Two-Time All-American Marcus McNeill selected as Auburn's 'SEC Legend' amongst head-scratching class

The Southeastern conference announced the class of 2024 SEC Legends who will be honored in Atlanta in December surrounding the SEC Football Championship game and two-time All-American offensive tackle Marcus McNeill (2002-2005) was the selection for the Auburn Tigers.

McNeill was amongst one of the best offenses in program history in the 2004 class. You may remember McNeill as the towering 6’9 offensive tackle who helped lead the line in the legendary 2004 Tigers team that would go undefeated and on to win the SEC Championship.

McNeill did not allow a sack in 43 consecutive games leading to his becoming of the program’s first player since Ed King to earn back to back All-American honors (2004 and 2005), per Auburn. McNeill also has a laundry list of accomplishments from his career at Auburn — first-team All-SEC selection twice, earned the SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the top blocker, a finalist for the Outland Trophy and named to Auburn’s Team of the Decade for the 2000s.

The standout lineman continued his career beyond college, being selected in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers and, in his rookie season, McNeill was named to the Pro Bowl and finished fourth in voting for the 2006 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

McNeill credited Auburn with helping prepare him for success during and after his NFL career.

“I got my wings,” he said in 2017. “Going to Auburn and being able to join up with the War Eagle family was a perfect fit for me. I represent that everywhere I go in life and every time I see my family out there in the streets, I always give them a ‘War Eagle’ or a high five. We keep it pushing to make sure we’re running the world.”

McNeill, however, will join a star-studded class.

The class includes 16 former stars who collectively tallied nearly 2,300 points scored during their college careers, nearly 1,000 tackles on defense, over 5,000 yards in caught passes, more than 7,000 rush yards and nearly 30,000 passing yards, according to SEC.

Needless to say, with stats like that, the group is compromised of multiple All-Americans, All-SEC selections, Academic All-Americans, NFL standouts, NFL first round draft picks and Hall of Famers, per SEC. There are also players who led their teams to win SEC Championships, National Championships and Super Bowl Titles.

Heck, some even led their teams to go on and win the Big 12 championship during their college career and never even played in the SEC!

Yes, you read that right. Before we go further, have a look at the list and you’ll see what we meant by head-scratching choices…

2024 SEC Legends Class

• Alabama Crimson Tide – Barrett Jones, Offensive Lineman, 2009-12
• Arkansas Razorbacks – Ken Hamlin, Free Safety, 2000-02
• Auburn Tigers – Marcus McNeill, Offensive Tackle, 2002-2005
• Florida Gators – Rex Grossman, Quarterback, 2000-02
• Georgia Bulldogs – Terrence Edwards, Receiver, 1999-2002
• Kentucky Wildcats – Dicky Lyons Sr., Tailback/Receiver/All-Purpose, 1966-68
• LSU Tigers – Andrew Whitworth, Offensive Tackle, 2002-05
• Mississippi State Bulldogs – Fletcher Cox, Defensive Lineman, 2009-11
• Missouri Tigers – Chase Daniel, Quarterback, 2005-08
• Ole Miss Rebels – Dexter McCluster, Running Back, 2006-09
• Oklahoma Sooners – Barry Switzer, Head Coach, 1973-88
• South Carolina Gamecocks – Corey Miller, Defensive End, 1987-90
• Tennessee Volunteers – Eric Berry, Defensive Back, 2007-09
• Texas Longhorns – Vince Young, Quarterback, 2002-05
• Texas A&M Aggies – Luke Joeckel, Offensive Tackle, 2010-12
• Vanderbilt Commodores – Ricky Anderson, Punter/Kicker, 1981-84

Listen, we get it – Texas and Oklahoma are part of the SEC now and that’s fine.

But Texas QB Vince Young being listed as the “SEC Legend” nominee just feels wrong. Yes, he was a legendary QB but the guy never played in the SEC and only played an SEC team twice in his career (Arkansas).

Shouldn’t an SEC Legend be a SEC Legend?

South Carolina and Missouri also are playing with fire with nominees who also never played in the SEC in Corey Miller and Chase Daniel.

Barry Switzer as the Oklahoma nominee, also doesn’t feel right, but we’ll give a little more leeway here since Switzer did play for Arkansas (granted it was before they were even in the SEC) but hey, at least they’re trying to make it more relevant. Texas A&M we’ll also let slide with legendary offensive lineman Luke Joeckel, who did play in the league even if it was only one of his three college seasons.

For a conference that is incredibly lock and key about letting new teams in, you would think they might be a little more lock and key in who is being honored as it’s so-called legends to ever play in the conference.

Vince Young? An SEC Legend?

***Scoff***

The audacity. Sorry, I’m still not over it.