McFadden\u2019s crowning achievement on the field was arguably his 206-yard rushing performance in a road win over No. 1 LSU<\/a> in Death Valley. He and then-Arkansas coach Houston Nutt gave memorable postgame interviews on the field afterwards \u2014 including a moment where McFadden chided Les Miles for his incorrect pronunciation of \u201cArkansas.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Also receiving votes: Derrick Henry<\/p>\n Wide receiver: Amari Cooper, Alabama; Ja\u2019Marr Chase, LSU; DeVonta Smith, Alabama<\/p>\n For as many remarkable wide receiver careers as there have been in the SEC over the past 25 years, these 3 stand above the others. Cooper and Chase were unanimous picks by our staff while Smith received 80% of the vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cooper is still regarded as one of the most physically gifted receivers of the last couple decades. His collegiate achievements include a national championship, a Biletnikoff Award and over 3,400 receiving yards.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chase was a member of LSU in 2019, which has a case as the best SEC team of all time. His stats on that team were staggering \u2014 1,780 yards and 20 touchdowns. He averaged over 21 yards per reception. He is the only SEC receiver since 2001 with 20+ yards per reception on a volume of at least 70 catches in a single season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Smith\u2019s career included a Heisman Trophy in his final collegiate season, but his biggest contribution came as a true freshman. He was famously on the other end of a 2nd-and-26 pass from fellow freshman Tua Tagovailoa to defeat Georgia<\/a> in the National Championship Game at the end of the 2017 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Also receiving votes: Jerry Jeudy<\/p>\n Tight end: Brock Bowers, Georgia<\/p>\n Bowers has a dominant statistical argument to get the nod here. Since 2001, he\u2019s No. 1 in the SEC in receiving yards for a tight end (2,538). He also holds the single-season record (942). He won the Mackey Award twice, becoming the first player to ever accomplish that feat in the 2+ decade history of that award.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also receiving votes: DJ Williams<\/p>\n Like our coverage? Make SDS a preferred source<\/a> in your searches!<\/p>\n Offensive tackle: Andre Smith, Alabama; Cam Robinson, Alabama<\/p>\n For our staff, this was the closest vote yet with Andre Smith and Cam Robinson just edging out Luke Joeckel for the 2 offensive tackle slots. In total, 5 players received votes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Smith was one of the first great players at Alabama under Nick Saban<\/a>. He began his career in Tuscaloosa with Mike Shula, but Saban took over after his freshman season. He started at left tackle as a true freshman in 2006. By 2008, Saban\u2019s second year in charge, Smith was one of college football\u2019s best players. He won the 2008 Outland Trophy and was a unanimous All-American that season before going No. 6 overall in the 2009 NFL Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n Robinson came along a little bit later in the life cycle of Saban\u2019s career in Tuscaloosa, but was arguably just as individually dominant. He, too, won an Outland Trophy and was a unanimous All-American. He was also a key player on Alabama\u2019s CFP National Championship run in 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also receiving votes: Luke Joeckel, Alex Leatherwood, Michael Oher<\/p>\n Offensive guard: Barrett Jones, Alabama; Mike Pouncey, Florida<\/p>\n If only one offensive lineman could be picked for this team, Barrett Jones may well have been the choice. He played significant snaps at tackle, guard and center during his tenure with the Crimson Tide. For logistical purposes, he was only listed as a guard on our staff ballot. Jones is the only player to win the Rimington Trophy and Outland Trophy in different seasons. He was also a unanimous All-American in 2010 and won the Wuerffel Trophy in 2011. Oh, by the way, Jones was also a key starter on 3 national title-winning teams \u2014 each at a different position along the offensive line.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pouncey just barely beat out Trey Smith for the nod. A member of Florida<\/a>\u2019s 2009 national championship team, Pouncey was a 2-time consensus All-American and made first- or second-team All-SEC in 3 consecutive campaigns. He went on to become a first-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft and ultimately made 5 Pro Bowl rosters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also receiving votes: Trey Smith, Tyler Booker<\/p>\n Center: Landon Dickerson, Alabama<\/p>\n Dickerson earned the nod at center, meaning Alabama players take up 4 of the 5 slots for offensive linemen on this team. It\u2019s hard to say it isn\u2019t deserved \u2014 Dickerson won the Rimington Trophy and was a unanimous All-American during his college career.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also receiving votes: Maurkice Pouncey, Florida, Ryan Kelly, Alabama<\/p>\n Kicker: Rodrigo Blankenship, Georgia<\/p>\n Rodrigo Blankenship narrowly earned the nod here. His stats are not as gaudy as some of the other choices, but he had a very memorable career in Athens. He\u2019s one of just a few SEC kickers to win the Groza Award, doing so in 2019. Perhaps more memorably, he made 2 crucial kicks in Georgia\u2019s famous win over Oklahoma<\/a> in the Rose Bowl at the end of the 2017 season. He drilled a 55-yarder just before halftime \u2014 a result of an ill-fated squib kick from the Sooners \u2014 and also made a 38-yard field goal in overtime.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also receiving votes: Will Reichard, Tate Sandell, Harrison Mevis<\/p>\n Returner: Christian Kirk, Texas A&M<\/p>\n Christian Kirk was a staggeringly-productive returner for the Aggies from 2015-17. The star wide out totaled 6 punt return touchdowns (on just 37 total returns!) over his 3-year college career \u2014 including at least 1 in each season. He also returned a kickoff for a touchdown in 2017, giving him 7 special teams scores for his career. On the punt return side, Kirk also twice led the SEC in yards per return.<\/p>\n Also receiving votes: Joe Adams, Marcus Murphy, Brandon James<\/p>\n Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 21st century, which officially began on Jan. 1, 2001, has produced some incredible college football so far.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-740373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Spenser](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8dc00a7a897c30a217db2fe60c5fd0527aa6c54e3cf910c38c8bc2e5f4f40157.png\"\/)
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