Besides Bush’s Beans becoming an official sponsor of the Southeastern Conference, the next big news was Alabama being predicted to repeat its SEC football championship this year as the Tide topped the preseason poll at Media Days in Atlanta. The Tide garnered 158 votes to last year’s National Champion Georgia Bulldogs with 140 votes.
The Tide was picked to win the SEC West, outdistancing second place selection Texas A&M. Arkansas came in at third followed by Ole Miss, LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn. Georgia was selected to win the SEC East over second place selection Kentucky. Tennessee was picked third followed by Florida, South Carolina, Missouri and Vanderbilt. In a little surprise Vanderbilt received a first place vote to win the championship. The media has picked the winner only nine times since 1992. The media have picked the champion the two previous seasons but also selected the Tide the previous seven years to win the title.
Alabama also dominated the Preseason All-SEC Football Team with league high 19 selections with 10 of those selections on the first-team. The Crimson Tide had four offensive and defensive first teamers and two specialists. Georgia was a distant second with nine selections.
Ole Miss had one first-team selection in offensive lineman Nick Broeker while wide receiver Jonathan Mingo was named to the second team. Running back Zach Evans and offensive lineman Jeremy James were selected to the third team offense.
Mississippi State’s lone selection was defensive back Emmanuel Forbes on the second team. The Bulldogs’ record setting quarterback Will Rogers did not attend Media Days and also was not included on the preseason All-SEC teams. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young was named to the first-team with Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker voted on the second team and Kentucky’s Will Lewis named to the third team.
The SWAC head coaches met with the media in Birmingham where Jackson State and Southern of Baton Rouge were picked to the win their respective divisions. The JSU Tigers edged out Florida A&M and Alabama A&M while Alabama State, Bethune-Cookman and Mississippi Valley followed in that order. Southern edged out Alcorn State in the Eastern Division followed by Prairie View, Grambling, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Texas Southern in that order. Jackson State quarterback Shedeur Sanders was chosen the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year by the media.
Sun Belt Conference Media Days will be held this week at the Sheraton in New Orleans. Golden Eagles head coach Will Hall will be on stage on Wednesday.
The Major League Baseball Draft selected 23 young men from our state last week. Mississippi State pitcher Landon Sims was the first taken as the 34th overall pick by Arizona. National Champion Ole Miss and the 2021 National Champion Mississippi State Bulldogs led the way with seven selections each. Southern Mississippi had five pitchers selected while the Detroit Tigers drafted William Carey outfielder Chris Williams Jr. in the 18th round. Meridian Community College’s Ke’Shan Collier was picked by Arizona in the 22nd round. Two high school players were chosen as South Panola’s Emmarion Boyd went in the 11th round to Philadelphia and Tishomingo County’s shortstop Spence Coffman was drafted by San Diego in the 19th round.
Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame will induct eight new members on July 30 in Jackson at the Convention Center. The new inductees include Maggie Bowen-Hanna (swimming), Jim Gallagher Jr. (golf), Kermit Davis Sr. (basketball), Bob Tyler (football coach), David Dellucci (baseball), Barry Lyons (baseball), Eric Moulds (football) and Willis Wright (high school coaching). The Hall of Fame will host a “Meet the Inductees” autograph session from 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. on Saturday morning at the Museum. This year’s class, as well as previous inductees, will be available to sign autographs for fans. Contact the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in Jackson for ticket information.
Dale has been writing sports in Mississippi since 1973. Listen to Dale and Marshall Wood on the Brouhaha Sports Show each Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area. This week’s guest is Laurel Leader-Call Sports Editor Josh Beasley. To listen to the broadcast on your computer or smart phone anywhere in the world, go to Google Chrome; go to wabo105.com and click listen live. You may also go to The Brouhaha on YouTube and listen to archived shows.
