Florida picked by media to win SEC title

July 25, 2008 9:12 AM
Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Some might be surprised (I wasn't) to see Florida picked to win the SEC championship this season in voting by the media conducted at the SEC Media Days. The Gators were an overwhelming pick, too.

Auburn was the choice in the Western Division. Interestingly, defending national champion LSU only received one overall vote as league champion, the same as Tennessee and Ole Miss.

Below is the SEC's release on the preseason predictions as well as the media's All-SEC team:

The Florida Gators have been voted by the attending media at 2008 Southeastern Conference Football Media Days to capture the SEC football championship. The results were announced on the third and final day of the media days at the Wynfrey Hotel. The Gators were selected as Eastern Division champions while Auburn was selected to represent the Western Division.

Of the 70 members of the media who voted, Florida was named SEC Champion on 36 ballots, Georgia on 18, Auburn 13 and LSU, Tennessee and Ole Miss one each.
In the Eastern Division, Florida had 45 first-place votes, Georgia (23) and Tennessee (2). The Gators, Bulldogs and Volunteers were selected 1-2-3 in the Eastern Division followed by South Carolina, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

In the Western Division, Auburn was named first place on 48 ballots, while LSU received 21 first place votes and Ole Miss 1. The predicted order of finish in the Western Division was Auburn, LSU, Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Arkansas.

In the pre-season All-SEC Team voting, Auburn had nine representatives on the first and second teams while LSU had eight. Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina each had five players selected. Florida had the most first-team selections with five followed by LSU and Tennessee with four each.

There were no unanimous selections to the All-SEC Team. Florida linebacker wide receiver Percy Harvin was the leading vote-getter with 68 votes while Gator linebacker Brandon Spikes had 65 votes. Alabama offensive lineman Andre Smith, Ole Miss offensive lineman Michael Oher, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow were named on 64 ballots.

The results of the balloting are listed below:

2008 SEC MEDIA DAYS PRE-SEASON ALL-SEC FOOTBALL TEAM(#-Ties) (70 total voters / Total Votes in parenthesis)

FIRST-TEAM ALL-SEC -- OFFENSEPos. Name School Ht. Wt. Class Hometown
TE Cornelius Ingram (56) Florida 6-4 223 Sr. Hawthorne, Fla.OL Andre Smith (64) Alabama 6-5 340 Jr. Birmingham, Ala.OL Michael Oher (64) Ole Miss 6-5 318 Sr. Memphis, Tenn.OL Anthony Parker (56) Tennessee 6-3 305 Sr. Jonesboro, Ga.OL Herman Johnson (45) LSU 6-7 351 Sr. Olla, La.C Jonathan Luigs (58) Arkansas 6-4 314 Sr. Little Rock, Ark.WR Percy Harvin (68) Florida 5-11 178 Jr. Virginia Beach, Va.WR Kenny McKinley (46) South Carolina 6-0 182 Sr. Mableton, Ga.QB Tim Tebow (64) Florida 6-3 232 Jr. Jacksonville, Fla.RB Knowshon Moreno (68) Georgia 5-11 207 So. Belford, N.J.RB Arian Foster (50) Tennessee 6-1 215 Sr. San Diego, Calif.

SECOND-TEAM ALL-SEC -- OFFENSEPos. Name School Ht. Wt. Class Hometown
TE Richard Dickson (9) LSU 6-3 237 Jr. Ocean Springs, Miss.OL Ciron Black (12) LSU 6-5 314 Jr. Tyler, TexasOL Tyronne Green (9) Auburn 6-2 307 Sr. Pensacola, Fla.OL Lee Ziemba (8) Auburn 6-8 288 So. Rogers, Ark.OL Garry Williams (8) Kentucky 6-3 300 Sr. Louisville, Ky.C Antoine Caldwell (10) Alabama 6-3 292 Sr. Montgomery, Ala.WR Mohamed Massaquoi (11) Georgia 6-2 198 Sr. Charlotte, N.C.WR Demetrius Byrd (9) LSU 6-2 195 Sr. Miami, Fla.QB Matthew Stafford (6) Georgia 6-3 237 Jr. Dallas, TexasRB Anthony Dixon (16) Mississippi State 6-1 240 Jr. Jackson, Miss.RB Ben Tate (2) Auburn 5-11 215 Jr. Newark, Md.

FIRST-TEAM ALL-SEC -- DEFENSEPos. Name School Ht. Wt. Class Hometown
DL Greg Hardy (53) Ole Miss 6-4 265 Jr. Millington, Tenn.DL Tyson Jackson (52) LSU 6-5 292 Sr. Edgard, La.DL Sen'Derrick Marks (45) Auburn 6-1 288 Jr. Mobile, Ala.LB Brandon Spikes (65) Florida 6-3 245 Jr. Shelby, N.C.LB Rico McCoy (46) Tennessee 6-1 215 Jr. Washington, D.C.LB Jasper Brinkley (41) South Carolina 6-2 275 Sr. Thomson, Ga.LB #Darry Beckwith (40) LSU 6-1 232 Sr. Baton Rouge, La.LB #Dannell Ellerbe (40) Georgia 6-1 232 Sr. Hamlet, N.C.DB Derek Pegues (60) Mississippi State 5-10 196 Sr. Batesville, Miss.DB Eric Berry (56) Tennessee 5-11 195 So. Fairburn, Ga.DB D.J. Moore (46) Vanderbilt 5-10 182 Jr. Spartanburg, S.C.DB Rashad Johnson (43) Alabama 6-0 187 Sr. Sulligent, Ala.

