For the first time in three years, the Mississippi State football team wasn’t picked to finish in the bottom two of the Southeastern Conference Western Division.
On Friday, the media picked MSU to finish third in the SEC West behind Alabama, which is predicted to win the conference, and Auburn. MSU received two votes to win the SEC West and one vote to the win the SEC Championship Game.
Alabama received 263 of the 284 total votes (1,971 points) to win the SEC West and 193 votes to win the championship game. Auburn received 19 first-place votes and 1,664 points.
Georgia, the overwhelming favorite in the SEC East, was second with 69 championship votes.
MSU placed five players on the media’s preseason All-SEC team, two of them on the first team: defensive linemen Jeffery Simmons and Montez Sweat, a repeat of when both were on last year’s postseason All-SEC team. Safety Mark McLaurin was a third-team selection.
Despite being double-teamed for most of the 2017 season, Simmons had 60 tackles as a sophomore and earned first-team All-SEC honors. The Macon native ranked 11th in the conference with 12 tackles for loss, which includes a career-best five sacks. He forced and recovered two fumbles and had three blocks on special teams, which tied SMU’s Justin Lawler for the national lead.
Sweat had a league-best 10 1/2 sacks and 15 1/2 tackles for loss in his debut season en route to first-team All-SEC honors. The 10 1/2 sacks ranked seventh in MSU single-season annals. He became the first Bulldog to lead the league in sacks since Willie Evans in 2005. That total also tied for eighth nationally last season. His tackle for loss total tied for fifth in Bulldog single-season history.
McLaurin led MSU in tackles (79) and interceptions (six) as a junior. He added three-and-a-half tackles for loss, one-and-a-half sacks, six pass breakups, and one forced fumble.
The Collins native was named the TaxSlayer Bowl’s Most Valuable Player after intercepting 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson three times and registering a game-high 11 tackles.
Quarterback Nick Fitzgerald shared third-team honors with Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm. MSU running back Aeris Williams, a former standout at West Point High School, also was named to the third team.
Fitzgerald had 2,766 yards of offense and 29 touchdowns and ranked third in the SEC with 230.5 yards per game in 12 starts. He ranked behind only Louisville’s Lamar Jackson with six 100-yard rushing/100-yard passing games. Fitzgerald is second in school history and 21st in the SEC annals with 72 career touchdowns (39 passing, 33 rushing).
Williams became MSU’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Josh Robinson in 2014. He had four 100-yard rushing games last season en route to 1,107 yards rushing, which ranked sixth in the SEC. He rushed for six touchdowns.
Ole Miss had three players on the team, all of them on the offensive wide. Starkville native wide receiver A.J. Brown was on the first team, as was offensive lineman Greg Little; Javon Patterson was on the third team offensive line.
Brown, a preseason first team All-American and 2017 All-SEC selection, led the SEC and finished 10th nationally with a program-best 1,252 receiving yards in 2017. He also led the SEC in receiving touchdowns (11), receiving yards per game (104.3), and receptions per game (6.3). Brown already has been named to watch lists for the Maxwell Award and Biletnikoff awards. He is rated the No. 1 wide receiver in the country by USA Today and Athlon.
Little, a junior from Allen, Texas, has appeared in every game at left tackle since arriving in Oxford two years ago. Little earned preseason All-America first-team honors from the Sporting News and second-team accolades from Lindys, Athlon, and Phil Steele.
Patterson leads a veteran group of Ole Miss offensive linemen with 36 games played, including 30 career starts. He was a member of the 2017 SEC Football Student-Athlete Leadership Council and the SEC Community Service team. Throughout the 2017 campaign, both Patterson and Little helped protect the Ole Miss quarterbacks that led the SEC and ranked 11th nationally in passing as a unit (328.4 yards per game).
Alabama placed seven on the first team and 13 players in 14 spots, with Travon Diggs making the team as both the second-team all-purpose player and the third team as the return specialist. The first-teamers were running back Damien Harris, offensive linemen Jonah Williams and Ross Pierschbacher, defensive lineman Raekwon Davis, linebackers Anfernee Jennings and Mack Wilson and defensive back Deionte Thompson.
Crimson Tide offensive lineman Lester Cotton and defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs made the second team; wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, offensive lineman Matt Womack and linebacker Dylan Moses were on the third team.
n Also Friday, MSU senior center Elgton Jenkins earned a spot on the watch list for the Rimington Trophy, which is given to the nation’s top center.
Jenkins is one of seven SEC players on the 58-player list. Last season, Jenkins earned a starting role as a junior. The Clarksdale native started all 13 games and helped the Bulldogs gain 5,442 yards of offense. MSU averaged 418.5 yards per game.
Jenkins is the first Bulldog center to make the list since Jamaal Clayborn in 2016.
Ole Miss’ Dawson Knox was named to the preseason watch list for the John Mackey Award, which recognizes the nation’s top tight end.
NFL Hall of Fame member John Mackey is considered to be the best to have played the tight end position. A tight end by whom all others are measured, Mackey was a role model on and off the field as demonstrated by his Super Bowl Championship, his commitment to community and his place in history as the first President of the NFLPA.
Knox, a junior from Brentwood, Tennessee, had 24 catches in 2017 and ranked second among tight ends with 321 receiving yards.
Knox, a preseason All-SEC selection by Phil Steele, was a 2017 nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is awarded to college football’s top player who began his career as a walk-on.
Alabama’s Hale Hentges also was named to the watch list for the John Mackey Award, while Pierschbacher also was named to the watch list for the Rimington Trophy.
Hentges, a native of Jefferson City, Missouri, has played a key role in helping the Crimson Tide running game rank as one of the tops in the nation during his career. Hentges caught seven passes for 75 yards and three touchdowns last season as a junior.
Pierschbacher has been a staple on the offensive line for the last three seasons. He has made 42 career starts for the Crimson Tide. During his time at left guard, the redshirt senior has blocked for 28 100-yard rushing performances and helped the Alabama offensive line earn the Joe Moore Award in 2015 while being selected as a finalist for the award that goes to the nation’s top offensive line in each of the last two seasons.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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