Alabama Football Highlights Athlon Sports Preseason All-SEC Teams

Athlon Sports, a highly regarded college football publication, named its preseason All-SEC teams on Tuesday afternoon, placing 14 Alabama football players across its first, second, third and fourth teams.

The 14 members of the Crimson Tide is tops amongst the conference, with LSU coming in second at 12. Alabama has six first-team selections, four second-teamers, three on the third team and one fourth-team choice.

Sophomore wideout Calvin Ridley and junior left tackle Cam Robinson were first-team offense selections, while seniors Jonathan Allen (defensive line), Reuben Foster (linebacker) and Eddie Jackson (safety) were all a part of the first-team defensive selections. Junior punter JK Scott rounded out the Tide’s first-team choices, being named as a specialist.

The second team choices included junior tight end O.J. Howard, along with senior linebacker Tim Williams, sophomore cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick and senior placekicker Adam Griffith. Sophomores Bo Scarbrough (running back) and Ross Pierschbacher (offensive line) along with senior linebacker Ryan Anderson were selected to the third team. Junior defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand was the Crimson Tide’s final of 14 selections on Athlon’s preseason list, being listed on the fourth team.

Athlon’s all-conference teams are based on how players will perform in 2016. Career statistics and awards matter in the evaluation, but choosing players for the 2016 all-conference team is largely based on predicting and projecting the best for the upcoming season.