FanNation SEC Sites Pick Alabama to Top League, Dominate Player of the Year Honors

Crimson Tide had the most overall selections and first-team selections in annual preseason voting prior to 2022 SEC Media Days.

Everyone associated with the Southeastern Conference may not always see eye-to-eye, but they usually know a good thing when they see it. 

For the 2022 football season, Alabama is looking good. 

In preseason voting among the FanNation's SEC sites, the Crimson Tide was a unanimous pick to win the league title this season. Moreover, quarterback Bryce Young and linebacker Will Anderson Jr. were the preseason selections for offense and defensive players of the year honors. 

Nick Saban's team also led the way in preseason All-SEC selections with 12, including eight first-team picks. 

Georgia had the second-most selections with eight overall, including four first-team players. Arkansas and Texas A&M, which had the Special Teams Player of the Year choice with return specialist Ainias Smith, were tied for third with five overall selections and three first-team picks. 

A couple of notable items about this year's selections:

• Instead of two running backs, three wide receivers were selected.

• Defensively, a 3-3-4 formation was used, but the 11th player was the one who received the most votes among remaining players. The idea was to reward the player most deserving and reflect that the majority of teams will be the nickel package more than their base defense this season.

• Ties were not broken. When one occurred on the first team an additional player was not added to the second team. 

• Only one return specialist was named for first- and second-team status. 

Every school in the SEC had at least one player receive votes.

All-SEC Offense

Position, First-team player, school; Second-team player, School

QB: Bryce Young, Alabama; Will Rogers, Mississippi State

RB: Tank Bigsby, Auburn; Chris Rodriguez, Kentucky

WR: Cedric Tillman, Tennessee; Jonathan Mingo, Ole Miss

WR: Jermaine Burton, Alabama; Josh Vann, South Carolina

WR: Kayshon Boutte, LSU; Tyler Harrell, Alabama

TE: Brock Bowers, Georgia; Jaheim Bell, South Carolina

OL: Layden Robinson, Texas A&M; Nick Broeker, Ole Miss

OL: Broderick Jones, Georgia; Warren Erickson, Georgia

OL: Emil Ekiyor Jr., Alabama; Kenneth Horsey, Kentucky/Dylan Wonnum, South Carolina (tie for second-team)

OL: Javon Foster, Missouri/O’Cryus Torrence, Florida (tie for first-team)

C: Ricky Stromberg, Arkansas; Bryce Foster, Texas A&M/Sedrick Van Pran, Georgia (tie for second-team)

All-SEC Defense

DL: Derick Hall, Auburn; Justin Eboigbe, Alabama

DL: Byron Young, Alabama; Mason Smith, LSU

DL: Jalen Carter, Georgia/Colby Wooden, Auburn (tie for first-team)

LB: Henry To’oTo’o, Alabama; Tryus Wheat, Mississippi State

LB: Will Anderson Jr., Alabama; Drew Sanders, Arkansas

LB: Bumber Pool, Arkansas; Nolan Smith, Georgia

DB: Cam Smith South Carolina; Trey Dean, Florida

DB: Eli Ricks, Alabama; Antonio Johnson, Texas A&M

DB: Jordan Battle, Alabama; Christopher Smith, Georgia

DB: Kelee Ringo, Georgia; Emmanuel Forbes, Mississippi State

Nickel/LB/DL: Jalen Catalon, Arkansas; BJ Ojulari/Ali Gaye LSU (tie second-team)

All-SEC Special teams

K: Harrison Mevis, Missouri; Will Reichard, Alabama/Cam Little, Arkansas (tie second-team)

P: Nik Constantinou, Texas A&M; Oscar Chapman, Auburn

PR/KR: Ainias Smith, Texas A&M; Jahmyr Gibbs, Alabama

Predicted Players of the Year 

Offensive: Bryce Young, Alabama 

Defensive: Will Anderson Jr., Alabama 

Special teams: Ainias Smith, Texas A&M

Predicted Order of Finish

East

1. Georgia
2. Tennessee
3. Florida/
4. Kentucky (tied for third)
5. South Carolina
6. Missouri
7. Vanderbilt 

West

1. Alabama 
2. Texas A&M
3. Ole Miss/
4. Arkansas (tied for third)
5. LSU
6. Mississippi State
7. Auburn

Predicted SEC Champion

Alabama Crimson Tide