

There was no shortage of new faces in the headlines across the league, but especially at running back.

You know about Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts and his rise from true freshman backup to Heisman Trophy candidate. He’s in a different class from anybody else on this list. Likewise, Vanderbilt’s Ralph Webb was projected in July to break Vanderbilt’s career rushing record. The fact that he did was not a surprise.

Here’s a look at 10 other SEC players who went above preseason projections, and five who fell short:

10 players who exceeded expectations

Rico Dowdle, RB, South Carolina: At the start of the season, the South Carolina running back situation was unresolved, as David Williams was in the coaching staff’s dog house and another freshman, A.J. Turner, briefly took over as Dowdle recovered from offseason hernia surgery.

But Dowdle eventually came on. He ran for 127 and 149 yards in back-to-back weeks against Tennessee and Missouri. Against Western Carolina, Dowdle had 21 carries and 226 yards, the sixth-best single game in Gamecock history. In eight games, he had 714 yards and six TDs at a 5.9 yards per carry average.

Jake Bentley, QB, South Carolina: Similar to Dowdle, Bentley was down the depth chart to start the season, but he rescued the flagging South Carolina offense as his personal story of an early enrollment during what should have been his senior year of high school was well documented.

Even after a sub-par effort against Clemson when he left early with a possible knee injury, he finished the regular season with 1,030 passing yards at a 63 percent completion clip. He had six touchdowns and two interceptions in six games, most notably wins over Tennessee and Missouri.

Rawleigh Williams III, RB, Arkansas: Forgotten behind the likes of Leonard Fournette, Nick Chubb, Jalen Hurd and Ralph Webb, Williams led the SEC in rushing with 1,326 yards, and added 12 touchdowns after he wasn’t even listed among the all-SEC teams in the preseason.

Part of that could have been because he was returning from a serious neck injury that ended his 2015 season.

He had seven 100-yard games and three with at least 148 yards. It didn’t take long to see how he would recover from the neck injury suffered against Auburn last year as he had at least 96 yards rushing in four of his first five games.

Stephen Johnson, QB, Kentucky: If you’re building a case for Johnson, you would start with him winning a third SEC game in his fourth start, a pace faster than former Kentucky quarterbacks Jared Lorezen, Tim Couch and Andre Woodson.

But that came long before he outdueled Lamar Jackson and Louisville with a 16-for-27 passing game with 338 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. For a player who just arrived on campus in January from junior college, Johnson piloted seven wins with 12 TDs and six interceptions all after being asked to replace injured starter Drew Barker.

Benny Snell Jr., RB, Kentucky: It seemed Stanley “Boom” Williams had a stranglehold on the Kentucky rushing game, but Snell turned that theory on its ear as a true freshman.

Not to mention being ranked the No. 56 running back in the 2016 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. If he wasn’t the best true freshman running back in the nation this year, he’s at least in the conversation.

He finished with 1,057 yards and 13 touchdowns, which is eighth in the SEC. The 13 touchdowns are third in the SEC. He had five 100-yard games highlighted by 38 carries for 192 yards and two TDs against Missouri. Snell also broke Moe Williams’ 20-year-old Kentucky freshman rushing record (854 yards) against Austin Peay.

Evan Engram, TE, Ole Miss: Among the SEC leaders in receiving much of the season, and finished third with 65 catches, second with 926 yards and tied for fifth with five TDs for Ole Miss. For the preseason second-team tight end in the SEC, Engram was ahead of at least 10 receivers, including several who led their team in receiving.

He was first or second in four statistical categories among tight ends in the nation. But somehow left off the finalists list for the John Mackey Award, awarded annually to the top college tight end.

Arden Key, DE, LSU: Key made headlines in the preseason with a goal of 20 sacks on the season. While he fell short, and was suspended for the regular season finale, Key finished second in the SEC with 10 sacks, twice his total from last year, after he was selected third-team All-SEC in July. He had at least a half sack in eight games.

We knew he was good, but he was even better in 2016.

Zach Cunningham, LB, Vanderbilt: It’s puzzling now to wonder how the Vanderbilt linebacker didn’t make the preseason All-SEC first team; Cunningham leads the SEC in with 119 tackles and had 16.5 tackles for a loss. Despite being double-teamed and schemed as the top player to game-plan against by opponents, Cunningham is among the front-runners for SEC Defensive Player of the Year, an accolade earned only once before by a Commodores player.

His stop of a Georgia fourth down played helped Vanderbilt win at Sanford Stadium, and against Auburn, he hurdled two linemen and blocked a field goal attempt. He also has three pass breakups and two forced fumbles. Cunningham has posted at least 10 tackles in seven games this season, and he’s the first Vanderbilt player to record 100 tackles in consecutive seasons since Jamie Winborn from 1998-2000.

J’Mon Moore, WR, Missouri: It’s easy to see how Moore’s game is going based on his body language, which is usually because of drops or fumbles. But he was also benched late in the season. Despite it all, he nearly tripled his receiving output from 2015, going from 350 receiving yards and three TDs, to 1,012 yards, which led the SEC and eight scores.

He also led the league in receiving yards in conference games with 700. Moore did it all without being named to even the preseason All-SEC third team. He became became the seventh 1,000-yard receiver in Missouri history. The final three games of the regular season, he had a combined 23 catches for 407 yards.

Kamryn Pettway, RB, Auburn: Entering the season, there were loads of questions about the Auburn backfield, and the answers hardly settled on Pettway. After all, in 2015, he rotated at fullback with Chandler Cox, only started against Mississippi State and Idaho, didn’t have a carry and only had an 8-yard kickoff return.

But despite missing games at the end of this season with a quadriceps injury, Pettway led the SEC in rushing yards per game with 124 on average. He had at least 123 rushing yards in six games, but might remember the 2016 season against Ole Miss with 30 carries for 236 and a touchdown, and against Mississippi State with 39 carries for 169 yards and three TDs.

5 who didn’t

Brandon Harris, QB, LSU: Harris was a third-team All-SEC pick in the preseason. He began the season as the starting quarterback for LSU, but he struggled in the season-opening loss to Wisconsin and lost his job to Danny Etling after opening the following week’s game against Jacksonville State 1-for-4.

Myles Garrett, DE, Texas A&M: Remember, this is relative to preseason expectations. Garrett’s sack total dropped from 12.5 last season to 8.5 this year. He missed two games, but had six other games where he didn’t register a sack. Factor in 4.5 sacks against Texas-San Antonio and the drop off is more jarring. But he’s battled a nagging left foot injury. Garrett, when healthy, was still a monster. But before the season, Garrett set a goal to make 20 sacks.

Calvin Ridley, WR, Alabama: The preseason first-team All-SEC receiver didn’t even lead his team in receiving yards. While Ridley had big games against Western Kentucky and Kentucky, he had six games with less than 30 receiving yards each. He did match last year’s seven touchdown total, but had just over half of the yardage total (684 versus 1,045). One possible silver lining was Ridley improved his blocking ability often clearing a path for quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Jalen Hurd, RB, Tennessee: One of the top four running backs in the SEC entering the season, Hurd played in just seven games before he announced his departure from Tennessee, which was initially a mystery, then was reportedly over his involvement in the offense. Hurd was projected to be a high draft pick in next year’s NFL Draft, and Butch Jones even mentioned him as a Heisman Trophy candidate. He finished with 451 rushing yards and three TDs on 122 carries.

O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama: The first-team All-SEC preseason tight end was the third-best pass-catcher in the league at the position throughout the season. He only had three games with at least 60 receiving yards and finished with just two touchdowns. Howard had a similar season last year before dominating Clemson in the national championship.