Georgia picked as preseason SEC Champion, 15 Bulldogs make All-SEC squad
Preseason All-SEC teams and predicted order of finish in the conference were announced by the league on Friday, and not surprisingly, the Georgia Bulldogs are the pick to take the title. Several individuals, 15 (8 offense, 5 defense, 2 specialists) to be exact, were also included as either first, second or third team selections off of Kirby Smart’s talented team.
Quarterback Carson Beck, running back Trevor Etienne, offensive lineman Tate Ratledge, defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse, linebacker Mykel Williams and defensive back Malaki Starks made the first-team offense and defense according to voters. Georgia’s six on the top squad is most among any of the league’s 16 teams with Alabama and Ole Miss each having three.
Coming in further down the line for the Bulldogs were offensive linemen Xavier Truss (2nd), Dylan Fairchild (2nd) and Earnest Greene (3rd), wide receiver Dominic Lovett (2nd), tight end Oscar Delp (2nd), linebacker Smael Mondon (2nd) and defensive back Daylen Everette (3rd). Specialists to make the cut included punter Brett Thorson (2nd) and wide receiver Dillon Bell (2nd) as an all purpose option.
When it comes to order of finish, Georgia earned 165 of the 213 possible votes to win the SEC Championship Game. The Bulldogs were also picked to finish first in the regular season with a top-two finish being required to play for the conference title.
- Georgia (3330 points) – 165 SEC Championship winner votes
- Texas (3041 points) – 27 SEC Championship winner votes
- Alabama (2891 points) – 12 SEC Championship winner votes
- Ole Miss (2783 points) – 4 SEC Championship winner votes
- LSU (2322 points) – 2 SEC Championship winner votes
- Missouri (2240 points)
- Tennessee (2168 points)
- Oklahoma (2022 points)
- Texas A&M (1684 points)
- Auburn (1382 points)
- Kentucky (1371 points)
- Florida (1146 points)
- South Carolina (923 points) – 1 SEC Championship winner vote
- Arkansas (749 points)
- Mississippi State (626 points)
- Vanderbilt (293 points) – 2 SEC Championship winner votes
This will mark the first season since 1991 with no divisions in SEC Football. The participants of the game will be determined during the eight-game regular-season conference schedule as the teams with the two best overall SEC winning percentages. Only nine times since 1992 has the predicted champion prior to the season proceeded to win the SEC Championship Game. The last to do so was Alabama in 2021. The Crimson Tide have done so five times, taking home a league-high 11 titles including last year’s over Georgia.
