College Football
The Return
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
I’m sure at some point over the past six months, most of us reached that moment where we had watched everything we were interested in and started binge watching television shows or movies we had no desire to see, just to pass the time.
(Personally, I began a weekend watching the first Police Academy and finished it with Mission to Moscow; something I’m both proud of, yet less than impressed with.)
If I may stick with the entertainment theme for just a minute longer, when the college football season started a few weeks ago it felt like watching “The Office” after Steve Carell left; the cast of characters and storylines were enough to keep watching, but it just wasn’t the same.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed watching some of the lesser known schools get their time in the national spotlight, but when the two best conferences in college football aren’t on the schedule the whole thing is a little underwhelming.
With the SEC beginning their season, it not only felt like another step towards some sense of normalcy, but there was a feeling of excitement about watching the games because of who was playing and not just because a game was being played.
I have to admit, even with it being the first games of the season for SEC teams, they did not disappoint, obviously with Mississippi State and Florida garnering a lot of the praise.
Speaking of the Bulldogs, me trying to find any redeemable quality in Mike Leach is like trying to find a pack of Skittles in the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese.
However, what KJ Costello and the MSU offense was able to do to LSU forces me to begrudgingly give Leach credit.
I still think LSU will finish the season as the better team and I doubt the Bulldog offense will put up those type numbers again, but for right now Leach is deserving of the credit that’s come his way.
I also have to confess, I kind of like this schedule, where teams basically just play within their conference. I know we’re missing out on some of the big out of conference games we’ve started to see more of lately, but we’re also not having to be subjected to Alabama playing the Flying Griffindors of Hogwarts University, either.
I realize when you’ve got a new head coach, or new players at prime positions, like LSU and even Georgia to a certain extent, it’s nice to have easier games for everyone to get acclimated to each other.
On the other hand, it’s a nice change to essentially throw all the teams into the deep end and see who learns to swim first.
This isn’t to say the first few weeks of the season were rough to watch, they weren’t by any stretch. And there have been some really good storylines we’ve seen emerge that may not have otherwise gotten the attention. (A perfect example are the Miami Hurricanes. Imagine how much of the hype going to Mississippi State would be going to Miami after their annihilation of Florida State.)
Still, it’s nice to turn on a football game and see some of the major teams and players back in the field; it’s one of the reasons we love it so much.
I mean, we’re not watching Cobra Kai because it has the return of Daniel LaRusso’s mother, are we?
SEC Saturday
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We are two weeks into the 2020 college football season.
As you know everything has been altered due to the global pandemic. The SEC begins the season this Saturday and we are going to preview these games.
#5 Florida @ Ole Miss: Kyle Trask enters the season as the starting QB for the Gators. He was given the job in the Kentucky game after Feleipe Franks got hurt.
He led Florida to a comeback win and he never looked back. I expect him to be much better and have more confidence this season.
Ole Miss was 4-8 in 2019 so we don’t expect much from them.
QB John Rhys Plumlee is the epitome of a dual threat. He rushed for 1,023 yards and 12 touchdowns last year, while averaging 6.6 yards per carry.
The Gators should still win by 14 points.
#23 Kentucky @ #8 Auburn: This season home teams won’t have the advantage of crowd noise.
That will not make a difference for Auburn though. Last season true freshman quarterback Bo Nix passed for 2,542 yards, 16 scores and 6 interceptions.
He also ran for 313 yards and 7 TD’s. As expected, he made some head scratching plays due to his inexperience.
He should be much more consistent and protect the football better going into his sophomore season.
Kentucky has been a solid team over the last few years. The Wildcats were 8-5 in 2019. In a battle of jungle cats that Joe Exotic would appreciate, I give the edge to the Tigers by 10 points.
Miss St @ #6 LSU: The Tigers are the defending champs, but they lost so much talent from that team.
Heisman Trophy winning QB Joe Burrow was the top pick in the draft. Running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire was also a first-round pick.
The elite programs reload with talent, but I think that’s unrealistic for LSU.
The Bulldogs senior RB Kylin Hill ran for 1,350 yards and 10 scores in 2019. I think this will be a close game but LSU should win by a touchdown.
