All-American Team and Pre-Season Picks

Rhino and I gave this blog thorough thought while making our selections.  Throwing bias out the window, we came up with picks for each conference (with a few dark horses) and a Rhino/Griff All-American Team.  So let us begin with the All-American team.

1rst Team Offense:

QB Matt Barkley – Senior, Southern California

RB Montee Ball – Senior, Wisconsin

RB Marcus Lattimore – Junior, South Carolina

WR Sammy Watkins – Sophomore, Clemson

WR Robert Woods – Junior, Southern California

TE Philip Lutzenkirchen – Senior, Auburn

OT Ricky Wagner – Senior, Wisconsin

OG Chance Warmack – Senior, Alabama

C Barret Jones – Senior Alabama

Okay, so I know y’all are adding this up in your head and saying, “Hey Griff, there’s not eleven guys there.” We decided to not include two tackles and two guards on the first team.  Rather, we just selected the best for the first team.

The first team offense is led by Matt Barkley, who returns to Lane Kiffin’s squad for his senior campaign.  He’s got a lot of weapons, and if USC can make it past Oregon on November 3^rd, a lot of people see this team making a championship run.  Montee Ball and Marcus Lattimore anchor the running back positions.  Ball was a Heisman Finalist, toting the rock almost 2000 yards, and Lattimore’s season was cut short by a knee injury.  Many analysts have both of these guys making a trip to New York at the end of this season.

Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods are the first team receivers.  Watkins, even facing a two game suspension to start his year, will still put up fantastic numbers.  If he would have been able to go to the draft last year, he would have been a first round pick.  He has the ability to accelerate very fast and make a lot of people miss in a very small amount of space.  Woods was the man for Barkley last year, as he pulled in 111 passes for over 1200 yards and 15 scores.

Philip Lutzenkirchen out of Auburn has been a notable name since the season of Cam.  He makes the list as our first team TE.  He seems to always be in the right place at the right time to make a big play.  Ricky Wagner of Wisconsin makes our list as our first string tackle.  He possesses that massive, Big 10 lineman strength.  Chance Warmack and Barret Jones make the team as our guard and center, respectively.  This Alabama O-Line might be the biggest, strongest offensive line that college football has ever seen.  We’ll see how they perform this season.

Our 2^nd Team looks a little something like this:

QB Gino Smith – Senior, West Virginia

RB Kniles Davis – Junior, Arkansas

RB Joseph Randle – Junior, Oklahoma State

WR Marquess Wilson – Junior, Washington State

WR Stedman Bailey – Junior West Virginia

TE Tyler Eifert – Junior, Notre Dame

OT Alex Hurst – Senior, Louisiana State

OG Omoregie Uzzie – Senior, Georgia Tech

C Mario Benavides – Senior, Louisville

Quarterback Gino Smith is set to be up there with Sammy Watkins as possibly the most explosive player in college football, as he is probably the most athletic quarterback in the country.  Our RBs Davis and Randle are both juniors that are looking to vastly improve their draft stock this season.  Davis is coming off of an injury, but he is looking to add an extra dimension to Arkansas already powerful offense.  Wilson and Bailey are the deadliest underrated receivers in the country.  Look for Wilson to shine under new head coach Mike Leach.  Tyler Eifert is our second team TE for the Irish, who look to prove themselves as a legitimate program this season.

Alex Hurst is the big senior tackle that will anchor this LSU offensive line.  Uzzie is a guard that you will see a lot of movement from in Georgia Tech’s slashing, short-run offense.  Benavides is a guy you will probably see compared a lot to our first team guy, Barret Jones a lot this season.

Our 1rst Team Defense looks like this:

DE Same Montgomery – Junior, Louisiana State

DE Jadaveon Clowney – Sophomore, South Carolina

DT Star Lotulelei – Senior, Utah

DT Johnathan Hankins – Junior, Ohio State

LB Jarvis Jones – Junior, Georgia

LB Sean Porter – Senior, Texas A&M

LB Manti Te’O – Junior, Notre Dame

CB David Amerson – Junior, North Carolina State

CB Johnathan Banks – Senior, Mississippi State

FS Tony Jefferson – Senior, Oklahoma

SS Kenny Vacarro – Senior, Texas

Our Defensive Ends Montgomery and Clowney show us how athletic guys from the SEC pursue quarterbacks.  Clowney is on a lot of NFL Scouts minds as he is a man among boys.  Lotulelei is also being looked at heavily and often regarded as the best interior defensive lineman in the country.  Hankins is a big boy out of Ohio State that is known to penetrate offensive lines and grab runners in the backfield. 

