Alabama Lands 16 Players on Preseason All-SEC Team
7/14/2017 10:51:00 AM | Football
Crimson Tide earns record 10 first-team selections in SEC Media Days voting
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Alabama football team had a league-high 16 players selected to the 2017 Southeastern Conference Media Days All-SEC Team announced Friday by the conference office. The list of 16 Crimson Tide players includes an SEC-record 10 first-team honorees and three second- and third-team selections.
The 10 first-team selections includes four players on offense, five on defense and one specialist. The record number surpasses the previous high of nine first-team honorees from one school set by Alabama in 2011. A pair of juniors in wide receiver Calvin Ridley and offensive lineman Ross Pierschbacher, along with two sophomores in quarterback Jalen Hurts and offensive lineman Jonah Williams were selected on offense, while junior defensive lineman Da'Ron Payne, senior defensive lineman Da'Shawn Hand, senior linebacker Rashaan Evans and junior defensive backs Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Harrison were named to the defensive first team. Senior punter JK Scott rounds out the first-team selections for the Tide. Fitzpatrick and Ridley were among the three players who tied for top vote-getter honors.
Senior center Bradley Bozeman, junior running back Bo Scarbrough and senior linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton were named to the second team. Junior offensive lineman Lester Cotton and senior defensive backs Anthony Averett and Tony Brown were named to the third team.
Hurts threw for 2,780 yards and 23 touchdowns in his debut campaign while Scarbrough capped his 2016 season with 364 yards and six touchdowns in his final three games. Ridley is Alabama's leading returning receiver with 769 yards and seven touchdowns a season ago. Bozeman, Pierschbacher, Williams and Cotton return from an offensive line that cleared the way for an Alabama offense that led the SEC in scoring at 38.8 ppg in 2016.
Fitzpatrick already owns the Alabama career record for interception returns for touchdowns with four to anchor one of the deepest defensive backfields in the conference. Harrison is the Tide's leading returning tackler with 86 stops as a sophomore while Averett led the team in pass breakups with eight. Brown finished with 32 stops in 11 games last season. Payne and Hand combined for 57 stops on the defensive front in 2016. Hamilton and Evans are the top returning tacklers among the Tide linebackers with 64 and 53, respectively. Scott averaged 47.2 yards per punt as a junior with 25 boots of 50 yards or more.
Alabama opens the 2017 season on Sept. 2 in Atlanta, Ga., as the Crimson Tide takes on Florida State in the annual Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff on ABC.
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