Zboiz, they play everything on both sides in high school because they are better athletes than everyone else.
Notice Spurries says talent not brains.
SEC is tough up front
Mike Detillier Sports Correspondent Published: Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 10:32 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 10:32 p.m.
A couple of years ago at the Southeastern Conference Media Days, South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier said the difference between the SEC and the rest of college football is superior talent on SEC defenses.
“No conference plays defense like the Southeastern Conference does, year in and year out,” Spurrier said. “The talent on defense, especially up-front, is better than anything you will find in another conference.”
Spurrier’s words are proven truthful when we look at the starting defensive linemen in the NFL.
While numbers will change during training camp, the SEC leads in projected starters at defensive end and defensive tackle in the NFL.
Derrick Burgess (Mississippi State), Jamal Anderson (Arkansas), Antwan Odom (Alabama), John Abraham (South Carolina), Shaun Ellis, Robert Ayers and Leonard Little (Tennessee), Tyson Jackson, Marcus Spears and Glenn Dorsey (LSU), Jevon Kearse, Derrick Harvey and Alex Brown (Florida) and Richard Seymour, Charles Grant, Robert Geathers and Phillip Daniels (Georgia), make up 17 potential starters at defensive end, putting the SEC in front of the rest of college football .
The SEC also has an advantage at projected starters at defensive tackle in the NFL.
The SEC has 14 projected starters at defensive tackle for 2009 including Jason Ferguson and Marcus Stroud (Georgia), Peria Jerry and Kendrick Clancy (Ole Miss), Kyle Williams (LSU), Patrick Sims and Jay Ratliff (Auburn), Tommy Kelly and Ronald Fields (Mississippi State), Gerard Warren (Florida), Cornelius Griffin (Alabama) and John Henderson, Albert Haynesworth and Aubrayo Franklin (Tennessee). Vanderbilt defensive tackle Jovan Haye, a veteran free agent signee with the Tennessee Titans, should press for a starting spot due to the loss of Haynesworth to the Washington Redskins.
With players like Greg Hardy and Ted Laurent (Ole Miss), Carlos Dunlap and Jermaine Cunningham (Florida), Jeff Owens and Geno Atkins (Georgia), Dan Williams (Tennessee), Rahim Alem, Al Woods and Drake Nevis (LSU), Terrence Cody (Alabama), Antonio Coleman (Auburn) and Arkansas’ Malcolm Sheppard waiting in the wings the SEC is again loaded with talent on the defensive line.