Later this week, all the media members gathered in Hoover, Alabama for SEC Media Days will vote on their All-SEC teams. But the writers over at 247Sports got a jump on the rest of the media down in Alabama and voted on their own All-SEC team this week.
247Sports polled 12 of their writers to compile their all-conference list of players. The list is only their First-Team selections, so there are only 27 players selected for 247Sports’ All-SEC team. And only one Vol was chosen for their All-SEC selections.
Kick return specialist Evan Berry was the only Vol to make 247Sports’ All-SEC team. Berry has been an All-SEC and All-American kick returner for the Vols the last two seasons, amassing 1,264 kick return yards and four touchdowns on just 35 kick returns. That gives him an average of 36.1 yards per kick return over the last two seasons. Berry needs just 178 more yards to pass Willie Gault’s school record of 1,854 kick return yards and just one more score to break his tie with Gault for most kick return touchdowns in Vol history.
But aside from Berry, no other Vol made the cut according to the writers at 247Sports.
For comparison, nine Alabama players made the 247Sports All-SEC team, by far the most by any one team. Tennessee’s main competitors in the SEC East, Georgia and Florida, also didn’t have a ton of representation. Georgia had three players on the list while Florida had just two. South Carolina and Kentucky also only had a single player selected. Missouri and Vanderbilt had no players voted onto 247Sports’ All-SEC team.
LSU had the second-most selections with four players. Auburn had two players chosen while Ole Miss, Mississippi State. and Arkansas only had one selection each. Texas A&M technically only had one player, but Christian Kirk made it as both a wide receiver and a punt returner, giving the Aggies two different selections on the team.
247Sports listed all the writers who participated in the voting at the end of the article, and it’s worth noting that none of their Tennessee writers were involved in the selection process. Ten writers who cover specific SEC teams voted as well as Barton Simmons, their director for scouting, and Chris Hummer, a national college football writer for 247Sports.
The All-SEC selections from SEC Media Days will be announced on Friday of this week, and they will provide a full three teams of all-conference players.
