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It's time for one man's SEC football individual honors

Friday, November 25, 2005

Huntsville Times

Now that the final weekend of the Southeastern Conference football season has arrived, it's time for one man's strictly unofficial presentation of the top individual awards.

Without further ado:

SEC coach of the year: Les Miles of LSU, assuming his Tigers beat Arkansas today in Baton Rouge. Miles came in from Oklahoma State as the successor to the popular Nick Saban, inherited the most talented squad in the conference, overcame all the early-season obstacles created by Hurricane Katrina, and still stumbled only once.

The biggest mystery of the year is how the Tigers squandered a three-touchdown lead early in the season and lost in overtime to what turned out to be a woeful Tennessee team.

Runner-up: South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, who would've had a lock on the award if the Gamecocks had finished 8-3 by beating Clemson last Saturday.

Honorable mentions: Auburn's Tommy Tuberville, whose Tigers beat their two biggest rivals, Georgia and Alabama, at the end of the regular season to finish 9-2; and Alabama's Mike Shula, whose team won its first nine before dropping the last two.

SEC offensive player of the year: Kenny Irons of Auburn. The junior running back from Dacula, Ga., carried the ball only once in the opening loss and only a few snaps in the second game against Mississippi State. But for the last nine games, he was virtually unstoppable and finished as the leading rusher in the SEC.

SEC defensive player of the year: Patrick Willis, Ole Miss' headhunting middle linebacker. Despite having to wear a cast to protect an injured hand for most of the season, the sensational junior was the undisputed leader of a rebuilding team. He finished with 114 tackles, an average of 12.7 stops per game. Nobody else was even close.

SEC most valuable player: Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler, who led the Commodores to a 5-6 record by passing for 3,073 yards and 21 touchdowns.

SEC freshman of the year: Tie between South Carolina rookie receiver Sidney Rice, who snagged 58 passes for a league-leading 952 yards and 12 touchdowns, and Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden, who has rushed for 1,056 yards and 10 touchdowns.

All-SEC offensive team: TE - Leonard Pope (Georgia); SE - Dwayne Bowe (LSU); Linemen - Marcus McNeill (Auburn), Max Jean-Gilles (Georgia), Andrew Whitworth (LSU) and Tre Stallings (Ole Miss); C - Mike Degory (Florida); QB - Jay Cutler (Vanderbilt); RB - Kenny Irons (Auburn), Kenneth Darby (Alabama) and Darren McFadden (Arkansas).

All-SEC defensive team: Linemen - Jeremy Mincey (Florida), Kyle Williams (LSU) and T. J. Jackson (Auburn); LB - DeMeco Ryans (Alabama), Patrick Willis (Ole Miss), Travis Williams (Auburn) and Moses Osemwegie (Vanderbilt); DB - Roman Harper (Alabama), Ko Simpson (South Carolina), Muhammad Abdulla (Kentucky) and Greg Blue (Georgia).

All-SEC punter: Chris Jackson (LSU)

All-SEC place-kicker: Brandon Coutu (Georgia)

[chuck 0]

interesting all-sec team with only 1 WR - I'd have to say Chad Jackson of UF would be my other WR . .