#4 Georgia @ Arkansas: UGA had Wake Forest transfer QB Jamie Newman as the expected starter but he opted out of the season a few weeks ago.
USC transfer JT Daniels is now the starter and I think he’ll do well. RB D’Andre Swift left for the NFL but Zamir White, James Cook and Kenny McIntosh will step up.
Arkansas is a bad football team, going 2-10 last year and winless in conference games.
The lone bright spot is Last Chance U star Rakeem Boyd who ran for 1,133 yards and 8 scores in 2019.
The Hogs have added Florida transfer quarterback Feleipe Franks and he easily won the starting job. Yikes. UGA wins by 27 and Franks will assist with three turnovers.
#2 Alabama @ Mizzou: I hate to say it but Missouri has no chance.
Mac Jones has been named the starter for Bama. The Crimson Tide have too much talent at every position and this will be a blow out.
Vanderbilt @ #10 Texas A&M: I think the Aggies are ranked way too high, especially with Kellen Mond at quarterback.
That won’t matter in this game because Vandy is outmatched.
That’s the case for the Commodores in the majority of their conference games. Give me A&M by 20 points.
#16 Tennessee @ South Carolina: The Vols got off to a rocky start (1-4) last year but finished 8-5 and won the Gator Bowl.
South Carolina battled injuries to quarterbacks last season. I think the Gamecocks pull the upset in Week 1.
Panthers Prowl
By: Mike Anthony
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
To say that Georgia State’s tenure in the Football Bowl Subdivision has been a roller coaster ride might be a bit of an understatement.
The Panthers enter 2020 on the heels of a 7-6 record last season and the program’s third bowl appearance, however the team has been prone to big dips in performance, going 3-9 and 2-10 to follow up their previous seasons in which they reached a bowl.
A big reason for the inconsistency has been Georgia State’s struggles to build depth at quarterback.
The Panthers have had their share of impact passers, but have routinely needed a year or two to break in a new star after losing one.
That task once again presents itself this fall as two-year starter and dynamic threat Dan Ellington has moved on.
Ellington was one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the Sun Belt Conference in 2019 before tearing an ACL two-thirds of the way through the season.
Showing plenty of toughness – and the aforementioned lack of QB depth – Ellington played out the season, but was rendered into a one-dimensional threat and the offense suffered greatly.
Mikele Colasurdo seemed to be a fitting replacement, but has opted out of the season after suffering from COVID-19. That leaves redshirt freshman Cornelius Brown as the most seasoned option available for the Panthers.
Many other pieces remain in place for a Panther offense that was potent before Ellington’s injury.
The running game has been on the upswing for the past two seasons and Georgia State returns four offensive linemen who may be a bit undersized, but who proved their effectiveness last fall.
If the Panthers are to avoid another post-bowl falloff, fixing the defense is a huge priority.
Georgia State ranked just 112th in the country against the run last season and was amongst the worst in the nation at getting to opposing quarterbacks when they dropped back to pass.
The Panthers’ seven wins in 2019 easily could have been more if not for the fact that their defense couldn’t stop any bleeding despite getting plenty of help on the scoreboard from its offense.
All four starters in the defensive secondary return, but it remains to be seen whether that will be a positive. Georgia State allowed 8.5 yards per pass attempt last season and allowed 27 yards through the air.
In a season that is certain to be remembered for its uniqueness, Georgia State has been one of the hardest hit Sun Belt teams in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Panthers lost a Sept. 5 home date vs. Murray State and a Sept. 12 visit to Alabama and weren’t able to schedule any makeup games, leaving them with just 10 matchups this fall.
Overall, the Panthers seem poised to remain as a solid team and avoid too much of a drop-off this time around.
Finding a suitable replacement for Ellington should keep them competitive in most games, but making a run at the Sun Belt East division might be a bit of a stretch as Appalachian State enters 2020 as the prohibitive favorite, with Georgia Southern and Troy also widely predicted to finish ahead of Georgia State.