SECOND-TEAM ALL-SEC -- DEFENSEPos. Name School Ht. Wt. Class Hometown
DL Ricky Jean-Francois (18) LSU 6-3 281 Jr. Miami, Fla.DL Antonio Coleman (10) Auburn 6-2 250 Jr. Mobile, Ala.DL Jeremy Jarmon (9) Kentucky 6-3 277 Jr. Collierville, Tenn.LB Tray Blackmon (17) Auburn 6-2 220 Jr. LaGrange, Ga.LB Rolando McClain (15) Alabama 6-4 255 So. Decatur, Ala.LB Eric Norwood (14) South Carolina 6-1 270 Jr. Acworth, Ga.LB Jamar Chaney (8) Mississippi State 6-1 236 Sr. Fort Pierce, Fla.DB Captain Munnerlyn (20) South Carolina 5-9 185 Jr. Mobile, Ala.DB Trevard Lindley (15) Kentucky 6-0 175 Jr. Hiram, Ga.DB Asher Allen (13) Georgia 5-10 198 Jr. Tucker, Ga.DB Jerraud Powers (12) Auburn 5-9 188 Jr. Decatur, Ala.
FIRST-TEAM ALL-SEC -- SPECIAL TEAMSPos. Name School Ht. Wt. Class Hometown
PK Colt David (41) LSU 5-9 175 Sr. Grapevine, TexasP Ryan Shoemaker (40) Auburn 6-0 192 So. Birmingham, Ala.RS Brandon James (35) Florida 5-6 179 Jr. St. Augustine, Fla.

SECOND-TEAM ALL-SEC -- SPECIAL TEAMSPos. Name School Ht. Wt. Class Hometown
PK Wes Byrum (16) Auburn 6-1 209 So. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.P Ryan Succop (20) South Carolina 6-3 224 Sr. Hickory, N.C.RS Javier Arenas (20) Alabama 5-9 193 Jr. Tampa, Fla.

SEC PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

SEC Champion - Florida (36), Georgia (18), Auburn (13), LSU (1), Tennessee(1), Ole Miss (1).

EASTERN DIVISION
1. Florida (45) 98
2. Georgia (23) 121
3. Tennessee (2) 222
4. South Carolina 266
5. Kentucky 356
6. Vanderbilt 407

WESTERN DIVISION
1. Auburn (48) 99
2. LSU (21) 12
3. Alabama 228
4. Mississippi State 299
5. Ole Miss (1) 338
6. Arkansas 386

All-SEC

EDSBS captures Nick Saban’s procession through SEC Media Days

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/

University of North Carolina Wrestling rising star

Sorry for the deviation from college football, but c'MON!... DS got this off SPORTSbyBROOKS.com

UNC Opponents Must Wrestle Long Wang
There’s really no humorous set-up to do it justice, so we’ll just go ahead and straight out tell you. Meet North Carolina wrestler Long Wang:

Long Wang is 5'9" and weighs in at 157lbs.

ESPN's Chris Low on LSU as "D-Line U"

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sec/0-1-64/Just-refer-to-LSU-as--D-Line-U-.html

July 23, 2008 8:58 PM
Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A few more tidbits from Day 1 at the SEC media days:

• LSU center Brett Helms had the perfect answer for how a team could lose a player the caliber of Glenn Dorsey and return the next season with perhaps the best defensive line in the country.
"I was talking to Glenn yesterday, and he was saying this is 'D-Line U.' That's what we call it now," Helms said. "For the past few years with Kyle Williams and Claude Wroten and some of those guys, we just keep reloading here."

The Tigers are loaded up front, all right. Junior defensive tackle Al Woods is projected as a top 10 pick in the 2009 NFL draft by ESPN's Todd McShay [Insider], and Woods isn't even a probable starter heading into the season.

• Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom joked that he won't miss Dorsey.
"If anybody else in this conference had lost Dorsey, they'd be in real trouble," Croom said. "LSU just puts another one in there."

Croom said Dorsey was one of three defensive linemen in his coaching career that he was truly afraid of going into a game.
The other two? Reggie White and Howie Long.
Some pretty heady company.

• Bobby Johnson has earned a dubious distinction at Vanderbilt. Entering his seventh season, Johnson is now the school's longest tenured coach since George MacIntyre, who coached the Commodores' last bowl team in 1982.
Johnson has guided the Commodores to 15 wins in the last three seasons, their best three-season win total since 1992-94.

"I remember in my first press conference, I think the very first day I was at Vanderbilt, some guy said, 'How long do you think you got before they fire you?' " Johnson recounted. "Really, he did. I said, 'I don't know.'

"The thing is that our coaching staff has invested a lot into this program. They've worked extremely hard. We want to see it be successful. We're hoping we can get it done. I think we made strides toward that. I think we were extremely close last year. A couple games go either way, and we're in a bowl."

The reality is that Vanderbilt may struggle this season when you look at everybody the Commodores lost, but 2009 could finally be the year they break their bowl drought.

This just in...Bubba Gump angry: Last call for brewskies at upcoming Aug. 30 Bama/Clemson clash to be at halftime.

Tide, Clemson expect $2 million payout from Georgia Dome game
Thursday, July 24, 2008
IAN R. RAPOPORT News staff writer

The University of Alabama and Clemson University are each expected to receive a payout of just less than $2 million for their season-opening game, according to contracts obtained Wednesday by The Birmingham News.

When the teams play Aug. 30 in Atlanta's Georgia Dome and on ABC Sports, they will split $3,832,060, the anticipated profits for the game. That equals roughly $1.9 million per team.
According to the contracts - obtained using a public records request - beer will also be available at the concessions stands. Sales will be cut off at halftime.

http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1216887309187550.xml&coll=2