Three Kentucky Wildcats Receive Preseason All-SEC Honors from Athlon

In about a month, my esteemed colleagues will gather in Dallas to vote on the preseason All-SEC football team and predict the order of finish in the first year of the new-look 16-team league. Athlon Sports is cutting the rest of us in line.

For years Athlon Sports has served as the primary appetizer for College Football Talking SZN. The long-running magazine is the first to print, providing college football fans with insight into every team in the sport. Even though printed magazines are going by the way of the Dodo, Athlon is still burning and churning and they’re high on a couple of Wildcats.

Three Kentucky football players received Preseason First Team All-SEC honors: DL Deone Walker, CB Maxwell Hairston, and KR Barion Brown.

Walker will receive significant All-American buzz ahead of his third season in Lexington. The 6-foot-6, 335-pound defensive lineman from Detroit is a monstrous man who plays with agility and a motor rarely seen at that size. He can produce from every position on the defensive line, tallying 12.5 TFLs, 7.5 sacks, and 8.0 QB hurries last fall, all of which were team-highs.

Hairston and Brown were among the best in the SEC at their respective positions in 2023. Hairston was a breakout start in his debut, leading the SEC with five interceptions and returning two for touchdowns. Brown was the best kick returner in college football. He took three to the house and averaged 36.0 yards on 16 returns, tops in all categories.

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Athlon Sports Predicts Where Kentucky Finishes in the SEC

In addition to sharing All-SEC teams, Athlon shared bowl predictions and took a stab at what the final league standings will look like. The publication made the popular pick by slotting Kentucky to the Music City Bowl to play a team from the Big Ten, Wisconsin. That’s not exactly a revelation.

What is noteworthy is the following list of 16 teams. It’s going to take some time for our brains to adjust to this new norm. It’s no longer, “Can you believe they picked Kentucky to finish fourth in the East?” Instead of fighting seven teams in one division, the Cats are in the mix with everyone. Finishing 12th in the SEC sounds so much worse than fourth in the division, even though they aren’t so far off from a final wins-loss standpoint.

1. Georgia
2. Texas
3. Ole Miss
4. Alabama
5. Missouri
6. LSU
7. Tennessee
8. Oklahoma
9. Texas A&M
10. Auburn
11. Florida
12. Kentucky
13. South Carolina
14. Arkansas
15. Mississippi State
16. Vanderbilt

Most around BBN surely believe this Kentucky football team is one of the ten best teams in the league, but 7-5 still might not make that cut. The recalibration of expectations is going to hit some fanbases harder than others. Hopefully, we get to delay that process behind the folks in Gainesville and Auburn.