Alabama picked to win league title by SEC media

HOOVER | Nick Saban was free to go.

Alabama's head coach had taken his last question in the main interview room at the Hyatt Regency Wynfrey Hotel on Thursday, but never a man to bask in accolades - especially of the speculative ilk - he had a reminder for the media contingent that had overwhelmingly picked Alabama to win the SEC in its 2014 preseason poll.

You've been plenty wrong before.

"I know you all pick a winner in the conference every year. I'm not saying who you picked this year," Saban said, straight-faced, as his deadpanning revved into gear. "But last year, you'd been wrong, you know, like 17 out of 21 times. Now you're wrong 18 out of 22 (coming into this year).

"And every year that we've been fortunate enough to win the championship, you picked somebody else to win it.  So just to let you know … that we're evaluating you."

A record 1,267 media members showed up to this year's SEC Media Days and a record 293 predicted the standings and voted on All-SEC teams. Despite what Saban identified as "many question marks" around his team coming into the fall, Alabama received 154 votes to win the league title with Auburn (75) a distant second. It marked the fourth time in five years that the Crimson Tide have been tapped to win it. Alabama and Auburn were picked to finish 1-2 in the SEC West while South Carolina was picked to win the SEC East ahead of Georgia.

While it may be a testament to Alabama's perceived ability, as Saban pointed out, being picked to win here hasn't been good luck - the media has picked the SEC champion correctly just four times in 22 years.

There were more honors for some of Alabama's individual standouts. The Crimson Tide had a league-high eight players named first-team All-SEC:: Running back T.J. Yeldon, offensive lineman Arie Kouandjio, receiver Amari Cooper, tight end O.J. Howard, defensive lineman A'Shawn Robinson, linebacker Trey DePriest, safety Landon Collins and return specialist Christion Jones.

Yeldon led the Crimson Tide in rushing with 1,235 yards while Cooper, who garnered more first-team votes than any other SEC player, tallied 736 receiving yards and four touchdowns despite battling a foot injury throughout the 2013 season.

Jones, who was named first-team as a punt return man and as the league's top all-purpose player, caught 36 passes for 349 yards while also leading the league in punt return yardage (321 yards).

Offensive linemen Austin Shepard and Ryan Kelly were both named second team All-SEC.

Reach D.C. Reeves at 205-722-0196 or dc@tidesports.com.

Check out the rest of the teams and the SEC predicted order of finish below:

Predicted Order of Finish

Alabama 154 points

Auburn 75

South Carolina 32

Georgia 19

LSU 9

Ole Miss 2

Arkansas 1

Mississippi State 1

SEC West Predicted Order of Finish

Alabama

Auburn

LSU

Ole Miss

Mississippi State

Texas A&M

Arkansas

SEC East Predicted Order of Finish

South Carolina

Georgia

Florida

Missouri

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

Kentucky

2014 PRE-SEASON MEDIA DAYS ALL-SEC TEAM

(Total points earned in parenthesis)

OFFENSE

First-Team

QB Nick Marshall, Auburn (241)

RB T.J. Yeldon, Alabama (281)

RB Todd Gurley, Georgia (280)

WR Amari Cooper, Alabama (282)

WR Sammie Coates, Auburn (207)

TE O.J. Howard, Alabama (188)

OL La'el Collins, LSU (231)

OL Arie Kouandjio, Alabama (188)

OL Laremy Tunsil, Ole Miss (183)

OL Cedric Ogbuehi, Texas A&M (174)

C Reese Dismukes, Auburn (226)

Second-Team

QB Dak Prescott, Mississippi State (118)

RB Mike Davis, South Carolina (240)

RB Alex Collins, Arkansas (126)

WR Laquon Treadwell, Ole Miss (182)

WR Malcolm Mitchell, Georgia (71)

TE C.J. Uzomah, Auburn (141)

OL A.J. Cann, South Carolina (166)

OL Vadal Alexander, LSU (112)

OL Alex Kozan, Auburn (112)

OL Corey Robinson, South Carolina (107)

C Ryan Kelly, Alabama (126)

Third-Team

QB Bo Wallace, Ole Miss (94)

RB Corey Grant, Auburn (52)

RB Keith Marshall, Georgia (44)

WR Jameon Lewis, Mississippi State (67)

WR Marquez North, Tennessee (66)

TE Hunter Henry, Arkansas (72)

OL Austin Shepherd, Alabama (106)

OL Chad Slade, Auburn (101)

OL John Theus, Georgia (96)

OL Chaz Green, Florida (94)

C Evan Boehm, Missouri (77)

DEFENSE

First-Team

DL Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss (239)

DL Dante Fowler, Jr., Florida (212)

DL A'Shawn Robinson, Alabama (208)

DL Gabe Wright, Auburn (192)

LB Trey DePriest, Alabama (253)

LB A.J. Johnson, Tennessee (186)

LB Ramik Wilson, Georgia (147)

DB Landon Collins, Alabama (274)

DB Vernon Hargreaves, III, Florida (243)

DB Cody Prewitt, Ole Miss (210)

DB Deshazor Everett, Texas A&M (183)

Second-Team

DL Trey Flowers, Arkansas (181)

DL Chris Jones, Mississippi State (150)

DL Alvin "Bud" Dupree, Kentucky (134)

DL Markus Golden, Missouri (125)

LB Benardrick McKinney, Mississippi State (143)

LB Jordan Jenkins, Georgia (137)

LB Denzel Nkemdiche, Ole Miss (116)

DB Robenson Therezie, Auburn (144)

DB Tre'Davious White, LSU (141)

DB Damian Swann, Georgia (127)

DB Tony Conner, Ole Miss (116)

Third-Team

DL Ray Drew, Georgia (102)

DL Montravius Adams, Auburn (94)

DL Carl Lawson, Auburn (87)

DL Jermauria Rasco, LSU (79)

LB Kwon Alexander, LSU (112)

LB Cassanova McKinzy, Auburn (82)

LB Serderius Bryant, Ole Miss (76)

DB Jon Mincy, Auburn (99)

DB Corey Thompson, LSU (86)

DB Rashard Robinson, LSU (84)

DB Brison Williams, South Carolina (81)

SPECIALISTS

First-Team

P Drew Kaser, Texas A&M (221)

PK Marshall Morgan, Georgia (224)

RS Christion Jones, Alabama (262)

AP Christion Jones, Alabama (130)

Second-Team

P Sam Irwin-Hill, Arkansas (136)

PK Colby Delahoussaye, LSU (142)

RS Andre Debose, Florida (97)

AP Terrence Magee, LSU (111)

Third-Team

P Jamie Keehn, LSU (81)

PK Andrew Baggett, Missouri (103)

RS Marcus Murphy, Missouri (72)

AP Trey Williams, Texas A&M (89)