One of the more talked about aspects of the SEC Media Days festivities was the voting for the All-SEC preseason team, which had 331 members of the SEC media give their predictions for who would be the most productive players this coming season. The fact that Tennessee’s Joshua Dobbs and Ole Miss’ Evan Engram didn’t make the cut is testament to the star power at the top of the SEC and we decided to break down the media picks at each position. Here is a look at the media picks for the All-SEC preseason offense.
QB: Chad Kelly, Ole Miss
Dobbs could very well emerge as the top quarterback in the SEC this season but the more likely scenario is that Kelly thrives for the Rebels, putting up even bigger numbers than he did last season. The difference is that we’ve seen Kelly deliver already. He’s the incumbent. Dobbs is the challenger.
Kelly is coming off a year in which he put up 4,042 yards and 31 touchdowns and while he lost a couple of key weapons including top wide receiver Laquon Treadwell, he still has more than enough talent around him to hit the 4,000-yard mark in 2016.
RB: Leonard Fournette, LSU; Nick Chubb, Georgia
The obvious pick here is Fournette, who is coming off a year in which he averaged 6.5 yards per carry while rushing for 1,953 yards and 22 touchdowns. Fournette seemed to run out of gas towards the end of last season but he has had an entire offseason to recover and should be primed for another big year with a little more help around him. Meanwhile, the bigger question mark here is Chubb, who is coming off a devastating injury that kept him out for pretty much all of last year. Chubb has the raw talent to be one of the top running backs in the SEC but he is coming off a tough injury and the presence of Sony Michel could prevent him from producing to his potential this season.
WR: Calvin Ridley, Alabama; Christian Kirk, Texas A&M
Even with question marks at the quarterback position, Alabama still earned a spot at the wide receiver position with Ridley expected to put up massive numbers in his sophomore season. The 6’1’’, 188-pound receiver had 89 catches for 1,045 yards and seven touchdowns in his freshman season and he is expected to produce at a high level regardless of who is throwing him the football. Meanwhile, Kirk had 80 catches for 1,009 yards and seven scores in his freshman year for Texas A&M and the arrival of Trevor Knight at quarterbacks should help make sure he tops those numbers in 2016.
TE: O.J. Howard, Alabama
The second of Alabama’s three All-SEC preseason media picks on offense is the tight end Howard, who finished last season with his best performance of the year in the national championship game when he had five catches for 208 yards and two touchdowns. The 6’6’’, 242-pound tight end is bound to top the 38 catches for 602 yards and two touchdowns that he had a year ago and there is no doubt he will be a key piece in the Crimson Tide offense.
OL: Cam Robinson, Alabama; Dan Skipper, Arkansas; Greg Pyke, Georgia; Alex Kozan, Auburn
Robinson’s off-field incident doesn’t take away from his talent on the field as well as how important he is to Alabama’s offense. There is no bette left tackle in college football and as long as he can keep things in order off the field, Robinson should be a lock as an All-SEC pick at left tackle. Arkansas is represented on this list with Skipper, who is an absolute athletic freak at 6’10’’ and 297 pounds while Georgia guard Greg Pyke and Auburn guard Alex Kozan round out the selections on the offensive line.
C: Ethan Pocic, LSU
The center position is classified separately from the offensive line media picks in terms of All-SEC selections with Pocic the obvious choice here. LSU’s man in the middle is the glue that holds the line together in front of Fournette and he got the nod here ahead of Georgia’s Brandon Kublanow as the All-SEC preseason pick at the center position.