The Return
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
When the NBA resumed their season, I heard Bomani Jones mention on a podcast that he didn’t realize how much he needed the return of basketball, until he watched the opening tip.
As someone who has been concerned with how the college football season was going to take place, while keeping everyone as safe as possible, I understood exactly where Bomani was coming from.
I paused my game of Red Dead Redemption 2 and took a break from binging The Big Bang Theory, to watch what was essentially the opening weekend of college football.
We all know this upcoming season is going to be something completely different than we’ve experienced before and if the first weekend is a taste of what the next few months hold, we’re in for a wild, unpredictable ride.
It didn’t take long for Covid to start wreaking havoc on the schedule with both Houston/Memphis and Virginia/Virginia Tech postponing their respective games.
There were also a few other games postponed, as well as some, Oklahoma/Missouri State come to mind, that were almost cancelled.
However, some of those cancellations brought on new games, (Houston replaced their game against Memphis with Baylor and Appalachian State’s game against UNC-Charlotte also took place because of previously cancelled games), so it was interesting to see teams adapt on the fly to that adversity.
Looks like you can add each team’s schedule to the list of things that will be fluid throughout the year.
There was also the news the Big Ten and possibly Pac-12 will vote to resume their seasons, with a start date sometime in October. If you thought the debates about who made the college playoffs in years past were contentious and heated, imagine what it will be like this year when two of the five conferences will have only played half the games.
As for the actual games, you had three Sun Belt teams (Louisiana, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina) beating three Big-12 schools (Iowa State, Kansas State, Kansas) as well as Georgia Tech’s victory over Florida State.
I know upsets happen every year, and outside of Iowa State not much was expected from any of the losing teams, but with everything going it feels like a precursor of things to come.
A couple weeks ago I thought this might be the year a school from outside the power 5 would have a shot at the playoffs, and I’m still hanging onto that belief, if only by a thread.
Then you had the case of Georgia Southern, who squeaked out a win over Campbell, due in large part to 33 of their players not being eligible to play.
Not all their players sat out because of Covid, but many them did, even if the cause wasn’t directly related.
I realize this will only be a blip on the ticker at the bottom of your screen, but insert Georgia or Clemson in place of Georgia Southern and see how big a story it becomes.
The great 1980’s poet, Tom Keifer (Cinderella) once wrote “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Till It’s Gone)” and while I tend to agree with his sentiment, I would like to add a caveat to it.
In some cases, you know exactly what you’ve got, you just don’t realize how much you missed it until it comes back.
It was good to see you again, college football. Here’s hoping everyone can stay safe enough for you to stick around for a while.
Killer Gator
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The SEC football season starts on September 26th.
Millions of college football fans, like me, in the South have that day circled on the calendar.
SEC football junkies tune into the SEC network to soak up all of the information we can regarding the upcoming season.
The SEC Network talking heads are asked their opinion on a variety of topics and one of those topics I heard recently was ‘who was the best returning quarterback in the SEC going into the 2020 season?’
That question was raised this week on the network and the answer given by one on the talking heads was Kellen Mond of Texas A&M.
I raised up in my chair and said ‘no way, can that be true’ because the obvious answer to that question from my perspective is Kyle Trask from the University of Florida.
Let’s do some stat comparisons from 2019:
Kyle Trask:
CMP: 237
ATT: 354
YDS: 2,941
CMP%: 66.9
TD: 25
INT: 7
Kellen Mond:
CMP: 258
ATT: 419
YDS: 2,897
CMP%: 61.6
TD: 20
INT: 9
As you look at the stats on paper you will see that the yards were similar between the two starting quarterbacks.
You will notice that Trask had a much higher completion percentage than Mond.
The most glaring stat is that Trask threw for more touchdowns 25 to 20 on 65 less passing attempts.
The thing that separates Trask right now from Mond, in my opinion, is confidence.
Confidence is a quality at the QB position that brings calm to the rest of the football team.
You could see it in Trask when he came off the bench last September when he led a huge 4th quarter comeback against Kentucky in Lexington after Feleipe Franks went down with a season ending leg injury.
Other than the 2018 classic seven overtime win over LSU, you haven’t seen that confidence in Kellen Mond in his entire Aggie career.
