Kentucky picked to finish 11th in SEC; 5 Wildcats named Preseason All-SEC

How will Kentucky fare in Mark Stoops’ twelfth season, the first in which Texas and Oklahoma are part of the Southeastern Conference? The media believes the Cats will be in the bottom half of the pack.

Kentucky is No. 11 out of 16 in the media’s predicted order of finish with 1,371 votes, just behind Auburn and over 200 votes ahead of Florida. Georgia is No. 1, followed by Texas and Alabama. Five teams Kentucky faces this season finished ahead of the Cats: 1) Georgia, 2) Texas, 4) Ole Miss, 7) Tennessee, and 10) Auburn.

Although Vanderbilt came in dead last in the media poll, two media members gave the Commodores a first-place vote. Hmm.

2024 SEC CHAMPION

School	Points
Georgia	165
Texas	27
Alabama	12
Ole Miss	4
Vanderbilt	2
LSU	2
South Carolina	1

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

School	Points
Georgia	3330
Texas	3041
Alabama	2891
Ole Miss	2783
LSU	2322
Missouri	2240
Tennessee	2168
Oklahoma	2022
Texas A&M	1684
Auburn	1382
Kentucky	1371
Florida	1146
South Carolina	923
Arkansas	749
Mississippi State	623
Vanderbilt	293

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Five Wildcats named Preseason All-SEC

Several Wildcats were given Preseason All-SEC honors. Junior defensive lineman Deone Walker and junior defensive back Maxwell Hairston were named first-team defense, while junior Barion Brown was named to the first team as a return specialist and third team as an all-purpose player. Georgia transfer linebacker Jamon “Pop” Dumas-Johnson was named and senior offensive lineman Marques Cox was also named third team defense and offense, respectively.

2024 PRESEASON MEDIA DAYS ALL-SEC TEAM

OFFENSE

First Team

• QB –  Carson Beck, UGA
• RB – Trevor Etienne, UGA
• RB – Jarquez Hunter, AU   
• WR –  Luther Burden III, MIZ 
• WR –  Tre Harris, UM 
• TE – Caden Prieskorn, UM  
• OL – Tyler Booker, UA
• OL – Will Campbell, LSU
• OL – Kelvin Banks Jr., TEX   
• OL – Tate Ratledge, UGA
• C – Cooper Mays, UT

Second-Team

• QB – Quinn Ewers, TEX 
• RB –  Raheim Sanders, SC  
• *RB – CJ Baxter, TEX 
• *RB – Montrell Johnson Jr., UF
• WR – Isaiah Bond, TEX
• WR – Kyren Lacy, LSU
• TE –  Mason Taylor, LSU   
• OL – Emery Jones, LSU  
• OL – Kadyn Proctor, UA  
• OL –  Xavier Truss, UGA 
• OL –  Dylan Fairchild, UGA  
• C –  Parker Brailsford, UA 

Third Team

• QB – Jalen Milroe, UA
• RB –  Justice Haynes, UA    
• RB –  Ulysses Bentley, UM
• WR – Deion Burks, OU
• WR – Dominic Lovett,  UGA  
• TE –  Oscar Delp, UGA   
• OL –  Earnest Greene III, UGA
• OL – Marques Cox, UK
• OL – Trey Zuhn III, TAMU
• OL – Jaeden Roberts, UA
• C – Jake Majors, TEX   

DEFENSE

First Team

• DL – James Pearce Jr., UT   
• DL – Walter Nolen, UM    
• DL – Deone Walker, UK 
• DL – Nazir Stackhouse, UGA  
• LB –  Harold Perkins, LSU    
• LB –  Danny Stutsman, OU   
• *LB – Deontae Lawson, UA
• *LB – Mykel Williams, UGA   
• DB –  Malaki Starks, UGA 
• DB –  Malachi Moore, UA  
• DB –  Billy Bowman, OU   
• DB –  Maxwell Hairston, UK   

Second Team

• DL – Shemar Turner, TAMU
• DL – Landon Jackson, ARK  
• DL – Nic Scourton, TAMU
• *DL – Tim Smith, UA
• *DL –  Jared Ivey, UM 
• LB – Debo Williams, SC
• LB –  Anthony Hill Jr., TEX  
• LB – Smael Mondon Jr., UGA   
• DB – Jahdae Barron, TEX   
• DB – Major Burns, LSU   
• DB –  Andrew Mukuba, TEX  
• DB – Malik Muhammad, TEX   

Third Team

• DL  – Tim Keenan III, UA
• DL –  Princely Umanmielen , UM
• DL – Trey Moore, TEX 
• DL – Tonka Hemingway, SC
• LB –  Jamon “Pop” Dumas-Johnson, UK  
• LB – Jihaad Campbell, UA   
• LB –  Eugene Asante, AU 
• DB – Domani Jackson, UA   
• DB –  Daylen Everette, UGA   
• DB –  Jason Marshall Jr., UF
• *DB – Keon Sabb, UA  
• *DB –  Nick Emmanwori, SC

SPECIALISTS

First Team

• P –  James Burnip, UA  
• PK – Bert Auburn, TEX    
• LS – Kneeland Hibbett, UA
• KS – Alex McPherson, AU
• RS  – Barion Brown, UK   
• AP – Zavion Thomas, LSU 

Second Team

• P – Brett Thorson, UGA
• PK – Graham Nicholson, UA  
• LS – Hunter Rogers, SC
• KS –  Will Stone, TEX
• RS – Zavion Thomas, LSU   
• AP – Dillion Bell, UGA

Third Team

• P – Jeremy Crawshaw, UF  
• PK – Alex McPherson, AU  
• LS – Slade Roy, LSU
• KS – Trey Smack, UF
• RS – Keionte Scott, AU   
• *AP – Barion Brown, UK
• *AP – Jaydon Blue, TEX