Pre-Season Rankings... and the SEC East

It's that time of year again. So far, all I've seen are Athlon and Lindy rankings. Tennessee is ranked 20th in Athlon's mag, but 7th in Lindy's.

Personally, I feel the SEC East race is wide open this year. The most improved teams could be Kentucky and South Carolina. If one of those teams can't make a run for it this year... I'm not sure they ever will. Vandy will be no push-over either. The SEC East champion could have two losses. Tennessee, Florida and Georgia have the better overall talent as usual; however, they all have to replace some key players on both sides of the ball. I have no doubt that Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt will be up for each of these contests.

Florida looks fairly lethal on offense (despite key losses QB Chris Leak, WR Dallas Baker), but their defense is suspect. Tennessee's strengths and weaknesses are evenly spread out on both sides of the ball with the biggest issues at WR and DB while having strengths at QB, RB, LB and Johnathan Hefney in the defensive backfield. Like Florida, Georgia has plenty of weapons on offense, but is suspect on the defensive front [only one true starter returns]. If Florida or Georgia can stop the run on defense... they probably have the best chance of winning the East. But that is a big IF right now. As far as Tennessee goes, their fate depends on how quickly some of the young talent at WR and DB come along. That is always a shaky proposition as well. Thus, the door is open for SC and UK.... But will they have the depth to get through it?



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