Mond is a pretty good QB, don’t get me wrong, but when the big games on the schedule roll around he just doesn’t seem like a confident QB in those games.
Mond led the Aggies to an 8-5 record in 2018 with a Texas Bowl win over Oklahoma State.
Trask led Florida to an 11-2 record that included an Orange Bowl win over Virginia.
Even in the two losses against LSU and Georgia, Trask handled the pressure of those two games well.
Yes, we know the SEC West is a better division than the SEC East currently.
Florida travels to Texas A&M on October 10th to play the Aggies. This game will match up the two top returning QB’s from 2019.
This will be a huge road game for Florida as the Gators deal with high expectations in the SEC East for the first time in 4 years.
Dan Mullen is building this thing back at UF and this game in College Station will be a huge measuring stick as to where they are.
The Aggies have to take the next step in 2020 or the heat may begin to build under Jimbo Fisher. I expect this to be a classic game.
Let me leave you with this question about this contest. With the game on the line in the 4th quarter, which QB do you want under center Mond or Trask? Give me Kyle Trask please.
Kyle Trask is the best returning QB in the SEC.
Here come the Auburn fans whining about how I have disrespected Bo Nix.
Saturday’s Buzzing Chant
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Mike Norvell era begins on Saturday September 12, 2020 against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
It’s game week for FSU football, which means it’s time for Coach Norvell to unveil his plan to get FSU back to relevancy.
After four seasons as the head coach at Memphis, Coach Norvell was hired to replace Willie Taggart.
FSU comes into the game week as a 12.5 point favorite against Georgia Tech.
One of the biggest questions going into the contest is Mike Norvell; is he the right person to lead FSU back to prominence?
The past two seasons FSU has struggled with costly penalties, turnovers, personnel, alongside other detailed issues.
The first offseason at a new school is always a challenge for a head coach, as they set out to install their offensive and defensive schemes. FSU’s culture and expectations for the program remains high.
This offseason has been even more complicated by COVID-19, Norvell was attempting to operate the offseason remotely. The trying nature of this offseason has taken the anticipation to perhaps an even higher level ahead of Saturday’s kickoff.
Saturday is a great opportunity for the FSU football team and Mike Norvell to show their fans, alumni and supporters that the program is in good hands and is heading in the right direction.
Watching Coach Norvell’s press conference on Monday, Coach Norvell never stopped smiling. He beams confidence and leadership. His job is to rebuild one of the most dominant college football programs from a deflating down period.
Don’t get me wrong, FSU is not competing for a National Championship or even an ACC Championship this season, but Coach Norvell must show positive results on the field. He will be playing his home games on Bobby Bowden Field.
Norvell will be facing a program in Georgia Tech with second year head coach Geoff Collins.
Georgia Tech coming off a very disappointing 3-9 campaign in 2019. The Yellow Jackets look to rebound in 2020.
Saturday’s game is a big game for both teams as the Jackets look to take a big step forward in year two of the Geoff Collins era, while FSU looks to get the Mike Norvell era off to a good start in his first game as the Seminoles head coach.
With both programs having plenty to prove, I expect things to be sloppy at times with missed tackles, blown assignments, and penalties on both teams.
I think it will be a fairly high scoring game, but we do have to take into account the lack of practice time.
The Seminoles biggest problem on offense last year was their offensive line which allowed a whopping 48 sacks, that’s a weakness that Georgia Tech must exploit to win.
Look for James Blackmon to stay upright and FSU’s team speed will be the difference in this matchup, as Florida State simply has too many talented weapons at their disposal and that leads tips the game heavily in favor of the Seminoles.
Final Score Prediction: FSU 34 Georgia Tech 13
Lost Rivals
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The SEC announced it would be moving to a 10-game only conference game schedule for the 2020 football season.
With this news it means it means people will not see Georgia/Georgia Tech, South Carolina/Clemson, Florida/Florida State, nor Kentucky/Louisville play their rivalry games this fall.
The start of the season will be pushed back until September 26th.
