SEC Days is the unofficial start of the college football season. Soon enough, fall camp will follow and then the games themselves. Before that happens, there is plenty of time for speculation. Below are the media picks for All-SEC and predicted order of finish.

2024 PRESEASON MEDIA DAYS ALL-SEC TEAM

OFFENSE

First Team

QB – Carson Beck, UGA

RB – Trevor Etienne, UGA

RB – Jarquez Hunter, AU

WR – Luther Burden III, MIZ

WR – Tre Harris, UM

TE – Caden Prieskorn, UM

OL – Tyler Booker, UA

OL – Will Campbell, LSU

OL – Kelvin Banks Jr., TEX

OL – Tate Ratledge, UGA

C – Cooper Mays, UT

Second-Team

QB – Quinn Ewers, TEX

RB – Raheim Sanders, SC

*RB – CJ Baxter, TEX

*RB – Montrell Johnson Jr., UF

WR – Isaiah Bond, TEX

WR – Kyren Lacy, LSU

TE – Mason Taylor, LSU

OL – Emery Jones, LSU

OL – Kadyn Proctor, UA

OL – Xavier Truss, UGA

OL – Dylan Fairchild, UGA

C – Parker Brailsford, UA

Third Team

QB – Jalen Milroe, UA

RB – Justice Haynes, UA

RB – Ulysses Bentley, UM

WR – Deion Burks, OU

WR – Dominic Lovett, UGA

TE – Oscar Delp, UGA

OL – Earnest Greene III, UGA

OL – Marques Cox, UK

OL – Trey Zuhn III, TAMU

OL – Jaeden Roberts, UA

C – Jake Majors, TEX

DEFENSE

First Team

DL – James Pearce Jr., UT

DL – Walter Nolen, UM

DL – Deone Walker, UK

DL – Nazir Stackhouse, UGA

LB – Harold Perkins, LSU

LB – Danny Stutsman, OU

*LB – Deontae Lawson, UA

*LB – Mykel Williams, UGA

DB – Malaki Starks, UGA

DB – Malachi Moore, UA

DB – Billy Bowman, OU

DB – Maxwell Hairston, UK

Second Team

DL – Shemar Turner, TAMU

DL – Landon Jackson, ARK

DL – Nic Scourton, TAMU

*DL – Tim Smith, UA

*DL – Jared Ivey, UM

LB – Debo Williams, SC

LB – Anthony Hill Jr., TEX

LB – Smael Mondon Jr., UGA

DB – Jahdae Barron, TEX

DB – Major Burns, LSU

DB – Andrew Mukuba, TEX

DB – Malik Muhammad, TEX

Third Team

DL – Tim Keenan III, UA

DL – Princely Umanmielen , UM

DL – Trey Moore, TEX

DL – Tonka Hemingway, SC

LB – Jamon “Pop” Dumas-Johnson, UK

LB – Jihaad Campbell, UA

LB – Eugene Asante, AU

DB – Domani Jackson, UA

DB – Daylen Everette, UGA

DB – Jason Marshall Jr., UF

*DB – Keon Sabb, UA

*DB – Nick Emmanwori, SC

SPECIALISTS

First Team

P – James Burnip, UA

PK – Bert Auburn, TEX

LS – Kneeland Hibbett, UA

KS – Alex McPherson, AU

RS – Barion Brown, UK

AP – Zavion Thomas, LSU

Second Team

P – Brett Thorson, UGA

PK – Graham Nicholson, UA

LS – Hunter Rogers, SC

KS – Will Stone, TEX

RS – Zavion Thomas, LSU

AP – Dillion Bell, UGA

Third Team

P – Jeremy Crawshaw, UF

PK – Alex McPherson, AU

LS – Slade Roy, LSU

KS – Trey Smack, UF

RS – Keionte Scott, AU

*AP – Barion Brown, UK

*AP – Jaydon Blue, TEX

* – Indicates a tie

TOTAL PLAYERS BY SCHOOL

• Alabama 16
• Georgia 15
• Texas 13
• LSU 9
• Kentucky 6
• Ole Miss 6
• Auburn 5
• South Carolina 5
• Florida 4
• Oklahoma 3
• Texas A&M 3
• Tennessee 2
• Arkansas 1
• Mizzou 1
• Mississippi State 0
• Vanderbilt 0

OBSERVATIONS

• Alabama gets a kicker transfer from none other than the reigning Lou Groza Trophy winner and still the disrespect for Tide kickers continues.
• 11 former Tide players transferred to other SEC schools. Only one, Isaiah Bond, made the All-SEC list.
• Mizzou as a program has gotten a good deal of buzz lately, but not their players. Only Luther Burden received accolades.
• Only two Tennessee players received nods. James Pearce was signed by current head coach Josh Heupel. Cooper Mays was signed by Heupel’s predecessor, Jeremy Pruitt. In short, Heupel is entering his fourth season in Knoxville and has only one of his signees on a three-team All-SEC roster.
• Speaking of Tennessee, it is entertaining to see that the SEC is going with “UT” as that team’s abbreviation and “TEX” for Texas.

MEDIA POLL

Below is the predicted order of finish voted on by the members of the media.

1. Georgia – 3330 points
2. Texas – 3041
3. Alabama – 2891
4. Ole Miss – 2783
5. LSU – 2322
6. Missouri – 2240
7. Tennessee – 2168
8. Oklahoma – 2022
9. Texas A&M – 1684
10. Auburn – 1382
11. Kentucky – 1371
12. Florida – 1146
13. South Carolina – 923
14. Arkansas – 749
15. Mississippi State – 623
16. Vanderbilt – 293

OBSERVATIONS

No real surprises here. UGA and Texas are pretty stacked. Alabama should not be undervalued. Some observers are rosy on Ole Miss, but Lane Kiffin has yet to take that next giant leap to a serious title contender. After that, it is a jumble of good-not-great teams, trickling down to the competitive but struggling programs, with Missy State and Vandy in the sub-basement.

In a 4-team playoff, third place in the SEC would be devastating to National Championship hopes. In the new 12-team CFP, third place might not be such a bad thing. The SECCG winner will get a Top 4 seed and a first-round playoff bye. However, they will have to play an “extra” game in the SEC Championship Game. With the elimination of divisions, that game is guaranteed to be a slobberknocker.