Alabama Leads Sports Illustrated Publishers 2020 Preseason All-SEC Teams

Even though LSU is the reigning national champion, the writers who cover the Southeastern Conference for Sports Illustrated feel pretty good about Alabama's talent in 2020.

In preseason All-SEC balloting among the various league sites, the Crimson Tide topped the conference with 10 first-team selections and 12 overall. Five first-team picks were on offense. Jaylen Waddle was a first-team pick in three spots, tying at wide receiver, and the top pick at both kick returner and punt returner.

LSU had the second-most first-team selections with five, while Georgia was second in overall picks with nine.

A couple of notable items about the selections:

• Instead of two running backs, three wide receivers were selected.

• Defensively, a 3-3-5 formation was used since most teams will probably be the nickel package the most this season.

• Ties were not broken. However, if a tie occurred on the first team an additional player was not added to the second team. For example, instead of three first-team picks and three second-team selections at wide receiver, the tie made it so there were four first-team selections and just two second-team.

• An all-purpose player was listed both on offense and defense.

Every school in the SEC had players receive votes.

Ten programs had first-team selections (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee). Two more had second-team players (Mississippi State and Texas A&M).

There were six unanimous selections, including three from Alabama (Alex Leatherwood, Dylan Moses and Patrick Surtain II), who are marked by *.

2020 SI Publishers Preseason All-SEC

First team

Position, Name, School

QB Kyle Trask, Florida

RB Najee Harris, Alabama

WR Ja’Marr Chase, LSU*

WR DeVonta Smith, Alabama

WR Jaylen Waddle, Alabama/George Pickens, Georgia

TE Kyle Pitts, Florida*

OL Alex Leatherwood, Alabama*

OL Trey Smith, Tennessee

OL Darian Kinnard, Kentucky

OL Landon Dickerson, Alabama

C Trey Hill, Georgia

DL Tyler Shelvin, LSU

DL Big Kat Bryant, Auburn

DL LaBryan Ray, Alabama

LB Dylan Moses, Alabama*

LB K.J. Britt, Auburn

LB Nick Bolton, Missouri

DB Patrick Surtain II, Alabama*

DB Richard LeCounte, Georgia*

DB Derek Stingley Jr., LSU

DB JaCoby Stevens, LSU

DB Kaiir Elam, Florida/Eric Stokes, Georgia/Jaycee Horn, South Carolina

All-purpose offense Jerrion Ealy, Ole Miss

All-purpose defense Tyree Gillespie, Missouri/Derek Stingley, LSU

K Brent Cimaglia, Tennessee

P Max Duffy, Kentucky

KR Jaylen Waddle, Alabama

PR Jaylen Waddle, Alabama

Second team

Position, Name, School

QB Jamie Newman, Georgia

RB Kylin Hill, Mississippi State

WR Seth Williams, Auburn

WR Elijah Moore, Ole Miss

TE Jalen Wydermyer, Texas A&M/Arik Gilbert, LSU

OL Landon Young, Kentucky

OL Deonte Brown, Alabama

OL Ben Cleveland, Georgia

OL Cade Mays, Tennessee

C Drake Jackson Kentucky

DL Malik Herring, Georgia

DL Bobby Brown, Texas A&M

DL Christian Barmore, Alabama

LB Monty Rice, Georgia

LB Henry To’o-To’o, Tennessee

LB Jabrill Cox, LSU

DB Israel Mukuamu, South Carolina

DB Demani Richardson, Texas A&M

DB Tyree Gillespie, Missouri

All-purpose offense Kadarius Toney, Florida

K Cade York, LSU

P Jake Camarda, Georgia

KR Jerrion Ealy, Ole Miss

PR Christian Tutt, Auburn