SEC football is best measured by six consecutive national championships. But its strength is sometimes as evident at the bottom as the top.
Super Bowl Sunday is a reminder.
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning didn't play for Alabama, LSU or Florida. He played at Ole Miss, which, in tumbling past Kentucky and Vanderbilt this past season, established itself as the worst football program in the SEC.
That's not as horrendous as it sounds. The Rebels can still sell recruits on their football prominence. Not only do they have a Super Bowl quarterback on their alumni list, San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis might be the best defensive player in the NFL. And ex-Rebel Mike Wallace has become a star wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The three former Rebels have something else in common. They all made my SEC all-pro team for the 2011 season.
Quarterback: Eli Manning. He has started in each of his eight seasons and won one Super Bowl with the Giants. He made the Pro Bowl after passing for a career-high 4,933 yards.
Running back: Arian Foster. The former Tennessee Vol proved his 2010 season in which he led the NFL in rushing was no fluke. He again made the Pro Bowl despite missing three games with injuries. Foster led the Houston Texans into the playoffs by rushing for 1,228 yards and catching 53 passes for 617 yards.
Running back: Ben Tate. You don't have to sell the Texans on how good the SEC is. They almost had two 1,000-yard rushers from the conference in the same season. Tate, a second-round draft pick from Auburn in 2010, sat out his first pro season with an ankle injury, but rushed for 942 yards in 2011.
Wide receiver: Mike Wallace. A third-round draft pick, Wallace had his best season with the Steelers in 2011. He made the Pro Bowl after catching 72 passes for 1,193 yards and eight touchdowns.
Wide Receiver: A.J. Green. The rookie from Georgia was the fourth player taken in the 2011 draft. And he didn't disappoint the Cincinnati Bengals, making the Pro Bowl with 65 catches for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns.
Tight end: Jason Witten. The former Vol continues on his Hall of Fame pace with the Dallas Cowboys. The seven-time Pro Bowl selectee had 79 pass receptions for 942 yards in 2011.
Offensive line: Maurkice Pouncey. The former Florida Gators center made first-team all-pro in just his second season with the Steelers. He also was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2010.
Offensive line: Scott Wells. The former Tennessee center wasn't drafted until the seventh round in 2004 but needed only two years to become a starter with the Green Bay Packers. The eight-year veteran made the Pro Bowl for the first time in 2011.
Offensive line: Ben Grubbs. The former Auburn guard has started every season since being taken late in the first round of the 2007 draft by the Baltimore Ravens. He made the Pro Bowl for the first time in 2011. Neither his success nor consistency is anything new. He started 37 consecutive games at Auburn.
Offensive line: Mike Pouncey. The 15th player taken in the 2011 draft, he quickly proved the Miami Dolphins made a wise decision. The former Florida offensive guard became only the sixth offensive linemen in Dolphins history to start every game as a rookie.
Offensive line: Andrew Whitworth. A two-time All-SEC player at LSU, Whitworth became a starter in his second pro game at guard with the Bengals. In 2009, he was moved to tackle, where he continued to start.
Defensive line: Jay Ratliff. The seventh-round draft pick has produced first-round results for the Cowboys. The former Auburn star just made the Pro Bowl for the fourth consecutive season.
Defensive line: Geno Atkins. The second-year pro from Georgia made the Pro Bowl in 2011. The Bengals defensive tackle had 7.5 sacks, forced two fumbles and recovered two fumbles.
Defensive line: Chris Clemons. The former Georgia linebacker should be considered a late bloomer. He started only one full season with the Bulldogs and was not drafted. He didn't become a full-time starter in the NFL until 2010, his seventh season. The Seattle Seahawks defensive end had 11 sacks and forced three fumbles this past season.
Defensive line: John Abraham. An all-pro defensive end last year, Abraham dropped off in 2011 but still had a solid season. The first-round draft pick from South Carolina had 10 sacks for the Atlanta Falcons. The 12-year pro has 112 career sacks, which puts him at 16th on the NFL's all-time sacks list.
Linebacker: Patrick Willis. One of the biggest in-state recruiting misses for Tennessee. He won the Dick Butkus award, given to the nation's best linebacker, at Ole Miss and has been even better as a pro. He has made all-pro in four of his five seasons as the 49ers middle linebacker.
Linebacker: Takeo Spikes. The 14-year veteran from Auburn has 199 career pro starts. He might have slipped from his two all-pro seasons, but he was still productive for the San Diego Chargers. He started all 16 games and led all former SEC players in tackles (106) this past season.
Linebacker: Jerod Mayo. The middle linebacker will have a big say in whether the New England Patriots can win another Super Bowl. The fourth-year player from UT had 95 tackles and two interceptions despite missing two games with an injury.
Cornerback: Johnathan Joseph. The former first-round draft pick from South Carolina made all-pro with the Houston Texans in 2011. Joseph, who has 13 interceptions the past three years, has started in each of his six NFL seasons.
Cornerback: Carlos Rogers. A Jim Thorpe award winner, as the best defensive back in college football, Rogers was one of four first-round draft picks off Auburn's unbeaten 2004 team. He made the Pro Bowl this season with the 49ers.
Safety: Ryan Clark. The 10-year pro from LSU made his first Pro Bowl in 2011. Clark led the Steelers with 100 tackles.
