College baseball starts this weekend, y’all! There will be some great college action throughout the weekend, with the SEC leading the way (as usual).

I would like to suggest, if you enjoy SEC baseball, making sure you read everything Saturday Down South’s Joe Cox writes this season. He’s already hit the ground running this preseason, putting together his preseason power rankings and his list of the 10 best players.

He’ll be doing plenty more throughout the year, which is sure to be a great one across the SEC!

Now, here are your questions for this week’s Mailbag:

Robert:

Who’s your early pick for the 2022 Heisman Trophy?

I’m not going to pick Bryce Young. I know that’s going to upset some Alabama fans, but if you look at the history of Heisman voters, it’s nearly impossible for a guy to win 2 years in a row.

Young threw for 4,872 yards, 47 touchdowns and 7 interceptions in 2021 and ran for 3 additional touchdowns. To even sniff the Heisman again in 2022, he has to improve on those insane numbers. Heisman voters don’t want to give a guy the trophy for simply repeating what he did the previous year.

So, Young would realistically have to put up 5,000 passing yards, 50 touchdowns, 5 interceptions and at least 5 rushing scores, in my opinion, to have a shot at repeating.

Is that possible? Of course. Young is insanely talented and I wouldn’t be surprised at anything he accomplished on a football field.

But, I do have some concerns about the offense. Jameson Williams and John Metchie will be tough to replace, as will Brian Robinson Jr. at running back. Now, Alabama will still have plenty of talent (Jermaine Burton, Jahmyr Gibbs, etc.), but will it be enough for Young to put up even bigger numbers in 2022? I don’t think so.

Oh, wait … I’ve gone off on a tangent here, haven’t I? You asked who I thought would win the Heisman, not why Bryce Young wouldn’t win it.

OK … I’ll take a bit of a dark horse. How about Myles Brennan at LSU? He showed flashes of brilliance in 2020 before suffering a season-ending injury. He’ll have Kayshon Boutte to throw to and he has a cannon for an arm.

If LSU manages to surprise people and win 10 games or more in 2022 (which won’t be easy, but is certainly possible), Brennan will be a hot name in the Heisman race down the stretch next year.

Eddie:

Atlanta has served as host for the SEC Football Championship Game since 1995. If SEC basketball could only host in 1 city for the SEC Tournament, which would be the perfect city for it?

The SEC Tournament has moved around quite a bit in recent years. Since 2010, the men’s tournament has been held in Nashville, Atlanta, New Orleans, St. Louis and, this year, will be held in Tampa.

Then, though, it returns to Nashville from 2023-2030, so it seems the SEC has already answered your question. I don’t mind the event in Nashville, but I would like to see Atlanta and New Orleans get to host more often.

If I had to pick just 1 city to host the event, I’d probably side with the SEC. Nashville is a great event city and a solid basketball city. You won’t be overshadowed by a pro team. And, Bridgestone Arena is exactly what you want in a conference tournament site.

The Georgia Dome and the SuperDome have hosted in years past, but hosting a conference tournament in a football stadium is strange to me. That’s way too big of a space. Save that for the Final Four.

So, yeah, I’m on board with the SEC’s decision to keep the event in Nashville from 2023 to 2030. (I also love the SEC football title game in Atlanta, by the way. Great spot for it.)

Michael:

How would you project the top-5 picks in the 2022 NFL Draft going as things stand right now?

Good question. I am usually not too good at making these predictions, but hey, I’ve never let that stop me before! Here’s how I’d have the top 5 shaking out prior to next month’s NFL Combine:

  • No. 1 – Evan Neal, OL, Alabama – Jacksonville Jaguars
  • No. 2 – Aidan Hutchinson, DL, Michigan – Detroit Lions
  • No. 3 – Kyle Hamilton, S, Notre Dame – Houston Texans
  • No. 4 – Derek Stingley Jr., CB, LSU – New York Jets
  • No. 5 – Charles Cross, OL, Mississippi State – New York Giants

Yeah, I went a little SEC-heavy there, but what can I say. When you cover the greatest conference in college sports, you become a bit biased toward its players.

Neal is an absolute monster of a lineman. Trevor Lawrence would be very happy with that pick. Keeping Hutchinson in Michigan makes sense, too. The Texans need to take the best player available at their spot, since they need to completely remake their roster. The Jets desperately need a corner, and Stingley is the top guy there. And the Giants need to overhaul their offensive line. I love Cross in that spot.

Will the actual draft go that way? Of course not. But, that’s how I see it playing out right now.

@Dobbe8:

Of all the teams in the current AP Poll top 25 for men’s hoops, who is the most overrated? Underrated?

As far as overrated, that one is easy. It’s Houston. The Cougars are 0-3 in Quad 1 games, yet somehow, they’re No. 4 in the NET rankings. That doesn’t make sense to me. The NCAA supposedly values Quad 1 wins above all, but has a team with 0 Quad 1 wins at No. 4 overall? I don’t get it.

The Cougars are No. 14 in the current poll, but with a recent loss to Memphis, expect that to change. Other candidates for overrated teams are Illinois (No. 12), Michigan State (No. 19) and Providence (No. 8).

As far as underrated, to me, it’s Tennessee. The way the Vols are playing right now is a lot better than their spot at No. 16 is way too low for me. The NET rankings has the Vols at No. 9, which seems more accurate.

Tennessee heads to Arkansas this weekend with a chance to prove itself worthy of a top-10 spot in Monday’s new AP Poll. We’ll see how the Vols handle the incredible atmosphere at Bud Walton Arena.

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at ASpencer@SaturdayDownSouth.com.