HogManInLA's 2011 SEC College Football Preview

This is part one of a series previewing the 2011 SEC College football season. Enjoy.

2011 SEC Football Preview

If last year was the year of the quarterback in the SEC, 2011 is the year of the defense. Gone are All-American, All-SEC, and SEC veteran quarterbacks Cam Newton (Auburn), Ryan Mallett (Arkansas), Greg McElroy (Alabama), Mike Hartline (Kentucky), and Stephen Garcia (South Carolina)… no wait, he’s been reinstated again for the fifth time. This season stout defensive ends, brutal linebackers, and stud corners will be on a mission to contain an immensely talented group of SEC running backs.

Knile Davis (Arkansas), Marcus Lattimore (South Carolina), Vick Ballard (Mississippi State), Michael Dyer (Auburn), Brandon Bolden (Ole Miss) and Trent Richardson (Alabama) headline a rushing attack that tops any other NCAA conference. Mississippi State (Chris Relf), Georgia (Aaron Murray), Florida (John Brantley), Tennessee (Tyler Bray), Vanderbilt (Larry Smith), LSU (Jordan Jefferson) and South Carolina (Garcia) are returning starting quarterbacks to help anchor their teams while Arkansas (Wilson), Kentucky, Ole Miss, Auburn, and Alabama will have to rely on their running games early as they break in new starting quarterbacks.

Yards and touchdowns will be hard to come by in the SEC. Alabama, Arkansas, and LSU have the misfortune of having great defenses and playing in the same division. South Carolina should lead the eastern division in defense while Kentucky, Florida, and Georgia have great potential with their defensive units.

Some of the defensive names out of the SEC you’ll be hearing this fall include:

CB Morris Claiborne, LSU

DL Sam Montgomery, LSU

DL Malik Johnson, Tennessee

DE Jake Bequette, Arkansas

LB Jerry Franklin, Arkansas

SS Tramain Thomas, Arkansas

DT Josh Chapman, Alabama

LB Courtney Upshaw, Alabama

LB Dont’a Hightower, Alabama

S   Mark Barron, Alabama

S   Robert Lester, Alabama

LB Danny Trevathan, Kentucky

CB Stephon Gilmore, South Carolina

DE Devin Taylor, South Carolina

DE Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina (freshman)

Will the defensive standouts for any given team be enough to lead their SEC team to the conference’s sixth straight BCS Championship? Will another SEC team catch magic in a bottle like Auburn did during the 2010 season? Or will a team from one of the other power conferences seize the opportunity to claim the crystal trophy in a down year for the SEC?

Some New and Old Faces in Different Places

Will Muschamp/Florida Gators

With the high level of play in the SEC year after year is it fair or cruel to say “Welcome to the SEC” to several new coordinators and two new head coaches? James Franklin has the daunting task of turning the fortunes around at Vanderbilt and Will Muschamp takes his defensive coordinator’s talent to the feeding frenzy fans in the Swamp.

Muschamp should be a SEC savvy coach by the time he gets to the coin flip against Tennessee. He’ll have to make a quick adjustment to life in the SEC as Florida’s schedule is one of the toughest in the nation. Muschamp graduated from the University of Georgia in 1994, played safety for the Dawgs, and was the team captain his senior year. He has three previous stints as an assistant coach in the SEC before coming to Florida from Texas as the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator; graduate assistant at Auburn 1995-1996, linebackers coach at LSU 2001 and defensive coordinator at LSU 2002-2004, and defensive coordinator at Auburn 2006-2007.

Muschamp had some great defenses while at LSU. How much of those talented defenses were the recruiting and coaching talents of Nick Saban remains to be seen. During his time as the defensive coordinator at Texas, Muschamp can boast some great rushing defense numbers and sacks per game but that was the Big 12 and this is the SEC. The Big 12 has been a passing conference over the past 6 years with few notable premiere running backs and poor defensive play. His coaching mentors in Mack Brown and Nick Saban should help him as a head coach when times get tough and in preparation. His background in Texas and success in Florida will help him pull recruits from the two biggest recruiting pools in the nation. Charlie Weis may add some luster to recruiting by flashing his Super Bowl rings and dropping Tom Brady’s name every chance he gets.

