Best on the Beat: A poll of 12 SEC beat writers

You’ve seen the polls, the picks, the prognostications and you’ve heard the banter. There are plenty of opinions out there about how the Southeastern Conference will shake out this season.

You’ve heard from the coaches in their poll. You’ve even heard from the media in their poll.

But what we’re doing here on WholeHogSports.com is a little bit different. We polled a smaller selection, a pool of 12 beat writers, for our Best on the Beat. That’s one beat writer covering every school in the SEC. This isn’t a wide selection with a wide variety of opinions and/or allegiances. These are the 12 writers who know the most about their respective schools on the beat.

Below you will find the usual divisional and SEC championship selections you see in most polls. But below you’ll see a few more superlatives, which has quite a bit of an Arkansas flavor.

Upon receiving the results, what I found was a similar point of view when it came to selection champions. Florida and Alabama were unanimous selections to win their respective divisions, but that’s where the dissension begins.

I’ll have more later from the vote, including a few of our “eye openers,” which include the Best on the Beat’s SEC upset of the year and, of course, the national champion.

BEST ON THE BEAT

Photo Illustration by Brandon Marcello; Photo Credits: The Associated Press, Northwest Arkansas Media, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

SEC EAST
1. Florida* (12)
2. Georgia (28)
3. South Carolina (32)
4. Kentucky (54)
4. Tennessee (54)
6. Vanderbilt (72)

SEC WEST
1. Alabama * (12)
2. Arkansas (28)
3. Auburn (38)
4. LSU (46)
5. Ole Miss (61)
6. Mississippi State (67)

*Unanimous divisional champion
- Teams received 1 point for first-place pick, 2 points for second-place pick, etc.

SEC CHAMPION
Alabama (11)
Florida (1)

BEST OFFENSE
Arkansas (9)
Alabama (2)
Auburn (1)

BEST DEFENSE
Alabama (6)
Florida (3)
South Carolina (2)
LSU (1)

BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER
Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU (6)
Dont’a Hightower, MLB, Alabama (4)
Mark Barron, S, Alabama (1)
Kelvin Sheppard, LB, LSU (1)

BEST OFFENSIVE PLAYER
Ryan Mallett, QB, Arkansas (8)
Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama (3)
A.J. Green, WR, Georgia (1)

BEST PLAYER OVERALL
Ryan Mallett, QB, Arkansas (5)
Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama (4)
Randall Cobb, WR, Kentucky (1)
Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU (1)
A.J. Green, WR, Georgia (1)

BEST COACH
Nick Saban, Alabama (11)
Urban Meyer, Florida (1)

BEST COACHING STAFF
Alabama (10)
Auburn (2)

VOTERS: Gentry Estes, Mobile Press-Register; Tom Murphy, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; Andy Bitter, Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer; Michael DiRocco, Florida Times-Union; Marc Weiszer, Athens Banner-Herald; Brett Dawson, Louisville Courier-Journal; Glenn Guilbeau, Gannett Louisiana newspapers; Kyle Veazey, The Clarion-Ledger; David Brandt, The Clarion-Ledger; Travis Haney, The Post and Courier; Wes Rucker, The Chattanooga Times Free Press; Jeff Lockridge, The Tennessean.

Make sure to check out WholeHogSports.com and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more coverage. You can also follow us on Twitter for breaking news updates with @bmarcello and @wholehogsports.

— Brandon Marcello