Three & Out: SEC Media Days, Day 3

Barrett Sallee shares three thoughts, comments or observations about day three of SEC Media Days.

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The 2009 edition of SEC Media Days drew to a close Friday at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Ala., with Auburn, South Carolina, Tennessee and LSU making appearances. Highlights from the day include:

The suspect has been caught
It's okay to go back outside ladies and gentleman, the coach that committed the horrible crime of leaving Tim Tebow off of his All-SEC ballot has been caught. And, after being interrogated for an undisclosed amount of time, the suspect has confessed to the crime.

Steve Spurrier. Guilty.

The 'Ole Ball Coach owned up to it, saying that he had his director of operations fill out the ballot and, without much more than a cursory glance, signed off on it.

“When all this came up Wednesday, I read, Some guy did not vote for Tim Tebow.” said Spurrier. “Our director of operations filled it out, brought it in to me one day. I looked at it quickly. I said, That's fine. I signed off on it. I called him. I said, Certainly we had Tim Tebow. He said, Well, actually, coach, we had Jevan Snead. He said something about we already had 10 Gators, maybe get another guy. I said, That's bad. But it's my fault. I take full responsibility. I messed that up. I apologized to Tim Tebow. We screwed it up pretty badly. I'm embarrassed about it. I feel bad about it.”

Spurrier subsequently called SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom to fix the mistake. So, rest assured, Tebow has his proper accolade. There's no longer a need to panic.

Leave it to Florida to be involved in another recount.

Pre-season honors doled out
The last day of media days signals the release of the pre-season media All-SEC team. And...get this...Tim Tebow was not a unanimous selection as first team All-SEC QB. Someone start and inquiry!

Not surprisingly, the Florida Gators led the way with 12 players named to the team, including eight on the first team. Alabama placed second with eight members on the All-SEC team, followed by a three-way tie between Georgia, Ole Miss and LSU, with five.

In addition to the All-SEC teams, media members voted on the projected order of finish in each division. Stop the presses, but the Florida Gators racked in the accolades, earning all 64 first place votes to win the SEC East, and 63 votes to win the SEC Championship Game. It marked the first time that a team was unanimously selected to win a division since the league split in 1992.

The one outstanding vote to win the SEC belonged to Ole Miss. The Rebels, despite that vote, were predicted to finish third in the SEC West behind the Alabama Crimson Tide and the LSU Tigers.

2009 Pre-Season All-SEC Team

Offense (first place votes in parentheses)
First-Team Offense
TE D.J. Williams, Arkansas (38)
OL Ciron Black, LSU (60)
OL Mike Johnson, Alabama (55)
OL John Jerry, Ole Miss (49)
OL Mike Pouncey, Florida (35)
C Maurkice Pouncey, Florida (39)
WR Julio Jones, Alabama (58)
WR A.J. Green, Georgia (53)
QB Tim Tebow, Florida (61)
RB Charles Scott, LSU (59)
RB Michael Smith, Arkansas (48)

Second-Team Offense
TE Aaron Hernandez, Florida (18)
OL Clint Boling, Georgia (12)
OL Trinton Sturdivant, Georgia (8)
OL Lee Ziemba, Auburn (6)
OL Zipp Duncan, Kentucky (4)
C Josh McNeil, Tennessee (12)
WR Brandon LaFell, LSU (9)
WR Dexter McCluster, Ole Miss (6)
QB Jevan Snead, Ole Miss (2)
RB Mark Ingram, Alabama (6)
RB Anthony Dixon, Miss. State (5)

Defense
First-Team Defense
DL Terrence Cody, Alabama (55)
DL Greg Hardy, Ole Miss (53)
DL Carlos Dunlap, Florida (46)
DL Antonio Coleman, Auburn (32)
LB Brandon Spikes, Florida (61)
LB Rolando McClain, Alabama (50)
LB Eric Norwood, South Carolina (38)
DB Eric Berry, Tennessee (62)
DB Trevard Lindley, Kentucky (50)
DB Joe Haden, Florida (45)
DB Javier Arenas, Alabama (23)

Second-Team Defense
DL Geno Atkins, Georgia (21)
DL Malcolm Sheppard, Arkansas (12)
DL Jermaine Cunningham, Florida (10)
DL Charles Alexander, LSU (7) 6
LB Rennie Curran, Georgia (25)
LB Rico McCoy, Tennessee (4)
#LB Micah Johnson, Kentucky (3)
#LB Jamar Chaney, Miss. State (3)
DB Ahmad Black, Florida (20)
DB Chad Jones, LSU (12)
DB Myron Lewis, Vanderbilt (12)
DB Major Wright, Florida (7)

Specialists
First-Team Specialists
PK Leigh Tiffin, Alabama (31)
P Chas Henry, Florida (43)
RS Brandon James, Florida (35)

Second-Team Specialists
PK Joshua Shene, Ole Miss (26)
P Clinton Durst, Auburn (10)
RS Javier Arenas, Alabama (21)
# = Ties

SEC Media Projected Order of Finish (first place votes in parentheses)

SEC East
1. Florida (64) 64
2. Georgia 133
3. South Carolina 217
4. Tennessee 258
5. Vanderbilt 317
6. Kentucky 355

SEC West
1. Alabama (33) 109
2. LSU (15) 145
3. Ole Miss (16) 149
4. Arkansas 245
5. Auburn 309
6. Mississippi State 387

Jefferson's the guy at QB for LSU
Les Miles confirmed that Jordan Jefferson will be his starting quarterback when the Tigers open the season on the road at Washington. But, versatile true freshman Russell Sheppard will play in some fashion.

“I think he's a tremendous talent.” Miles said of Sheppard. “I think there's a definite challenge to our offense on how to use him, how to bring him along. I believe firmly that he can be a quarterback. I thought he had a good spring. He's a very bright man. He has a great read. He understand secondaries. He seldom throws a ball in the wrong place by design. He knows where the ball is supposed to go.”

Miles had no problem throwing then-sophomore Ryan Perrilloux into the mix in 2007, splitting snaps with starter Matt Flynn. Expect Sheppard to be used in a similar fashion, and don't be surprised to see he and Jefferson on the field at the same time at some point during the season.

Additional News: The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Florida LB Dustin Doe has been arrested and charged with driving with a suspended license, and has been suspended from the team indefinitely. The senior started 12 games for the Gators last season.

Doe is the 25th player to be arrested under Florida head coach Urban Meyer.

Barrett Sallee covers the SEC for www.CollegeFootballNews.com. He can be reached at , or on Twitter

Three & Out Archive:
Three & Out: SEC Media Days, Day 3 – July 24, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Media Days, Day 2 – July 23, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Media Days, Day 1 – July 22, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – April 16, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – April 12, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – April 9, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – April 3, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 30, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 26, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 18, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 15, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 11, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 7, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – March 3, 2009
Three & Out: SEC Thoughts, News & Notes – February 28, 2009

Click here for the 2009 blog archive