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Off the top of my head, I can’t recall which SEC player inspired the annual “SEC Dudes Who Deserve Better” Team.
Standby. I’ve gotta dig into the archives for that and tap into where my head was back in 2022.
I definitely thought Morgan Wallen’s “Wasted on You” was one of the most uninspiring singles of his career, yet it still got crossover airtime because for whatever reason, it had a gimmicky, base-heavy hip-hop beat. I also had the occasional “I’m gonna be a dad” moments of anxiousness after my wife became pregnant with our daughter that fall. And if I remember correctly, I spent a decent amount of brain space on deciding if “Top Gun: Maverick” was a top-3 movie theater experience of my lifetime.
OK, distraction over. Archives have been found. The SEC player who inspired the annual “SEC Dudes Who Deserve Better” Team was … 2022 Tank Bigsby!
If you recall, Bigsby played in an Auburn offense that was at the mercy of Bryan Harsin. At least up until Halloween. It dealt with multiple coordinator changes in the offseason, it had a TJ Finley/Robby Ashford combination at quarterback as well as an offensive line that wasn’t SEC-ready. As a result, Bigsby ran into loaded boxes galore for a 5-7 Auburn team during his pre-Draft season. You can be a “tank” and only do so much.
The common denominator for “dudes who deserve better” should be obvious, but I’ll clarify just so that we’re all on the same page. They’re good players who are in frustrating situations. It’s hard to say a guy deserves better if he’s either part of why a team is disappointing or if his team/unit isn’t.
(There’s a bit of a gray era with someone like Luther Burden III this year. While he deserves better QB play, I don’t find myself feeling sorry for a guy who’s become a walking unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.)
These dudes will get overlooked with recognition because their games don’t garner a national audience. Hence, why I do this annual exercise. It’s a way to shout out the guys who continue to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation by doing their jobs to the best of their abilities.
So here’s my 2024 SEC “Dudes Who Deserve Better” Team:
Danny Stutsman, Billy Bowman & Eli Bowen and basically the entire Oklahoma defense
Here’s all you need to know about what it’s like to be playing on the Oklahoma defense in 2024. On Saturday, the Sooners trailed 21-0 having only surrendered 41 yards of offense. That’s almost impossible. Shoot, Oklahoma even received the opening kick. But when your offense turns the ball over 3 times in the first 5:14, there’s only so much that you can do.
It’s been brutal for guys like Stutsman and Bowman, both of whom held off on the NFL and came back to be captains for Brent Venables’ Year 3 defense. Bowen is in a different spot as a true freshman, but he’s having a breakout season at outside cornerback that’s been largely on the back burner because of how ineffective the offense has been. These offensive numbers are beyond awful:
- 22.1 points/game (No. 107 in FBS)
- 13.5 points/conference game (No. 126 in FBS)
- 27.2% 3rd-down conversion percentage (No. 128 in FBS)
- 5.8 yards/pass (No. 128 in FBS)
- 4.3 yards/play (No. 132 in FBS)
- 16 scrimmage plays of 20 yards (No. 133 in FBS)
It’s a testament to the OU defense that it still ranks in the top 1/3 in FBS in scoring defense (No. 42) and yards/play allowed (No. 23) when it’s being asked to operate alongside an offense that doesn’t have any identity whatsoever. The Sooners rank No. 14 in FBS in stop rate, yet they only have 1 SEC win to show for it. And of course, the game-winning touchdown scored to fuel that comeback win at Auburn was a 63-yard pick-6 by Kip Lewis.
Oklahoma might not be at Tennessee or Texas levels of dominant (more on the Vols in a bit), but there’ll be a handful of Playoff teams with worse defenses than the Sooners. That’s a tough pill to swallow in Year 1 in the SEC.
Andrew Armstrong, Arkansas WR
The 6th-year receiver only spent his last 2 at Arkansas — he transferred from Texas A&M-Commerce after the 2022 season — so he might not be able to speak of Chad Morris horror stories, but I’ll assume that playing with the 2023 version of KJ Jefferson and the 2024 version of Taylen Green has certainly expedited Armstrong’s hair-graying process. The latter has been the more effective player, but Green’s propensity for turnovers is tough to stomach. Still, Armstrong is No. 2 in the SEC in catches (45) and receiving yards/game (107.7 yards).