If you are a UGA fan this probably means you open the season in Tuscaloosa against Alabama on that date. It is unclear at this time which teams the Bulldogs would add to the schedule.
It’s assumed that they would play the six teams from the SEC East and keep the Crimson Tide, this year’s SEC West rotational opponent, and Auburn, the annual SEC West opponent, on the schedule.
The SEC is developing a formula based on strength of schedule to determine the remaining two games for each SEC team.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the shift to late September will allow schools to reintegrate their entire student bodies on campus amid the new challenges presented by the pandemic.
“This new plan for a football schedule is consistent with the educational goals of our universities to allow for the safe and orderly return to campus of their student populations and to provide a healthy learning environment during these unique circumstances presented by the COVID-19 virus,” Sankey said in a statement. “This new schedule supports the safety measures that are being taken by each of our institutions to ensure the health of our campus communities.”
Clemson and South Carolina have played every year since 1909.
Georgia and Georgia Tech, which have played 114 times, have met in each season since 1925.
Florida and Florida State started playing each other in 1958. I hate losing these three games as a fan in 2020.
Other Big SEC non-conference games that were cut in 2020 are Alabama vs. USC in Arlington, Texas, was canceled when the Pac-12 opted to play only conference games.
Two other ACC-SEC games Georgia vs. Virginia and Auburn vs. North Carolina at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta are gone.
Other games that won’t be played: Texas at LSU, Arkansas at Notre Dame, Tennessee at Oklahoma, Missouri at BYU, Vanderbilt at Kansas State and Mississippi State at NC State.
2020 will go down as one of the worst years in history with the Covid-19 pandemic. I lost a family member to this deadly pandemic.
College football is like comfort food to many of us in the South, currently. I’m hoping the season takes place. As a UGA fan it bothers you that you can’t play a rival that is only 70 miles from your campus, but I applaud the SEC and the University Presidents for doing everything in their power to have a football season.
Questions to be answered now:
Once play begins will we even have fans in attendance?
Will UGA/UF be played in Jacksonville this year?
With the conference only format, will Florida and Georgia lose a home game?
What does a competitive balanced additional two SEC games mean?
Does that mean Florida picks up Texas A&M and Auburn while Alabama picks up Vanderbilt and Missouri?
Long time SEC fans know how everything seems to benefit Alabama in the long run. Yes, I said it prove me wrong from a historical perspective. It is going to be interesting when the additional two game rotation rolls out.
The ultimate goal is to have SEC football this fall, and Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate will resume in 2021 at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.
What Might Have Been
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the past 15 years or so the SEC has been the best college football conference in the country.
As much as it pains me to say it, they’ve had the best coaches, players, and overall teams from top to bottom during that span.
To be honest, they’ve been at the top so long it was easy to forget that in the early 2000’s the ACC actually made a play for that honorable distinction when they added Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Miami to their lineup.
I actually remember a few columnists, as well as many ACC fans, were upset by the move because it was so obviously football centric many people thought it was going to water down the conference from a basketball viewpoint.
That was as acceptable in ACC country as it would be telling Alabama children they don’t need to be a quarterback, but should play tennis instead. (For the record, there’s nothing wrong with choosing tennis over football, but I don’t live in Alabama, either.)
I realize trying to explain to someone under the age of 20 that the Miami Hurricanes were actually a powerhouse program is as difficult as trying to convince my 15-year-old daughter that the Dave Matthews Band was once cool, but they were (in both cases).
The Hurricanes were so dominant back then it would be like taking this past season’s LSU team and extrapolating their success over the next 3 to 4 years.
Not only did it feel like the apocalypse was upon us anytime Miami lost, it also seemed like, for a while, the first round of the NFL draft was a who’s who of Hurricane players.
Virginia Tech wasn’t on the same level as Miami, but they had just gone through the Michael Vick years, which helped propel them into the national spotlight.
The Hokies had also signed Marcus Vick, Michael’s younger brother, so expectations were extremely high.
Boston College, even though they were kind of an afterthought among the three schools, were considered better than most other ACC programs.
When you combined the addition of those three schools, along with Florida State, which was a premier program, and Clemson, which always seemed to be bubbling right below the surface, the conference was poised to really become an athletic juggernaut.
