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DALLAS — It’s not as easy as it looks.
Don’t get it twisted. Filling out the preseason All-SEC ballot is a privilege I don’t take lightly. A preseason honor is indeed an honor. It’s a hat tip to the body of work of a returning player, with perhaps a bit of preseason expectations mixed in.
I don’t treat the preseason All-SEC ballot (or a preseason All-SEC poll) as an attempt to predict what it’ll look like at season’s end. That’s a different discussion.
The way that we’re asked to fill out the All-SEC ballot is incredibly in-depth. Here’s how the categories break down with rankings within each of them:
- 2 quarterbacks
- 4 running backs
- 4 wide receivers
- 2 tight ends
- 8 off-guards/tackles
- 2 centers
- 8 defensive linemen
- 6 linebackers
- 8 defensive backs
- 2 place kickers
- 2 punters
- 2 return specialists
- 2 kickoff specialists
- 2 long snappers
- Predicted order of finish
We’ll save the predicted order of finish for another time. For today, I thought it’d be interesting to show how my first-team All-SEC selections would shake out.
So here’s what my personal All-SEC ballot would’ve been:
Offense
- QB: Carson Beck, Georgia
- RB: Jarquez Hunter, Auburn
- RB: Rocket Sanders, Arkansas
- WR: Luther Burden III, Mizzou
- WR: Tre Harris, Ole Miss
- WR: Dom Lovett, Georgia
- TE: Caden Prieskorn, Ole Miss
- OL: Will Campbell, LSU
- OL: Kelvin Banks, Jr., Texas
- OL: Tyler Booker, Alabama
- OL: Tate Ratledge, Georgia
- C: Parker Brailsford, Alabama
I didn’t have to think twice about any position except running back and that No. 3 WR spot. Running back is equal parts crapshoot and person preference. Go figure that the 1 SEC running back who was a player representative at SEC Media Days wasn’t even a first-team guy for me (Florida’s Montrell Johnson). That’s a strange thing to process.
I didn’t go with Johnson because I didn’t think he was even the top running back in his own backfield last season. That was Trevor Etienne, who left for Georgia. I instead went with the lone SEC back who finished in the top 8 in rushing, Hunter. That’s gotta mean something.
I also think it has to mean something that Sanders was No. 9 in FBS in scrimmage yards in 2022. Yeah, he had a lost season in 2023, but that was because of injuries. Now at South Carolina, that might be a bit of an uphill climb, but it’s hard to deny how good he’s already been in the SEC.
That No. 3 wide receiver spot was tricky after Burden and Harris. You could go in a ton of different ways.
You could’ve gone with Juice Wells for the reasons I mentioned with Sanders about how dominant he was in 2022 before enduring an injury-plagued season in 2023. Isaiah Bond was part of that conversation, but while I anticipate many will be higher on him than I was, I didn’t think a guy with 1 game with 80 receiving yards was a no-doubter choice.
I almost went with Burks, who transferred in from Purdue after he got All-Big Ten honors, but didn’t because I thought that was too much projecting instead of previous production. And while I love Nic Anderson from Oklahoma — the guy is a deep-play machine — I do think there’s a more versatile, reliable receiver who was worthy.
I went with Lovett, who was the No. 3 option at Georgia last year when the Dawgs were at full strength. To be fair, many would be a No. 3 option behind Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey. Lovett has 110 catches for 1,459 receiving yards in the past 2 seasons at 2 SEC schools. With those 2 guys gone, Lovett should get to operate even more out of the slot, where he played the vast majority of his snaps at Mizzou in 2022, which led to him finishing No. 5 in the SEC in receiving in 2022.
As for the tight end position, some might push back on Prieskorn. Those people didn’t see how different Ole Miss was when he was on the field, especially in the ground game. It helps that he tore up Penn State in the Peach Bowl and he eventually established himself as one of Jaxson Dart’s top targets. The soon-to-be 25-year-old tight end, is a better all-around player than someone like Oscar Delp or Mason Taylor, both of whom are a bit more of receiver-focused guys who need to get better in the blocking game. Also, Prieskorn had more receiving yards than both of them.
Defense
- DL: Deone Walker, Kentucky
- DL: James Pearce, Jr, Tennessee
- DL: Nic Scourton, Texas A&M
- DL: Landon Jackson, Arkansas
- LB: Harold Perkins, Jr, LSU
- LB: Mykel Williams, Georgia
- LB: Danny Stutsman, Oklahoma
- DB: Malaki Starks, Georgia
- DB: Billy Bowman, Oklahoma
- DB: Malachi Moore, Alabama
- DB: CJ Taylor, Vanderbilt
Defense was easier than offense because it feels like the elite players are in a different class. Guys like Perkins, Stutsman, Starks, Bowman, Walker and Pearce are legitimate preseason All-Americans. Even guys like Moore and Williams will be in those conversations.
So I’m not going to justify why I had preseason All-Americans as first-teamers, but I do think there was a ton of room for interpretation with the non-Starks/Bowman defensive backs, as well as defensive line.
I’m not the biggest Moore fan, though he still made the cut. I do think his switch to a more traditional safety spot will be interesting because he’s not necessarily been a Brian Branch-like player, which Alabama could desperately need in the post-Nick Saban era. But he’s still one of the better defensive backs in the sport who has been asked to do a variety of things throughout his career.
I bet I’m in the minority by having Taylor as a first-team All-SEC defensive back. It’s almost unfair to put him in a position because he plays everywhere for Clark Lea. He was easily the best player on Vandy’s roster last year, which made it that much tougher to stomach when he suffered that season-ending injury on the interception return against Georgia. Taylor would be an unquestioned preseason first-team All-SEC guy if he were at Georgia or Alabama.
On the defensive line, folks who leave Scourton on will be telling on themselves. If you tell me that he’s the most dominant SEC player in 2024, I won’t be surprised. He was a 19-year-old captain who led the Big Ten in sacks last year. Now at Texas A&M with defensive line guru Mike Elko, yeah, buy stock now. Scourton was unguardable in A&M’s spring game. He very well could be unguardable this year.
I’ll get pushback on not having Walter Nolen — a former A&M DL — in my preseason first-team All-SEC group. Nolen was excellent in the first half of 2023 before he got hurt against Tennessee. After that, he was invisible. How much of the Nolen love is related to the NFL Draft and his recruiting ranking as the No. 2 player in the 2022 class? A lot, I bet. Nolen has all sorts of potential, but I’d like to see that for more than half a season at Ole Miss before declaring him worthy of that honor.
Princely Umanmielen, another transfer to Ole Miss, nearly made the cut for me, but I went with Dickerson. Why? It’s not a knock on Umanmielen, who’ll be part of a revamped Ole Miss defensive line after transferring from Florida.
Special teams
- Placekicker: Graham Nicholson, Alabama
- Punter: Kai Kroger, South Carolina
- Return specialist: Barion Brown, Kentucky
- Kickoff specialist: Alex McPherson, Auburn
- Long snapper: Hunter Rogers, South Carolina
I only included an explanation here because if you aren’t aware, Nicholson is a Lou Groza Award winner that Alabama got in the post-spring window from Ohio University. I’m sure that the Tide didn’t incentivize him to hit the portal to replace Will Reichard. Not at all.
And I’ll be honest. I picked McPherson as the kickoff specialist because he’s been a solid kicker at Auburn and the guy is currently dealing with prolonged irritable bowel syndrome.
He needs a dub more than anybody.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
