SEC loaded with returning stars in 2016, especially on defense
One reason so many SEC quarterbacks struggle is SEC defenses are so dominant.
Seemingly every Saturday, quarterbacks are staring across the line at future NFL players.
That certainly will be the case again in 2016. The top 10 sack leaders from last season all return, led by Myles Garrett, a candidate to go No. 1 overall in the 2017 draft.
Thirteen of the top 15 interception leaders also return, led by Dominick Sanders and Eddie Jackson, who each had six last season.
Good luck picking the 2016 All-SEC team.
More than two dozen first- and second-team All-SEC players from 2015 will be back, and of those 26 returning players, 12 play defense.
Five defensive linemen return, along with two linebackers and five defensive backs.
That total grows to 13 and six defensive backs if you include Tennessee’s return specialist Evan Berry, who will start this season after playing as a reserve last year.
Berry jumpstarted 2016 by returning an interception 100 yards for a touchdown in the Outback Bowl.
Thirteen offensive players are selected to each All-SEC team. Among the eight skill position players picked — one tight end, three receivers, two running backs, a quarterback and an all-purpose player — just two first-teamers return: Leonard Fournette and Fred Ross.
Five from the second team are back — Evan Engram, Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, Jalen Hurd and Chad Kelly — and each is a favorite to earn first-team honors in 2016.
Advantage, defense. Again.