Of course, like most plans, we all make it looks great on paper, but once you get 10 minutes into it the whole thing just falls apart.
Boston College is well, Boston College. Virginia Tech did fairly well, but has never been able to recreate the success they had in the few years prior.
As for Miami, the crown jewel of this expansion, you could argue they have been the worst of the three.
I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to say that overall the three programs have brought more success to the basketball court than the football field, which is saying something.
I have to admit, as a fan of the ACC, it gets a little rough thinking about what may have been had everything turned out the way most people expected.
Instead, the SEC has enjoyed being at the pinnacle of college football for the past 15 years and for right now are in a strong position to keep that spot for the next 15.
Then again, a lot of can change over a 15 year period; just ask the Dave Matthews Band.
Don’t Count Him Out
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
University of Central Florida quarterback McKenzie Milton, who suffered a devastating leg injury in November of 2018 and missed the entire 2019 season, says he will return to the field in 2020.
Will he attain that goal? I don’t know for sure. No one does, but Milton believes it will happen. Milton thinks there’s a 50/50 chance he will be cleared and declared full go for preseason camp.
Flashback to November 23, 2018, it was third and 7, Milton was tackled by South Florida Bull’s cornerback Mazzi Wilkens that resulted in the injury. Milton was rushed to Tampa General Hospital for immediate surgery.
The surgeons had to remove the vein from the left leg to make a new artery in the right one in order to restore blood flow and save the leg.
Milton was in surgery for the next 4-5 hours, doctors worked to restore blood flow to his leg to avoid amputation.
The quarterback, who won back-to-back American Athletic Conference offensive player of the year awards previously, has been through at least four surgeries and extensive rehabilitation as he pushes to play again.
Each step in the process continues to reaffirm that Milton will eventually return to the football field.
Josh Heupel, UCF Head Coach, said “Absolutely, there’s no doubt in my mind that Milton will be back on the football field at a really high level.”
In April 2020, prior to the NFL draft, video of Milton throwing to Gabriel Davis hit the internet. It had UCF and college football junkies excited.
In an interview with UCF Rivals’ reporter Brandon Helwig, Milton states, “Playing in 2020 is still my goal. The reason I set that goal is I wasn’t to approach rehab every day with the idea I’ll be ready to go to fall camp ready for North Carolina in our first game. If I’m not approaching it that way, I feel like I’d be missing a day in therapy not working as hard as I can. That’s why I set that goal. I hope to reach that. If I don’t, it is what it is. I’ll keep knocking it down block by block. Hopefully when I go to Minnesota at the end of June, I’ll get good news.”
Milton was one of the best quarterbacks in college football in 2017 and 2018. He was 265-for-395, passing for 4,037 yards, 37 touchdowns and just 9 interceptions.
He also rushed for 613 yards and 8 touchdowns as UCF went 13-0 in 2017 and beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl.
His stats declined during the 10 games he played as a junior in 2018 in coach Josh Heupel’s first year at UCF, but he still threw for 2663 yards and 25 touchdowns with just 6 picks.
He added another 9 touchdowns on the ground and rushed for 297 yards.
In 2019, Dillon Gabriel emerged as the starting quarterback at UCF. Gabriel led the Knights to a 10-3 record while throwing for 3653 yards, 29 touchdowns and 7 interceptions as a true freshman.
Milton draws hope and optimism from people like Joe Theismann, Jaylon Smith and Teddy Bridgewater, people who have been through devastating injuries and gotten back on the field. “People have done it before and I definitely think I’ll be able to too.”
Milton suffered a catastrophic injury in 2018 while owning a personal 22-game win streak. Milton looks like he’s coming back to play. Do not doubt the heart of a Champion!
I, for one, can’t wait to see number 10 run onto the field. When Milton is able to return to the field, it will be one hell of a comeback story.
Secondary To None
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The way Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, Joe Burrow dissected defenses last season may lead some to think the secondary play in the SEC is on a downturn. I’m here to tell you otherwise.
