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Did the SEC’s 2016 players of the year attend SEC Media Days?

Chris Wuensch

By Chris Wuensch

Published:

The SEC Media Days witnessed 42 players represent their respective schools from July 11-14 in Hoover, Ala., at the conference’s annual gathering with the press.

Many games will be played and much will be said between now and the end of the 2016 season. Among the torrid debates will be which SEC players earned the right to be crowned the conference’s offensive and defensive players of the year.

Will the eventual winners be one of the 42 players that attended the SEC Media Days? The answer isn’t so clear-cut. History tells us it’s about a 50-50 proposition that the eventual OPOTY and DPOTY were among those answering the barrage of questions at the gala.

In 2015, for example, Defensive Player of the Year Reggie Ragland was in attendance, while his Alabama teammate and Offensive Player of the Year, Derrick Henry, was home in Tuscaloosa. Crimson Tide wide receiver Amari Cooper was at Media Days in 2014, the same year he won the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year honors, while his defensive counterpart, Shane Ray, was back in Missouri. Alabama’s C.J. Mosley attended the 2013 press session, while his Co-Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam of Missouri and Offensive Player of the Year Tre Mason of Auburn were elsewhere.

You get the picture.

OFFENSE

History, however, might help us predict a winner from the cast of SEC Media Days attendees.

Cooper’s Offensive Player of the Year award was a bit of an anomaly. The Tide alum was just the second wide receiver bestowed the honor — the other being LSU’s Wendell Davis in 1987. Otherwise, the OPOTY nod has gone exclusively to either quarterbacks or running backs. Of the last 20 Offensive Player of the Year award-winners, a dozen of them were quarterbacks, the last being Johnny Manziel in 2012, however.

Therefore, the simple process of elimination excludes five teams that brought neither a quarterback, running back nor wide receiver, including Alabama and Arkansas out of the West and Florida, Georgia and Missouri from the East.

Five teams brought tight ends, a position that’s only caught passes and blocked for offensive players of the year. Another five of the 42 players were offensive linemen.

Three wide receivers attended the week-long media session. Auburn’s Marcus Davis, Mississippi State’s Fred Ross and Deebo Samuels of South Carolina, make for a talented trio, but each faces quarterback issues back at home. The best wide receiver at SEC Media Days to possibly challenge for the award would be Texas A&M’s Ricky Seals-Jones. However, with a gluttony of talent at the position, Seals-Jones is going to have to elevate above teammates such as Josh Reynolds, Christian Kirk and Speedy Noil to be considered for the honor.

Here’s a quick look at the top five players at SEC Media Days that could challenge for the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year award.

QB JOSH DOBBS, TENNESSEE

Dual-threat QB Josh Dobbs is a major reason why Tennessee is a presumptive favorite to win its first SEC East title since the 2007 campaign. Dobbs returns for his senior year after throwing for 2,291 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2015. He also added 671 yards on the ground and another 11 scores, providing the Volunteers with arguably the best rushing attack in the conference. An aerospace engineering major, Dobbs is pretty comfortable going to the air with his teammates.

RB LEONARD FOURNETTE, LSU

Leonard Fournette is garnering a lot of preseason Heisman talk in light of two monster seasons at LSU. Fournette enters his junior year as the nation’s incumbent rushing leader (162.8 YPG), having piled up 1,953 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns in 2015. With one of the conference’s better offensive lines opening holes for him this year, Fournette would be a surprise to no one if he earns the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year award.

QB CHAD KELLY, OLE MISS

Chad Kelly got redemption in 2015 after the Clemson transfer led the SEC in passing with 4,042 yards and 31 touchdowns via the air. Now he’s looking to lead Ole Miss to its first SEC West crown. Kelly has some questions, though, including breaking in a new left tackle and No. 1 wide receiver. But he has shown that he can compete among the conference’s best. Plus, he’s not one to lack in confidence.

QB TREVOR KNIGHT, TEXAS A&M

Trevor Knight is a bit of a wild card when it comes to the SEC’s top quarterbacks — and not just because it appears the conference is heading into a down year at the position. The graduate transfer arrives in College Station via Oklahoma, where he lost his job to Baker Mayfield. Knight possesses the arm strength and football acumen — having thrown for 3,424 career yards and 25 touchdowns versus 19 interceptions under center for Bob Stoops and the Sooners. He’ll also have the aforementioned deep Aggies wide receiving corps at his disposal. If he can put it all together, perhaps Knight can finally push Kevin Sumlin’s program to the next level.

