Ten SEC teams will play in bowl games.
Alabama could take up six spots on any top 10 defensive watch — unless we stop them. Which we did.
Here, then, are 10 defensive players to watch — one per team — this bowl season.
Spoiler alert: Defensive backs better have their back pedal game in gear because the ball will be in the air.
Alabama: S Eddie Jackson — Nothing against the front seven, but we know what they’re going to do. Alabama’s secondary got beat deep for a touchdown in the SEC title game against Florida. Connor Cook is an absolute NFL QB prospect and he will look to test the Tide early. Jackson shared the SEC lead with 5 interceptions and also tied for first by returning two for touchdowns.
Arkansas: LB Dre Greenlaw — Kansas State is so vanilla its ought to change its official team color to cream. So as dream matchups go, there isn’t one. So focus on Greenlaw, who led all freshmen SEC defenders with 93 tackles.
Auburn: CB Carlton Davis — Davis had 3 interceptions — tying him with Alabama’s Marlon Humphrey for most by an SEC freshman this season — and he’ll get plenty of opportunities against Memphis. Paxton Lynch threw for 3,670 yards with 28 TDs to just 3 INTs.
Florida: CB Jalen Tabor — What more can Vernon Hargreaves accomplish? We’re already looking ahead, and the key defensive question to 2016 is whether Tabor can accept and succeed as Hargreaves’ shut-down corner replacement. Michigan spreads the ball around. Three receivers — Amara Darboh, Jehu Chesson and Jake Butt — each caught at least 45 passes for 600 yards.
Georgia: LB Jake Ganus — The Bulldogs’ defensive MVP isn’t seen as an elite NFL prospect. He has another opportunity to change some minds against a Big Ten opponent that features a 1,000-yard rusher in Saquon Barkley.
LSU: CB Tre’Davious White — The Tigers’ all-conference junior cover corner is no stranger to one-on-one games on the outside. Texas Tech threw it 564 times this season — second in the nation and nearly 100 more times than the SEC leader, Mississippi State. So White will be busy chasing Jakeem Grant all over the field.
Mississippi State: LB Richie Brown — N.C. State lost its top two running backs, rendering its running game ineffective. That has put even more of an onus on QB Jacoby Brissett, the transfer from Florida. Brissett isn’t a classic dual-threat, but he is big and physical situational threat, and he carried it 113 times, which will keep Brown honest.
Ole Miss: CB Trae Elston — Another aerial shootout, which will give Elston ample opportunity to add to his four interceptions this season. Few teams throw more than Oklahoma State, which has three dangerous wideouts in James Washington (1,077 yards, 10 TDs), David Glidden (807 yards, 3 TDs) and Marcell Ateman (696 yards, 5 TDs), a matchup nightmare at 6-4, 210.
Tennessee: DE Derek Barnett — The sophomore has been chasing Myles Garrett for two years, and they’ll enter 2016 vying to be the SEC’s next dominant NFL defensive force. Barnett has 9.0 sacks this season. He’ll have an opportunity against Northwestern to showcase his run-stopping ability. Just eight teams nationally threw it fewer times than the Wildcats.
Texas A&M: DE Myles Garrett — An obvious but interesting choice as Garrett is starting to get Clowney-like questions about effort, intensity, etc. There’s no denying the talent, and he can kick-start his 2017 NFL Draft march by closing out 2015 with a couple more sacks against Louisville, which allowed 43.0 sacks — second-most in the entire country.
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
