Alabama Players Sweep SI SEC Publishers Preseason Awards; Gamecock CB Receives A Vote
With the equivalent of a split decision, Sports Illustrated's Southeastern Conference publishers voted Alabama a clean sweep of their preseason player awards for the 2020 college football season, but two from LSU topped their rankings of the league's top-10 players overall.Crimson Tide running back Najee Harris was selected the preseason SEC Offseason Player of the Year.Linebacker Dylan Moses, who missed last season with a knee injury, topped the voting for the Defensive Player of the Year. Wide receiver and return specialist Jaylen Waddle was tabbed the Special-Teams Player of the Year. Perhaps thinking the SEC East might be ripe for a change at the top, Florida's Dan Mullen was the choice for Coach of the Year. In 11 years as a head coach in the league (nine at Mississippi State), he's never won a division title. However, his teams finished second three times including the last two with the Gators. Despite the honors, when asked to rank the top-10 players in the league, two from LSU stood out, with six Crimson Tide players helping round out the top finishers:
- Ja’Marr Chase, WR, LSU
- Derek Stingley Jr., CB, LSU
- Dylan Moses, LB, Alabama
- Najeh Harris, RB, Alabama
- Patrick Surtain II, CB, Alabama
- DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama
- Kylin Hill, RB, Mississippi State
- Alex Leatherwood, T, Alabama
- Kyle Trask, QB, Florida; (tie) Jaylen Waddle, WR/RS Alabama
Also received votes (in alphabetical order): Nick Bolton, LB Missouri; KJ Costello, QB, Mississippi State; Jerrion Ealy, RB, Ole Miss; Richard LeCounte, S, Georgia; Israel Mukuamu, CB, South Carolina; Jamie Newman, QB, Georgia; George Pickens, WR, Georgia; Kyle Pitts, TE, Florida; Tyler Shelvin, DL, LSU; Trey Smith, T, Tennessee; Jacoby Stevens, S, LSU; Seth Williams, WR, Auburn The group had previously announced its preseason All-SEC teams, and predicted order of finish, both of which were led by the Crimson Tide.