Safety: Roman Harper. After making back-to-back Pro Bowls in 2009 and 2010, the former Alabama safety had 95 tackles, 7.5 sacks and two forced fumbles for the Saints in 2011. The sixth-year pro hasn't missed a start since an injury sidelined him for the last 11 games of his rookie season.
Placekicker: John Kasay. The 42-year-old former Georgia Bulldog, who has been kicking in the NFL for 21 years, made 28 of 34 field-goal attempts for the Saints in 2011. He didn't miss an extra point or field-goal try under 40 yards in his first season in New Orleans.
Punter: Britton Colquitt. He made first- or second-team All-SEC three times at Tennessee. Colquitt averaged 47.4 yards per punt on 101 punts with the Denver Broncos in 2011.
Punt returner: Patrick Peterson. Another Jim Thorpe award winner, he was a consensus All-American cornerback at LSU. In his rookie season at Arizona, he tied an NFL record by returning four punts for touchdowns. He also started at cornerback.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/johnadamskns
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Comments » 13
pomp_and_circumstance writes:
Wow! Only John Adams can do in depth reporting at this depth.
Halls3 writes:
How would Peyton be on this list when he didn't play this year? Think before you post it's based off of the 2011 season.
tovolny writes:
I question John Adams' credibility status to be able to make this selection on behalf of KNS. Who cares what ole Long John thinks about SEC players in the NFL.
What would have been nice was a complete list of ex-SEC players in the NFL listed by each of the 12 teams.
John Adams' opinion concerning anything about UT fotball just doesn't excite me much.
What can we do to get this guy away from Tennessee?
Vol_N_Texas writes:
Where in this ad does it say anything about this season? Leave it to the old DA that 'wrote' this article to leave out the ONLY 4 time MVP. Heck, he should have won this year. He didn't get to play this year and the team results prove that he IS the MVP of the NFL!
Maybe you should think before YOU post.
GBO!
CoverOrange writes:
Whatever became of Reggie Bush. You know, heisman winner. Was the kid all the college coaches went to see when Randy Sanders noticed a little known guy named Arian Foster and offered him a scholarship without a house and car attached. Arian's done good.
ULTIMATEVOLUNTEER writes:
4 MVP's for Peyton.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Maybe they changed the article by the time I read it, but it DID say that it was his picks for 2011. No doubt much of the list would be different if it were for all-time SEC bests in the NFL. No question Peyton and Atkins would be on THAT team.
FWBVol writes:
As would one Minister of Defense, Reggie White.
Jovol642 writes:
Adams is a genuine USDA idiot. You can get papers on him and a certified nut case. Forget what he says here and look at how he has berated the Tennessee program down through the years. He ran Brandon Stewart away from Knoxville as though he held a gun to his head. I hate to give him credit but he was also instrumental in the departure of CPF. I really wonder where we would be today if Fulmer was still here. I don't believe we would be in the shape that we are in now with no hope of returning to a SEC power. The program is at its lowest point ever. With the signing class that we have it will take 4 years to just get average. The fiasco at Kentucky shows that CDD does not have a clue about control of a team and their readiness to play. We will have to suffer through at least two more years of phooey and then make a coaching change. This will put us at ground zero and ready to start again. If Dooley's name were Smith or Jones he would have never been considered as a coach. Hamiliton could not get anyone to take the job and he started grabbing at straws. The real question is who will want the job when we are this low. Thanks John Adams for totally wrecking and continuing to wreck the Vols. I wish I knew a good moving company with a van.
rtrchatt writes:
MVP So what? How many Championships you got? Bama has 3 Super Bowl winning QBs... Starr, Namath and Stabler.
How many Hall of Famers? Bama has 7 and just something else you trail in with Alabama....
WV_Vol writes:
Almost 1100 yards and 5.0 yards per carry isn't exactly "floundering" is it?
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Considering the turmoil occurring long before Dooley arrived on the scene that denied him any real senior leadership from the squad and left him about 20 scholarships short of the NCAA allowance, Dooley has done about as well as could be expected. Yeah, we all HOPED the Vols would do better sooner, but we shouldn't have really EXPECTED it.
Now he has a full squad for the first time in his tenure. He has experienced starters and even seasoned backups at nearly every position. I think most agree that the team needs to show real progress on the field this year, or Dooley's seat will really start heating up.
Even if he can't get it done, his successor will be in FAR better shape than the situation Dooley inherited. So it would, IMHO, behoove most Vol fans to withhold any vitriol almost no matter when or if Dooley leaves. As one who has followed the Vols for over 50 years, through good times and bad, the immature impatience of too many of our so-called fans is disturbing to me. Opinions may vary as to whether Dooley was the ideal hire, but he IS here now, he deserves to show what he can do with a squad mostly of his own creation, and he does NOT deserve the scorn too many of us are all too willing to dump on him if he doesn't return us to the top as soon as some of us think he should.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
As great as Starr, Namath, and Stabler--and I would be the last to deny they were great--they didn't combine for as many passing yards as Peyton had. Besides, all of their teams had dominating defenses and strong running games that helped them a LOT more than Peyton's Colt defenses and running games helped him. About all anyone needs to know about how great Peyton was and may still be is that the Colts had nearly everybody else besides Peyton back from a team that won 13 games last year, and this year they won TWO. If that doesn't prove that he is an MVP, I don't know what could.
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