Weis will run a pro style offense at UF which will be much different than the spread option Urban Meyer ran. A traditional I-formation and drop back passing will replace the “Wild Hog”, not “Wildcat”, running and passing featured by their previous starting quarterbacks; that’s what it was even if they didn’t call it that. With all the hype and “genius” labels previously attached to Weis, he has not proven to be successful at the college level to date. Florida will be able to recruit talent, that’s never been a problem. But if Weis’ time at Notre Dame is any gauge of what to expect, this could be an exciting first year for Gator fans and then little to no success offensively from here on out. National publications kept Weis’ recruiting classes in the top 10 year after year to sell recruiting magazines; how many 5 star QBs makes a top 10 recruiting class each year? Weis’ teams constantly fell flat against weaker schedules than what he will face week in and week out in the SEC.

James Franklin/Vanderbilt Commodores

James Franklin is going to need more of the recruiting coups he managed in 2011 if he’s to make Vanderbilt into a contender. A great quarterback can make a big difference for any college football team and Lafonte Thourogood (Virginia Beach, VA) could be the future for Franklin and staff. Thourogood was committed to Virginia Tech and switched his commitment on signing day. Thourogood was a track star in high school and he may need those wheels on Saturdays if he can win the starting job over senior Larry Smith.

The good and the bad for Franklin is he has 10 returning starters on offense and 8 on defense. The bad is that offense was statistically one of the worst in college football during the 2010 season. Vandy is young and Franklin could make a splash while trending upwards in the win-loss department; he really can’t do much worse than the 3-9 overall record and 1-7 record in the SEC that Vandy posted last season. His young team is SEC ready and should respond to a new head coach and positive leadership. Franklin was the offensive coordinator at Maryland last year with no head coaching experience or SEC experience. He’ll have some learning curves during his first season in the SEC.

The Coordinators

David Lee returns to the SEC to help Houston Nutt’s offense. Lee was the offensive coordinator at Arkansas when he unleashed Darren McFadden and the Wild Hog. Lee is credited with bringing the Wild Hog, now called Wildcat, to the NFL and the Miami Dolphins for Ronnie Brown. Nutt, a former college quarterback at Arkansas and Oklahoma State, only knows two pass routes, a 15-yard out and the fly route (straight down the field). Lee will have a tough time getting Nutt to sign off on any other passing plays; Nutt kept a stranglehold on Gus Malzahn in 2006 when he was the OC at Arkansas.

The softest landing of any new coordinator may be Mississippi State’s Geoff Collins. Collins will share the title and duties with Chris Wilson, who held the same position last year. Collins comes to Starkville from Florida International. MSU has 7 returning starters on defense and a good offense with a better than good rushing attack. MSU should move the ball and eat up the game clock which will allow a rested MSU defense to wreck havoc on opposing SEC offenses. Collins first task is to replace LB Chris White and K.J. Wright. All three linebacker positions are up for grabs. How quickly the new linebackers adjust to playing every down in the SEC could heavily influence MSU’s ability to gain ground in the SEC West.

The toughest coordinating position in the SEC this season has to be the offensive coordinator’s position at LSU. Steve Kragthrope knows Tiger fans are hungry for another SEC and BCS title. The lackluster performances from quarterback Jordan Jefferson over the past two years has the Tiger faithful calling for Les Miles' head even though he’s averaged 10 wins per season over the past five. Last year’s mantra in Baton Rouge, “if we only had an offense”, could be heard throughout the country. With a roster full of talent and 15 total starters returning, fans are expecting big things from Kragthrope (previously head coach at Tulsa and Louisville). 

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