So then why does he deserve better? As great as the 6-4 wideout has been — he’s also PFF’s No. 5-graded receiver in FBS — he’s got just 1 touchdown … and it didn’t come until this past weekend against LSU.
Right in the breadbasket pic.twitter.com/7jiM70dEor
— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) October 20, 2024
Green and his 58% completion rate might have something to do with that. To be fair, Armstrong missed the season opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff when Green and the Hogs got every blade of grass they wanted. In the games that he’s played dating back to JUCO, he’s got 34 consecutive games with a catch and 29 consecutive games with multiple catches (H/T Arkansas Communications). That included a 10-catch, 164-yard showing in the devastating overtime loss at Oklahoma State. All Armstrong continues to do is line up on the outside and make plays, regardless of the moving pieces around him.
Fingers crossed for Armstrong’s sake that a matchup against the SEC’s worst pass defense this weekend will serve him well.
KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Auburn WR
To be fair, Lambert-Smith willingly signed up to catch passes from Payton Thorne. Also to be fair, he’s been everything that Auburn could’ve hoped the Penn State transfer would be after joining the roster post-spring. Auburn couldn’t stretch the field at all last year. In 13 games, it had 7 completions of 40 yards (T-N0. 86 in FBS). In 7 games, Auburn leads FBS with 13 completions of 40 yards, 4 of which are from Lambert-Smith.
Lambert-Smith has a better rapport with Thorne than he had with Drew Allar — he’s 148 receiving yards away from besting his 2023 total — but it hasn’t resulted in a consistent offense because of how turnover-prone the Tigers have been. No “Core 4” team has lost more turnovers than Auburn (16). Lambert-Smith is exactly the type of player who could miss out on All-SEC honors at season’s end because of the Tigers’ collapse in SEC play. If anything, though, the veteran wideout’s NFL Draft stock should be climbing with what he’s meant to the otherwise forgettable offense.
Well, I suppose he’s not the only positive for Auburn …
Jarquez Hunter, Auburn RB
We started this premise with Bigsby’s 2022 showing, which Hunter had a front-row seat for. It’s only fitting that the preseason All-SEC selection is also on this list. Hunter is a worthy addition. I get that Hugh Freeze doesn’t want to operate a run-heavy offense. What I don’t get is why in the world Hunter didn’t get a carry on the first 2 plays with 1st-and-goal from the 10-yard line. You know what happened after that — incompletion, sack, dump-off completion to Hunter, missed field goal, dude returns from the hospital to rally and beat Auburn.
Hunter got 4 carries the rest of the game as Auburn lost with a 14-point lead in the second half for just the second time in the last 20 years. Was it tough sledding most of the way for Hunter? Sure. He had 19 carries for 57 yards, as well as a couple of grabs for 28 yards. That seems like a ton of work, especially for an offense that hasn’t had game flow working in its favor. But why then has Hunter averaged only 14.6 carries vs. “Core 4” teams while someone like Dylan Sampson is at 23.8 carries on a Tennessee team that had 3 consecutive scoreless first halves?
It doesn’t make sense. Say what you will about the Auburn offensive line. You still need to keep feeding a guy who can do this at a moment’s notice:
Don’t let 2️⃣7️⃣ get hot
SEC on ABC pic.twitter.com/ex0dDaWYdR
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) October 5, 2024
Auburn might not have multiple SEC wins in its future. At the very least, it needs to feed No. 27 the work that he deserves.
Jalen McLeod, Auburn LB
Did I mention that there was a lot of Auburn on this list? There is. You get it.
With how poorly this season has gone, it’d be easy for a team like Auburn to lack juice defensively. Auburn’s defense desperately needs more guys like McLeod who can make splash plays. The former Appalachian State transfer has been phenomenal as that coveted game-wrecker. He’s got 5 sacks on the year at the hybrid “Buck” linebacker spot, but he’s also been incredibly valuable in the run game. He’s PFF’s No. 4 run-defender among FBS edge-rushers, which is a big reason Auburn is a “better than you might realize” No. 22 in FBS in yards/rush allowed.
