SEC coaches pick preseason All-SEC teams

Combined Reports
Published: July 22, 2008

Alabama and Auburn each put eight players on the 2008 Southeastern Conference Coaches Preseason All-SEC football team, including two first-teamers each.

Crimson Tide junior offensive tackle Andre Smith, a preseason Playboy All-American and the league’s 2007 Jacobs Trophy winner for best blocker, was a unanimous selection. Teammate Rashad Johnson, a former walk-on running back who led the team with 94 tackles and six interceptions, is a first-team selection at safety.

Auburn players selected by the coaches for the first team are defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks, who made 43 tackles and nine tackles for loss last season, and punter Ryan Shoemaker, who averaged more than 42 yards per kick a year ago.

Defending SEC and national champion LSU led all SEC schools with 14 players selected to the three all-conference teams. Florida followed with 10. Georgia had nine selections, followed by Auburn, Alabama and South Carolina, with eight each. Kentucky had five selections, Ole Miss and Mississippi State four each, Arkansas three and Vanderbilt two.

The SEC’s coaches have announced a preseason all-conference team for the past five seasons. The media’s All-SEC team will be selected during SEC Media Days and announced Friday.

Auburn had five players on the second team. Lee Ziemba, a 6-foot-8, 288-pound sophomore, was one of three Auburn players on the second-team All-SEC offense. Guard Tyronne Green and tailback Ben Tate were the other second-team selections on offense.

Juniors Tray Blackmon and Jerraud Powers were named to the second-team all-conference defense. Blackmon, a linebacker, was limited to nine games by an ankle injury, but finished the season with 45 tackles.

Alabama had three second-team selections — senior center and three-year starter Antoine Caldwell, sophomore linebacker Rolando McClain and junior return specialist/cornerback Javier Arenas.

Alabama senior quarterback John Parker Wilson and sophomore running back Terry Grant were named to the third-team offense while junior place-kicker Leigh Tiffin was chosen to the third team as a place-kicker.

Auburn defensive end Antonio Coleman, who finished fourth in the SEC in tackles for loss and fifth in sacks last season, was named to the third-team defense. The 6-foot-2, 262-pound junior missed most of spring practice after suffering a neck injury while tangling with Ziemba in a team scrimmage.

Staff reporter Ken Rogers and Media General News Service writer Collin Mickle contributed to this story.