Our linebackers start off with Georgia gem, Jarvis Jones.  He finished last season with 13.5 sacks.  Sean Porter is a tackling machine out of Texas A&M.  Manti Te’O has been called a “ball hawk” and finished last year with 128+ tackles.  Our first team cornerbacks are David Amerson and Johnathan Banks.  David Amerson is a machine out of NC State.  He finished last season with 13 picks.  Banks was more of the complete package picking up just 5 picks, but he was more in the backfield with 3 sacks.  Tony Jefferson of Oklahoma should be a force at FS for the Sooners.  Kenny Vacarro expects to be an awesome tackler for a Texas team that is trying to rebuild swiftly.

Our 2^nd Team looks like this:

DE Brandon Jenkins – Senior, Florida State

DE Corey Lemonier – Junior, Auburn

DT Kawann Short – Senior, Purdue

DT Sylvester Williams – Senior, North Carolina

LB Kevin Reddick – Senior, North Carolina

LB Arthur Brown – Senior, Kansas State

LB Gerald Hodges – Senior, Penn State

CB Terry Hawthorne – Senior, Illinois

CB Micah Hyde – Senior, Iowa

FS DJ Swearinger – Senior, South Carolina

SS Matt Elam – Junior, Florida

Florida State DE Brandon Jenkins looks to anchor a Florida State team that has high expectations.  Corey Lemonier hopes to continue his success at Auburn after finishing with 9.5 sacks last season.  Kawann Short and Sylvester Williams are two very good interior lineman.  Kevin Reddick and Arthur Brown are both tackling machines at linebacker.  Gerald Hodges is looking to have a great year amid everything that has come down at Penn State.  Terry Hawthorne and Micah Hyde are both seniors from the Big 10 that are great tacklers and have good ball skills.  DJ Swearinger anchors a South Carolina secondary that has to play well to be successful in the SEC.  Matt Elam is looking to anchor a Florida team that is trying to find themselves under Will Muschamp.

Now for our picks:

ACC Atlantic

Griff: FSU with North Carolina State as a Dark Horse

Rhino: FSU with North Carolina State as a Dark Horse

ACC Coastal

Griff: Virginia Tech

Rhino: Virginia Tech with North Carolina as a Dark Horse

ACC Champion

Griff: FSU

Rhino: FSU with North Carolina State as a Dark Horse

PAC-12 North

Griff: Oregon

Rhino: Oregon with Cal as a Dark Horse

PAC-12 South

Griff: Southern California with UCLA as a Dark Horse

Rhino: Southern California with Utah as a Dark Horse

PAC-12 Champions

Griff: Oregon

Rhino: Southern California

Big 10 Leaders

Griff: Wisconsin

Rhino: Wisconsin with Purdue as a Dark Horse

Big 10 Legends

Griff: Michigan State

Rhino: Michigan

Big 10 Champion

Griff: Wisconsin

Rhino: Wisconsin

Big 12 Champion

Griff: West Virginia

Rhino: Oklahoma

SEC East

Griff: South Carolina

Rhino: South Carolina

SEC West

Griff: Alabama with Arkansas as a Dark Horse

Rhino: LSU with Arkansas as a Dark Horse

Big East

Griff: Louisville

Rhino: South Florida

Conference USA East

Griff: Southern Mississippi

Rhino: Southern Mississippi

Conference USA West

Griff: SMU

Rhino: Tulsa

Conference USA Champion

Griff: SMU

Rhino: Southern Mississippi

MAC East

Griff: Ohio

Rhino: Miami (OH)

MAC West

Griff: Western Michigan

Rhino: Western Michigan

MAC Champions

Griff: Ohio

Rhino: Western Michigan

Mountain West

Griff: Boise State

Rhino: Nevada

Sunbelt

Griff: Arkansas State

Rhino: Troy

WAC

Griff: Louisiana Tech

Rhino: Louisiana Tech

National Championship Game

Griff: Alabama vs. Oregon

Alabama wins 31-17

Rhino: LSU vs. Southern California

LSU wins 28-24

So there you have our All-American team and picks.  As always, feel free to tweet me @griffaldo or email me at JCGriffin13@yahoo.com .