1. Arkansas, (A): Knile Davis is ranked by many to be one of the top RBs in the SEC, largely due to his excellent production the second half of the season last year. I think a lot of his numbers were helped along by Ryan Mallet's ability to open the field up and create great running lanes for Davis, if Tyler Wilson be able to do the same or similar then this offense will be a step ahead of everyone else. I think it has a good chance to behind the play-calling of Bobby Petrino and the great WRs Wilson has to throw to. The O-line should be good, certainly adequate enough to have another big year on this side of the football.
2. South Carolina, (A-): Stephen Garcia is the Gamecocks 3rd leading passer of all-time, and if he has the same year this year as last year he will be the all-time leading passer. But whether he will still be on the team by the first kickoff, or the third, or tenth, who knows? Connor Shaw is a good replacement but not much experience for a team on the verge of it's best year ever. The QB and O-line are the biggest questions. They have the best WR and RB in the SEC, however, if one of those guys goes down with an injury they could be in trouble. But with all these playmakers they will be very good on offense.
3. Alabama, (A-): Not much is known about A.J. McCarron. He was a four star recruit coming out of high school so I'll have to assume he'll be at least serviceable under top SEC coaching for over two years now. Everything else looks really good. They have Trent Richardson at RB and Eddie Lacy behind him, so they are still deep even though they've lost two 4-star recruits this offseason. They lose Julio Jones but they have a senior-laden WR corps with Marquis Maze and Darius Hanks. And not only do they have 4 returning starters on the O-line but the refs never call them for holding. With all this said they lose their national championship QB, Heisman Trophy RB, and 6th overall NFL draft pick WR, that is a lot of talent and leadership off one side of the football.
4. Mississippi State, (B+): It's been a while since MSU had a solid offense, and this should be the best one in about 12 years. Chris Relf is returning as a solid run/pass threat and he has his top four rushers and receivers back from last year including Vick Ballard and Chad Bumphis. Nine starters return from an offense that was in the top half of the SEC last year. Although first round pick Derrek Sharrod is one of the losses, this should be an improved offense in 2011.
5. Georgia (B-): UGA has my #1 QB and TE, that is good but what isn't is their offensive line dropping like flies. That's especially not good when they were supposed to have the best O-line in the SEC last year and they were horrible. Washaun Ealey has transferred and senior Caleb King has been declared academically ineligible, all hopes are now on 5-star recruit Isaiah Crowell. The 4th overall pick in the NFL draft, A.J. Green, is gone so Murrey won't have as many weapons but I think they have adequate receivers...but I think there will be less open guys since last year Green commanded a double team.
6. Florida, (B-): Charlie Weis is a really good offensive coordinator. He runs a pro-style offense which is perfectly suited for John Brantley, but how well is it suited for the rest of the offensive personnel who have been recruited to run the spread option? They have 3 returning starters at WR and Jeff Demps is back at tailback, and Trey Burton could play there as well. The main question is how will the O-line do with only one returning starter? They've got three 4-star recruits coming in (two redshirt sophomores and one redshirt freshman). They should be able to do well this year as a group with their usual start of easy opponents.
7. LSU, (C+): For a team with 8 returning starters and a 4-year starting quarterback I'm not getting that excited. Maybe Jordan Jefferson will come into his own in his senior season but I'm not going to hold my breath. The O-line returns 4 starters and while there is no standout at RB I think the running game is the one area Les Miles excels. The WRs are good with Randle and Shephard but they lose their big play man in Toliver.
8. Tennessee, (C): Tyler Bray definitely did a lot to liven UT's offense up towards the end of last year. But at the same time their schedule lightened up and he took advantage of weak defenses. Nevertheless, he was a true freshman and I expect him to be just a good this year as he was in November last year. Matt Sims is a adequate back-up with experience and they've got 1,000 yard rusher Tauren Poole back. They lose the top 3 in receiving yards so the WRs are very inexperienced but they are talented. And you've got to figure the offensive line will be better with 4 returning starter, three of them were freshman last year. Overall, 7 returning starters from the 9th best offense last year...they will be better.
9. Ole Miss, (C): Randall Mackey was a good junior college QB, but at 5'-11" can he cut it in the SEC? He will have an experienced offensive line to throw behind, and he does have speed, but Ole Miss really has no WRs to speak of. Brandon Bolden and Jeff Scott are very good RBs, but if Mackey can't open the field up, they will be facing 8-9 men in the box every time they get handed the ball. If the Rebel Bears can get even an average passing game they could be very dangerous, I just don't think that is going to happen.
10. Auburn, (C-): Auburn is a running back factory so you know they are okay there with Michael Dyer and Onterio McCalebb. Lutzenkirchen is a quality tight end but other than that it doesn't look good. Who knows about Barrett Trotter at QB, or who will be the QB? Overall, 3 returning starters from last years SEC Championship team, and this offense will have 5-6 freshman and sophomores starting. I don't know if their O-line will be able to keep defenders from hitting their quality backfield behind the line of scrimmage. It looks bad on paper, but I'm sure Gus Malzahn will make the most of what he's got.
11. Vanderbilt, (D+): Vanderbilt has all 11 starters back including their top 4 rushers. I want to get excited about how good they could be but then I have to remember that it's Vandy...this same group was last in the SEC by a good margin in 2010. Larry Smith isn't that good but he is a senior and 3-year starter. They've got a good TE in Brandon Barden and good running backs. They may not score all the time but I think they are good enough to keep Vandy in some games.
12. Kentucky (D+): They've got 8 of their top 10 offensive lineman back but they lost a lot of talent in other areas like Randall Cobb, Mike Hartline, Derrick Locke, and Chris Matthews who quietly caught 61 passes for 925 yards. Morgan Newton has big shoes to fill in the long line of really good Kentucky quarterbacks, but he has the specs being 6'-4" and 235. They were in the top half of the SEC last year, but I'm not so sure they can match that production again.
JB
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