Preseason all-conference teams are only one step above awards watch lists in terms of usefulness and lasting contributions to society, but the SEC media's all-conference team is out, so let's react to it anyway!
Here's a list of Mizzou players represented:
- Evan Boehm: 3rd-team center (behind Alabama's Ryan Kelly and Texas A&M's Mike Matthews).
- Kentrell Brothers: 3rd-team linebacker (behind Georgia's Jordan Jenkins and Leonard Floyd, Alabama's Reggie Ragland, Tennessee's Curt Maggitt, LSU's Kendell Beckwith, Auburn's Cassanova McKinzy)
And that's it. Now, in four preseason in the SEC, Mizzou has had exactly one player selected above third-team (Markus Golden was a second-teamer last year) but has had plenty of representation on the postseason all-conference lists. So it's probably best not to think too hard about this. But which Tigers maybe have a pretty good case for feeling slighted?
- Kenya Dennis and Aarion Penton. The SEC does not lack for excellent defensive backs, and to be sure, there is quite a bit of quality among the 12 DBs selected to these three teams: Florida's Vernon Hargreaves III, LSU's Jalen Mills, Tre'Davious White, and Jamal Adams, Alabama's Cyrus Jones and Eddie Jackson, Auburn's Jonathan Jones and Johnathan Ford, Ole Miss' Tonny Conner, Tennessee's Cameron Sutton, Mississippi State's Will Redmond, and Kentucky's A.J. Stamps. But Dennis and Penton are both quite good, and I thought either had a chance at the second team, above Stamps, Jackson, Adams, and Ford, and probably Redmond and Sutton, too. If you're looking for DISRESPECT fuel, I think Boehm and these two have the best cases.
- Conner McGovern. He is one of the strongest players in college football, and he's just gotten better over the last three years. The third-team selections -- Arkansas' Sebastian Tretola, Auburn's Alex Kozan and Avery Young, and South Carolina's Brandon Shell -- are all strong, but McGovern would hold his own in that class.
- Russell Hansbrough. Including Alabama's Kenyan Drake is both defensible and presumptuous; Hansbrough has obviously outplayed him to date (Hansbrough had 1,084 yards in 2014, and Drake has 1,087 for his career), but they're assuming that Drake, in his first go-round as one of Bama's feature backs, will thrive. They're probably right, but Hansbrough has a case. And I mean, hell, if we're just going to assume that a Bama back is going to do well, then maybe Charles Harris should have been included on the third team for the same reason.
Needless to say, Mizzou players will be using this to fuel the offseason disrespect engines.
Adding fuel to the fire.
— Kentrell Brothers (@Kentrell_Mizzou) July 17, 2015
I'm thinking about it. https://t.co/gwdvbhTD1v
— Kentrell Brothers (@Kentrell_Mizzou) July 17, 2015
Just keep feeding the beast! Keep adding fuel to the fire! #Motivation
— Evan Boehm 7⃣7⃣ (@BIGboehmTHEORY) July 17, 2015