Preseason 2020 SEC football media poll, All-SEC Team announced

The SEC football media has given us its preseason predictions, all-conference teams.

SEC football is back in our lives and we have some preseason predictions to dissect.

The SEC football media voted as it would have at SEC Media Days down in Atlanta had they been held in person. With the league’s season kicking off on Saturday, what better time than now to release it’s media poll and it’s all-conference teams. Will there be any surprises to what the media voted on this summer? Let’s find out who the media loves heading into the season.

The SEC media is very high on Alabama, Florida and Georgia this year.

SEC Preseason Media Poll

SEC East

• 1. Florida Gators (53) – 624
• 2. Georgia Bulldogs (43) – 614
• 3. Tennessee Volunteers – 434
• 4. Kentucky Wildcats – 405
• 5. South Carolina Gamecocks – 287
• 6. Missouri Tigers – 224
• 7. Vanderbilt Commodores – 101

SEC West

• 1. Alabama Crimson Tide (86) – 660
• 2. LSU Tigers (8) – 489
• 3. Auburn Tigers – 488
• 4. Texas A&M Aggies (2) – 454
• T5. Mississippi State Bulldogs – 238
• T5. Ole Miss Rebels – 238
• 7. Arkansas Razorbacks – 121

SEC Champion

• 1. Alabama Crimson Tide – 77
• T2. Georgia Bulldogs – 7
• T2. LSU Tigers – 7
• 4. Florida Gators – 5

Parentheses indicate how many first-place votes a team received. Total votes were tabulated by seven points for a first-place vote, six points for a second-place vote, five points for a third-place vote, four points for a fourth-place vote, three points for a fifth-place vote, two points for a sixth-place vote and one point for a seventh-place vote. 96 total voters took part in this preseason poll.

Though it comes as no surprise the Alabama Crimson Tide is favored to win the SEC West and the SEC Championship by a considerable margin, what is interesting is the Florida Gators are picked to win the SEC East over the Georgia Bulldogs by a razor-thin margin of only 10 points. Even more interesting, Georgia and the LSU Tigers are tied for second to win the SEC with Florida at fourth.

2020 Preseason Media Days All-SEC Teams

All-SEC First Team

Offense

• Quarterback: Kyle Trask, Florida
• Running Back: Najee Harris, Alabama
• Running Back: Kylin Hill, Mississippi State
• Wide Receiver: DeVonta Smith, Alabama
• Wide Receiver: Jaylen Waddle, Alabama
• Tight End: Kyle Pitts, Florida
• Offensive Line: Alex Leatherwood, Alabama
• Offensive Line: Trey Smith, Tennessee
• Offensive Line: Landon Dickerson, Alabama
• Offensive Line: Landon Young, Kentucky
• Center: Drake Jackson, Kentucky

Defense

• Defensive Line: Big Kat Bryant, Auburn
• Defensive Line: LaBryan Ray, Alabama
• Defensive Line: Jordan Davis, Georgia
• Defensive Line: Malik Herring, Georgia
• Linebacker: Dylan Moses, Alabama
• Linebacker: K.J. Britt, Auburn
• Linebacker: Nick Bolton, Missouri
• Defensive Back: Patrick Surtain II, Alabama
• Defensive Back: Derek Stingley Jr., LSU
• Defensive Back: Richard LeCounte, Georgia
• Defensive Back: Jacoby Stevens, LSU

Specialists

• Punter: Max Duffy, Kentucky
• Placekicker: Brent Cimaglia, Tennessee
• Return Specialist: Jaylen Waddle, Alabama
• All-Purpose: Jaylen Waddle, Alabama

Alabama leads the way with 10 All-SEC First-Team nods, including wide receiver Jaylen Waddle getting three designations for his elite return skills. Georgia and the Kentucky Wildcats are tied with three first-team nods apiece. The Dawgs have all three of theirs on defense, while Kentucky has to along the offensive line, as well as Max Duffy as their outstanding punter.