McLeod has multiple TFLs in 4 games this season and he’s No. 4 in the SEC with 9.5 on the season. Landon Jackson is the only SEC edge-rusher who has more snaps than McLeod’s 360. Any path for Auburn to overcome its turnover-happy ways and win an SEC game includes McLeod doing a ton of heavy lifting with some driving-killing stops.
Deone Walker, Kentucky DT
Walker is unique. He has played between 330-350 pounds and yet, he’s a lock to play 45-50 snaps as an interior defensive lineman. Watch No. 0 and you’ll see how disruptive he is at his size. It might not always show up in the box score, but he’s always impacting plays with his size and motor. He’s not someone that Mark Stoops takes off the field on 3rd down because he’s improved as a pass-rusher throughout his career.
But yeah, this hasn’t been the year that Walker hoped it would be. Kentucky has been one of the weirdest teams in America. It took Georgia down to the wire and it beat No. 6 Ole Miss in Oxford, yet it got smoked by South Carolina and Florida and it took a loss at home against Vanderbilt. I’d argue the defense did enough to win in 3-4 of those games and it just didn’t get any help whatsoever from the offense. UK has just 5 offensive touchdowns in 5 SEC games this year. It ranks No. 87 in 3rd-down conversion percentage in conference games and it has just 3 plays of 30 yards in 5 conference games.
In other words, Walker and the Cats haven’t had a whole lot of margin for error in conference play.
Jam Miller and Justice Haynes, Alabama RBs
Sure, Alabama still has a Playoff path if it can get to 10-2 or 9-3 with some chaos. It’s also a running back duo that’s part of a top-20 offense, so “deserving better” might not make a ton of sense on the surface. But it’s late October and Alabama is struggling to find its offensive identity. Those guys feel like they should be part of the solution. They’re averaging a combined 15.7 carries per game. Neither player is among the top 25 in the SEC in carries per game.
Kalen DeBoer admitted before the Tennessee game that those 2 needed to be more involved, and then after the go-ahead touchdown, they only got a combined 2 carries in the final 13 minutes and 56 seconds. We knew that the DeBoer offense was going to be a transition because the personnel he inherited was much different than the personnel he left at Washington. What’s frustrating for Miller and Haynes is they haven’t had more than a combined 20 carries in a conference game because of Milroe’s rushing volume … as well as the fact that Milroe just attempted a career-high 45 passes in a game in which they only trailed for 7 minutes and 56 seconds.
Part of that lack of volume for Miller and Haynes has been Alabama’s lack of discipline. Penalty yards have been a killer in conference play. The Tide averaged 82 penalty yards in 4 conference games, which is the most among “Core 4” teams. It’s hard to operate a more traditional rushing attack if you’re always operating from behind the sticks. Nonetheless, Miller and Haynes should be averaging closer to 25 combined carries per game.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the Tennessee defense
I almost included the Tennessee receivers here. They might have a legitimate case, as well. Nonetheless, the Tennessee defense deserves better because the Vols have been held scoreless in 3 consecutive first halves for the first time since the John F. Kennedy administration. And yet, Tennessee went 2-1 in those games! That’s a credit to an all-world defense and Dylan Sampson.
Tim Banks deserves immense credit for the job he’s done in Year 4 as the Vols DC. That group hasn’t had much offensive help at all in the last month, yet in conference play, the Vols only allowed 17 points/game (No. 2 in SEC) and 4.5 yards/play (No. 2 in SEC). In 4 conference games, Tennessee surrendered just 2 30-yard scrimmage plays and opponents are converting just 28% on 3rd down (both No. 1 in the SEC). James Pearce Jr. and Co. have been one of the most reliable units in America amid some extreme offensive regression in conference play. Even if Tennessee’s defense fuels a Playoff berth, that group deserves a slightly greater margin for error than what we’ve seen so far.
Oh, and 1 last one … Auburn kicker Alex McPherson
The former Lou Groza Award semifinalist has been sidelined all year with irritable bowel syndrome and he’s been forced to watch backup Towns McGough (that’s his real name) make just half his kicks in his absence.
If that’s not a dude who deserves better, I don’t know who is.
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.
