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Joshua Shene via <a href="http://media.commercialappeal.com/mca/content/img/photos/2008/08/24/s25reb.jpeg">Commercial Appeal</a>
Joshua Shene via Commercial Appeal


 

Yesterday, Chris Low gave his thoughts on the recent SEC Coaches All-SEC teams.

Low had some interesting points, and he seems to be serving himself up a helping of the fine red and blue Kool-Aid. Drink it in, Chris. That's the nectar of the gods Chuck Rounsaville.

 Low's article praises a bevy of Rebels, so I just wanted to take a minute to discuss some of the points he made.

It's the second year in a row that Tebow wasn't a unanimous selection on the preseason team picked by the coaches. He also wasn't a unanimous selection as the first-team quarterback by the coaches at the end of last season.

Remember, coaches can't vote for their own players. So what that means is at least one other coach besides Florida's Urban Meyer voted for somebody other than Tebow as the first-team quarterback.

In other words, somebody else voted for Ole Miss' Jevan Snead.

Don't blame Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt, either. He can't vote for his own player.

None of this is a knock against Snead, who's one of the best quarterbacks in the country. But how does anybody -- especially a coach in this league -- watch Tebow play the last few years and not vote for him as the first-team quarterback?

It must be a conspiracy ... only joking.

You hear that Razorback fans? Joking. He doesn't ACTUALLY think there's a conspiracy.

Now that that's out of the way, I totally agree with Low. Snead does not deserve to be picked over Tebow in terms of which is the better or more accomplished player. Snead is a great quarterback, but Tebow has a chance to go down in history as the best college quarterback ever to play the game. I don't think that even wiley ol' Jaylon Snead would argue with this. Tebow deserved unanimous first-team recognition, and he didn't get it.

Honestly, Lane Kiffin probably voted for Snead in an effort to downplay Tebow's accomplishments for future recruits or some crazy shit like that. That guy is nucking futs.

Alabama's Leigh Tiffin is a solid kicker, but it's hard to make a case for him being selected over both Ole Miss' Joshua Shene and Florida's Jonathan Phillips.

I thought that was a little strange too, but then I realized that I know as much about kicking mechanics as whoever Ed Orgeron had coaching special teams (see: NOTHING). Maybe Tiffin is a phenom, but with the departure of Ryan Succoup, you would be hard pressed to show me a better place kicker in the SEC than Joshua Shene.

Also, Ole Miss linebacker Patrick Trahan has to at least be on the third team. Watch him light it up this season.

Really? We're already doing this? He HAS to AT LEAST be on the third team? Are you suggesting that you could conceive of him being first or second team? Last season, Trahan had 29 tackles, good for eleventh on the team.  I know that he came on strong at the end of the season, but Trahan only performed really well in one SEC game. Trahan's seven tackle, 1 sack performance against Mississippi State wasn't even incurred against a coach who had a vote in this poll. Why would he be considered by other coached around the leage as a top talent? The number of Trahan's SEC tackles outside of the MSU game: 6. Six tackles. Maybe that's why SEC coaches didn't vote for him.

I'm predicting a big year for Trahan as well, but the SEC coaches' poll isn't about predictions as much as it's about what has been proven. Trahan hasn't proven anything to those coaches.

And if you want some perspective on how unproven the quarterback position is in this league (other than Tebow and Snead), check out the third-team selections: South Carolina's Stephen Garcia and Kentucky's Mike Hartline wound up in a tie.

Between them, they've combined for 15 touchdown passes, 16 interceptions and 12 starts.

Wow. Just wow. If this doesn't prove my last point, I don't know what does. I don't think that anyone in the world thinks Garcia or Hartline will perform better than, say Jordan Jefferson or Ryan Mallett.  But, regardless, the coaches didn't vote for Jefferson or Mallett.  They've got a lot of hype but little followthrough thusfar.  One cannot bemoan Garcia and Hartline's combined 12 starts and turn a blind eye to Mallett and Jefferson's combined five.

Simply put, coaches aren't going to vote for you based on your star counts.  You've got to do something, anything, on the field for those votes.

As an aside, the fact that Hartline and Garcia were voted as third-teamers should be cannon-fodder for the QB-rich Big 12. That's alright though. The SEC will just have to keep winning BCS National Championships.