All-SEC Second Team

Offense

• Quarterback: Kellen Mond, Texas A&M
• Running Back: Rakeem Boyd, Arkansas
• Running Back: Isaiah Spiller, Texas A&M
• Wide Receiver: George Pickens, Georgia
• Wide Receiver: Terrace Marshall, LSU
• Tight End: Jalen Wydermyer, Texas A&M
• Offensive Line: Deonte Brown, Alabama
• Offensive Line: Darian Kinnard, Kentucky
• Offensive Line: Sadarius Hutcherson, South Carolina
• Offensive Line: Ed Ingram, LSU
• Center: Trey Hill, Georgia

Defense

• Defensive Line: Bobby Brown, Texas A&M
• Defensive Line: Dayo Odeyingbo, Vanderbilt
• Defensive Line: Kobie Whiteside, Missouri
• Defensive Line: Zachary Carter, Florida
• Linebacker: Henry To’o To’o, Tennessee
• Linebacker: Monty Rice, Georgia
• Linebacker: Jabril Cox, LSU
• Defensive Back: Kaiir Elam, Florida
• Defensive Back: Eric Stokes, Georgia
• Defensive Back: Marco Wilson, Florida
• Defensive Back: Israel Mukuama, South Carolina

Specialists

• Punter: Jake Camarda, Georgia
• Placekicker: Cade York, LSU
• Return Specialist: Jerrion Ealy, Ole Miss
• All-Purpose: Derek Stingley Jr., LSU

Georgia and LSU lead the way with five All-SEC Second Team performers, including wide receiver George Pickens and center Trey Hill on the offensive side of the ball for Georgia and Terrace Marshall on offense for LSU. Texas A&M has four with three on offense, including quarterback Kellen Mond. Florida has three players on defense, including two in the defensive backfield.

All-SEC Third Team

Offense

• Quarterback: Mac Jones, Alabama
• Running Back: Zamir White, Georgia
• Running Back: Larry Rountree, Missouri
• Wide Receiver: Seth Williams, Auburn
• Wide Receiver: Elijah Moore, Ole Miss
• Tight End: Arik Gilbert, LSU
• Offensive Line: Austin Deculus, LSU
• Offensive Line: Brodarious Hamm, Auburn
• Offensive Line: Evan Neal, Alabama
• Offensive Line: Wanya Morris, Tennessee
• Center: Landon Dickerson, Alabama

Defense

• Defensive Line: Aaron Sterling, South Carolina
• Defensive Line: Glen Logan, LSU
• Defensive Line: Josh Paschal, Kentucky
• Defensive Line: DJ Dale, Alabama
• Linebacker: Ventrell Miller, Florida
• Linebacker: Errol Thompson, Mississippi State
• Linebacker: Boogie Watson, Kentucky
• Defensive Back: Demani Richardson, Texas A&M
• Defensive Back: Smoke Monday, Auburn
• Defensive Back: Tyree Gillespie, Missouri
• Defensive Back: Christian Tutt, Auburn*
• Defensive Back: Bryce Thompson, Tennessee*

Specialists

• Punter: Zach Von Rosenberg, LSU
• Placekicker: Anders Carlson, Auburn
• Return Specialist: Derek Stingley Jr., LSU
• All-Purpose: Jerrion Ealy, Ole Miss

The asterisk indicates a tie.

LSU leads the way with five players on the All-SEC Third Team, including Arik Gilbert at tight end and Derek Stingley Jr. as a return specialist, his third All-SEC designation. Alabama and Auburn have four third-teamers apiece, including Crimson Tide quarterback Mac Jones and Tigers defensive back Smoke Monday. It’s good to see all 14 SEC teams have at least one guy on here.

Overall, Alabama clearly has the most good players and that’s a big reason why the Crimson Tide are favored to win the SEC as they pretty much are every year. However, it is important to note that only seven times since 1992 the SEC media has picked the correct team to win the SEC Championship at the start of the season. LSU was not picked to win the SEC a season ago.

What did the SEC media get right and what did it get wrong with its preseason poll and teams?

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