The secondary in the SEC for 2020 is loaded with future NFL talent. While I’m not sure this class can match the number of players drafted in rounds one and two of the 2020 NFL draft, I do think the talent as a collective is overall stronger than the 2019 class.
Here is my top five defensive back on SEC rosters this season:
- Marco Wilson, Junior CB, Redshirt Sophomore Florida: Wilson started in all 13 games for the Gators last season.
After suffering an ACL tear early in the 2018, Wilson recorded 36 total defensive stops (23 solo), 3 interceptions, and 2 pass break-ups.
Wilson is one of only four true freshmen to start at cornerback on opening day for Florida. He was named to the All-SEC Freshman team by the coaches in 2017.
The 6-foot-0, 190 pounder can play both boundary and slot. Wilson has good size and speed and is sticky in man coverage. This season, look for Wilson to lock up top wide receivers on the opposing end.
- Richard Lecounte, Safety, Senior Georgia: Lecounte is the top safety in the SEC period.
He has started 27 of 28 games over the past two seasons. The 5-foot-11, 190 pounder was third on the team with tackles with 61 (35 solo), led the SEC in fumbles recovered with three and second in interceptions with four.
Lecounte is the Alpha-Dog of the Georgia secondary. Playing alongside Tyson Campbell, Eric Stokes and DJ Daniels makes Georgia the top secondary in the SEC.
Lecounte is a Preseason All-SEC first team defense selection.
- Israel Mukuamu, CB, Junior South Carolina: Mukuamu had arguably the best game by any defensive back in the SEC during the 2019 season, when he helped propel the Gamecocks to an upset win over Georgia.
Mukuamu picked off Georgia QB Jake Fromm three times en route to a 20-17 win. He returned the first interception 53 yards for a touchdown. The final interception came at the most important of times, overtime.
The 6-foot-4, 205 pounder earned second team All-SEC in 2019. Mukuama has been First Team All-SEC Academic Honor Roll for 2018 & 2019.
Mukuamu is a big corner who fights and competes and wins against big named receivers Saturday after Saturday.
- Patrick Surtain, CB, Junior Alabama: With Alabama consistently featuring a loaded secondary, it may be hard for a freshman to see the field.
However, Surtain was the exception. He played well in 2018 recording 28 tackles with an interception, seven passes deflected and one forced fumble.
As a sophomore, Surtain had 42 tackles with 2 interceptions, 3 forced fumbles, and 8 passes broken up.
Surtain is a physical cornerback, the 6-foot-2, 203-pound corner routinely bullies receivers. With Josh Jobe, Daniel Wright and Jordan Battle playing with Surtain, Alabama will compete with Georgia on the top secondary in the SEC.
- Derek Stingley Jr, CB, Sophomore LSU: Stingley, a true freshman in 2019, was the top ranked cornerback in the country coming out of high school.
Now he is the top ranked cornerback in the SEC. During LSU’s national championship run, Stingley started every game.
The 6-foot-1, 195 pound corner earned a list of awards in 2019: Consensus All-American, First Team All-American (AFCA, AP, Athletic, CBS, ESPN, SI, Sporting News, USA Today), SEC Newcomer of the year (unanimous), first Team All-SEC, SEC All-Freshman Team & SEC Freshman of the Week.
He is, arguably, the most impactful freshmen in the SEC since Herschel Walker. He led the SEC in interceptions with 6 and passes deflected with 21.
He is the Grandson of the late Darryl Stingley, who’s NFL career was cut short after suffering a tragic injury in 1978.
In my opinion, Stingley is the best defensive player in the SEC.
Just outside the Top 5: Kary Vincent, LSU; Josh Jobe, Alabama; Eric Stokes, Georgia: Tyson Cambell, Georgia; DJ Daniels, Georgia; Kewin Joseph, Kentucky; Miles James, Texas A&M; Brandin Echols, Kentucky; Alontae Taylor, Tennessee; Elijah Blades, Texas A&M; Marcus Murphy, Mississippi; Jaycee Horn, South Carolina; JaCoby Stevens, LSU; Daniel Wright, Alabama
Breakout Player: Kaiir Elam Florida
