By
Jeff Sallas (written December 2000)
Well another season of SEC
football is over. It is time to hand
out this season's awards. Here is one man's
opinion of the SEC this year.
First the standings...
SEC East
1. Florida: 9-2, 7-1
2. Tennessee: 8-3, 5-3
3. South Carolina: 7-4, 5-3
4. Georgia: 7-4, 5-3
5. Vandy: 3-8, 1-7
6. Kentucky: 2-9, 0-8
SEC West
1. Auburn: 9-2, 6-2
2. LSU: 7-4, 5-3
3. Ole Miss: 7-4, 4-4
4. Miss St: 7-4, 4-4
5. Arkansas: 6-5, 3-5
6. Bama: 3-8, 3-5
Individual awards in my
opinion...
East MVP: Jabbar Gaffney, Florida.
(1999 pick: Dusty Bonner, Kentucky)
UT's Casey Clausen and Travis
Henry get an honorable mention here.
Maybe South Carolina QB Phil Petty too.
Georgia's Terrence Edwards is their only candidate. Vandy and UK just don't have one. It is really not a close race though. Gaffney runs away with the award. Florida was my favorite to win the SEC this
year after the season ended last year UNTIL I heard that All-SEC Junior WRs
Travis Taylor AND Darrell Jackson were going pro. Florida would have been so strong with 2 All-SEC Senior WRs. They really had nobody else step up last
season. I thought that would hurt them
alot. However, Gaffney has stepped up
and more than filled the void. He has
become the premier playmaker at WR in the SEC.
He has 66 catches for 1,100 yards and 13 TDs. That is impressive. He
also reeled off a string of 7 consecutive games with 100 yards receiving. The only good news for the rest of the SEC
is that they probably only have to defend this guy for one more year before he
goes pro...
West MVP: Rudi Johnson, Auburn.
(Last year's pick: Shawn Alexander/Bama OL)
Honorable mention goes to
Josh Reed at LSU, Dicenzo Miller at Miss St., Deuce McAllister at Ole Miss, Boo
Williams at Arkansas and nobody at Bama.
Rudi Johnson, like Gaffney, runs away with this award. Rudi literally did as he ran for an
SEC-leading 1,520 yards on 307 carries for an SEC-leading per-game average of
138.2 yards. Rudi also had a record 10
games with 100+ yards rushing. Rudi
would also get my overall MVP as well.
Florida could possibly have still won the East without Gaffney but
Auburn would probably have been 5-6 without Rudi Johnson. Auburn has had alot of good things happen to
them and had alot of guys step up but Rudi was the catalyst. He has been the biggest player on the team
yet led quietly by example and humility.
The guy just defines what a most valuable player is.
Best defense: TIE - Auburn and South Carolina.
(Last year's pick: Miss St.)
These were by far the 2 best
this year. Auburn finished first in
total defense. South Carolina finished
first in scoring defense. South
Carolina's defense was the backbone of the team. South Carolina also didn't have an offense like Auburn's to
protect the defense. However Auburn's
defense pitched 2 shut-outs in-conference and made huge plays when it counted all
year. South Carolina's defense ended
the year letting Clemson hit a Hail Mary to set up a last second game winning
field goal. I just couldn't give either
one the nod over the other. They were
both very good.
Best QB: Rex Grossman/Jesse Palmer, Florida.
(Last year's pick: Dusty
Bonner, Kentucky)
I have to go with the 2
headed monster at Florida. Palmer and
his cool senior leadership led the team to their biggest win which was a
comeback last minute victory in Knoxville.
Grossman was pretty much the man the rest of the way. He led annihilations of LSU and Auburn in
the Swamp. Palmer continued to help as
well. I guess the next closest guy
would be Casey Clausen at UT. He helped
to resurrect the season and lead the team from 2-3 to 8-3. He put up great stats and looks to be the
man at UT for the next few years. Other
honorable mentions go to Phil Petty at South Carolina, Wayne Madkin at Miss St,
Ben Leard at Auburn and Gary Hampton at Arkansas. However, Florida has by far the best passing game in the SEC and
is also in the top 10 in the nation.
That all starts with the QB.
Best RB: Rudi Johnson, Auburn.
(Last year's pick: Shaun
Alexander, Bama)
Honorable mention goes to
Travis Henry at UT, Dicenzo Miller and Dontae Walker at Miss St, Fred Talley
and Brandon Holmes at Arkansas, LaBrandon Toefield at LSU and Deuce McAllister
at Ole Miss. Henry and McAllister look
to be high NFL draft picks. Miller and
Walker at State were a deadly combination.
Best WR: Jabbar Gaffney, Florida.
(Last year's pick: Ronney Daniels, Auburn)
Honorable mention goes to
Cedrick Wilson at UT, Boo Williams at Arkansas, Tim Carter at Auburn, Reche
Caldwell at Florida, Terrence Edwards at Georgia, Josh Reed at LSU, Grant Heard
at Ole Miss and Dan Striker at Vandy. A
LOT of good receivers here.
Best OL: Florida.
(Last year's pick: Bama)
Honorable mention goes to
Auburn, Miss St, and LSU. At midseason,
Miss St probably has this award but injuries especially the loss of All-SEC tackle
Pork Chop Womack really hurt. Auburn's
OL stayed healthy and really came together as a team but just cannot be
classified as a dominating unit. LSU's
line came up big in some big games but had some let downs as well. Florida's OL is a devastating pass block
unit. For much of the year they seemed
to be a virtual wall around Grossman or Palmer. As Auburn's Tommy Tuberville put it "They didn't even have
to wash the QB's jersey" when Auburn played the Gators the first time.
SEC Coach of the year: Lou Holtz
(Last year's pick: Mike Dubose (I know, I know))
It is pretty bad when you
have to defend your pick from last year before talking about this year. Last year I stated that I didn't think
Dubose was that good a coach but the head man gets the credit for a turnaround
like that. Also, no one really stepped
up coaching-wise last year. Obviously
it was much more Shaun Alexander and Chris Samuels than I previously thought
but Dubose and Co. had to do something last year to win the title. Of course, after this year you have to
wonder what that was From the SEC coach
of the year to the worst coach in the SEC, what a run... This year's pick is much easier and I think
I can safely say that alot more credit goes to the top man. Leading a turnaround from 0-11 to 7-4 is an
unbelievable accomplishment. Holtz is a
miracle worker. Everybody, including
myself, thought he had tarnished his career when he took the SC job but instead
he has added the crown jewel to his great career. He is one of the best coaches of all-time in college
football. Honorable mention: Tommy
Tuberville, Auburn. Tub led Auburn to a
9-2 record after 3-8 and 5-6 seasons.
His calm hand at the wheel, his coaching staff and good recruiting
really helped accelerate success at Auburn.
As for myself, I will finish
the year picking SEC games at 63-20 (76%).
I guess I can claim consistency, I finished last year at 63-21 (75%).