What the Media Got Right and Wrong with the 2024 Preseason Voting, All-SEC Teams

The 2024 SEC Preseason Ballot was released on Friday afternoon, featuring the media’s predicted draft order and the preseason All-SEC Teams.

As in years past, I didn’t fill out a ballot. It’s not that I didn’t want to, but I did my own straw poll on the best quarterback in the SEC and was busy writing other columns.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion!

General, Georgia that he was chosen to win the conference was to be expected, the same goes for Texas, Alabama And Old lady check into a 2-3-4. Remember: the media is actually really bad at predicting who will actually win the SEC Championship, so we’ll see if the results prove to be better in a divisionless league in 2024.

I would have had Tennessee And Missouri for LSU — not behind the Tigers from Baton Rouge. Chestnut brown to be in the same neighborhood as Texas A&M (re: points) was remarkable. Vandy getting two handkerchief votes to win the competition was just that.

But the more interesting debates are the preseason All-SEC selections. These are not easy votes because of the way the league organizes the ballots. First, the schools determine who gets nominated (for example, Georgia does not have Carson Becks named as a qualifying pick last season and he made the postseason team). The others are the numbers for each position.

For some reason, the SEC continues to refuse to separate edge rushers from defensive linemen or split offensive tackles and guards. Unfortunately.

Below is a rundown of what the media got right and wrong about the 2024 All-SEC Preseason Teams:

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The most glaring snub was the absence of the Alabama guard Jaeden Roberts. He’s among the best road-grading maulers in the country — let alone the SEC. He’s a Top 10 overall interior lineman, according to PFF, so it’s a huge miss that he didn’t even get mentioned on a single preseason team.

The same can be said about Florida wideout Three Wilson III. The SEC has a lot of very good receivers, but Wilson led all FBS freshmen in receptions per game last season (6.1), with 61 catches and six touchdowns (tied for second among all rookies).

Some Ole Miss fans were outraged by Jaxson Darts omission, but it’s a loaded list of quarterbacks this fall. Someone (maybe more than one if you ask from Mizzou Brady Cook or Florida’s Graham Mertz) would be squeezed out.

The SEC is loaded in the trenches

A year ago, the SEC placed three offensive tackles on its First-Team OL, but thankfully the results spewed out a true five-man unit this preseason. I had Alabama center Parker Brailsford And Texas’ Jake Majors about Tennessee’s Cooper Mays, who was on the first team.

Still, Mays is an All-SEC player and is the linchpin in creating Josh Heupel’s system buzz (go back and watch what happened last season when Tennessee was without their starting center). Pay attention to Kentucky’s Eli Cox to possibly enter the All-SEC discussion this fall.

Finally, it’s a fact that guys like LSU tackle Emery Jonesa potential NFL Draft pick on Days 1-2, Georgia tackle Serious Greene III and Alabama’s Kaydn Proctor not smelled the First Team talks about the tackle depth of the league this fall. Missouri tackle Cam’Ron Johnson was selected to the All-SEC postseason last year, but did not make any of the three selections.

Defensively, the SEC has consistently had the most defensive linemen, with 12 earning votes among the three teams — and somehow none of the 12 were Vols, who arguably have the deepest set of tackles (Omari Thomas probably should have gotten a spot in the league this year. Ole Miss edge Princely Umanmielen His third-team selection is another example of the amount of great edge rushers the SEC has this year.

Walter Nolan as a first team player Nic Scourton And Landon Jackson is a name recognition from previous productions. The former 5-star and No. 1 overall recruit could absolutely play his way into the First-Team at the end of the season, but the pre-season pick was a miss.

Final thoughts

Explain to me why there are as many running back picks (four) as receivers in 2024?

If the SEC wants two tailbacks on each preseason team, increase the total to 12 — and add a third receiver. Otherwise, go to just one tailback on each team with three wideouts.

That makes it hard to really complain about the 3rd-team Preseason All-SEC tailback picks (again, especially when seven other tailbacks have already received honors), but I’d probably give Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson somewhere on the ballot.

Oklahoma wide player Nic Anderson didn’t make the cut, but he could be on a postseason team come December. Same goes for Ole Miss wideouts Sap sources or Jordan Watkinsor that of Georgia Rara Thomas.

Vandy defensive safety CJ Taylor and Georgia linebacker CJ Allen were interesting omissions and both teams have a good chance of reaching the play-offs.