RB RALPH WEBB, VANDERBILT

Ralph Webb is the heart of the Vanderbilt offense. The rising junior can become the Commodores’ all-time leading rusher with 1,085 yards in 2016 and do so in fewer seasons than it took current rushing champ Zac Stacy. Webb is a dark-horse candidate to lead the SEC in rushing this year. But perhaps he shouldn’t be such a surprise, given his 2,059 yards and 9 touchdowns as an underclassman.

DEFENSE

Defensively speaking, the winner of the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year accolades has come from every position. However, most notably from the linebacker role, which has seen six players from the position earn the SEC’s top honor since the league began doling it out 14 years ago. Defensive ends (five DPOTY awards) and tackles (three) follow closely behind the linebackers in terms of all-time Defensive Player of the Year nods in the SEC. Note that several seasons crowned co-defensive players of the year.

Here is a look at five players attending SEC Media Days that could challenge for the designation as the conference’s top defensive player when the smoke clears at season’s end.

DE JONATHAN ALLEN, ALABAMA

Jonathan Allen returns to Tuscaloosa for his senior year to defend his team-leading 12.0 sacks during Alabama’s title-winning 2015 season. The defensive end returns to Alabama with a purpose and some lofty goals. Among them is setting the NCAA single-season team record for sacks.

LB ZACH CUNNINGHAM, VANDERBILT

Cunningham is to the Vanderbilt defense as Ralph Webb is to the Commodores offense. That is, Mr. Everything. Cunningham led Vandy as a redshirt sophomore in tackles (103, 69 solo), tackles for loss (16.5) and sacks (4.5), to go along with a team-high in fumbles forced (4) and recovered (3). Possibly the most underrated defender in the SEC, Cunningham is a member of the Butkus, Bednarik and Nagurski preseason award watch lists.

https://twitter.com/FredMaggard/status/752623821069377536

DE MYLES GARRETT, TEXAS A&M

Myles Garrett is the Leonard Fournette of SEC defenses in that he’s poised for a record-breaking season if all goes according to plan — and talent level. Arguably the best defensive player in the SEC, if not the nation, Garrett led the SEC with 12.5 sacks in 2015, giving him 24.0 in his first two seasons donning an Aggies uniform. Among the defensive end’s aspirations in 2016 are 20.0 sacks and the designation as the NFL Draft’s No. 1 pick. Lofty, but not necessarily impossible, goals.

DE CHARLES HARRIS, MISSOURI

Charles Harris is the last person any current SEC quarterback wants to see when they drop back to pass. Harris led the conference in tackles for loss (1.54 per game), eking out Texas A&M’s Myles Garrett. Harris has set his sights on 15.0 sacks this season to erase Shane Ray’s name from atop Missouri’s single-season leaderboard. The rising junior will have to double his output from last year, in which he dropped quarterbacks seven times for sacks.

https://twitter.com/DraftHitta/status/750755423142248449

LB JALEN REEVES-MAYBIN, TENNESSEE

Jalen Reeves-Maybin is the leader on a deep Tennessee defense eyeing an SEC East title. Reeves-Maybin led the Vols in tackles — for the second consecutive year — with 105 take-downs in 2015, 35 more than his next-closest teammate Brian Randolph. As a leader, the linebacker prefers to let others do his trash-talking for him.

Also considered for POTY honors among those in attendance in Hoover

  • LB Richie Brown, Mississippi State
  • LB Jarrad Davis, Florida
  • DL Carl Lawson, Auburn
  • DB Marcus Maye, Florida
  • DL Deatrich Wise Jr., Arkansas

Five potential POTYs that did not attend SEC Media Days

  • RB Nick Chubb, Georgia
  • DE Marquis Haynes, Ole Miss
  • CB Marlon Humphrey, Alabama
  • WR Christian Kirk, Texas A&M
  • CB Jalen Tabor, Florida
Chris Wuensch

Chris Wuensch is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers South Carolina and Tennessee.

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