SEC teams loaded with top talent

Only three teams from the western third of the country were included Monday in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 rankings.

The AP’s preseason All-American team is expected to be released early next week and could reflect similar skepticism over the quality of talent across the region.

The Hotline encountered that very issue last week when crafting our ballot.

We spent hours examining rosters across the Football Bowl Subdivision to produce a 27-man team (see below). A few selections were easy, like Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith and safety Caleb Downs. Other choices were difficult. Several were tougher than trigonometry.

And for 22 of the 27 spots, we picked players from teams on the eastern side of the Rockies.

The exceptions were Arizona State receiver Jordyn Tyson, Utah offensive tackle Spencer Fano, USC receiver/returner Makai Lemon and Oregon edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei and safety Dillon Thieneman.

Put another way: Just one of nine spots on the lines of scrimmage went to a player from the Pacific and Mountain time zones.

That doesn’t relegate the region to a lost season. There are bound to be a few upside surprises, just as there were last season with two dynamic tailbacks. Nobody could have predicted the impact made by Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo and Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty on their conference races and the national scene.

But the early-warning indicators are visible through the August haze. Does one-third of the major college football landscape possess the collective personnel required to make a deep, lasting impact on the season?

Or will 2025 unfold with a heavy lean to the right?

Here is the Hotline’s preseason All-American ballot.

Offense

QB: Clemson’s Cade Klubnik
RB: Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love
RB: Pittsburgh’s Desmond Reid
OT: Utah’s Spencer Fano
OG: Texas A&M’s Ar’maj Reed-Adams
C: Alabama’s Parker Brailsford
OG: Penn State’s Olaivavega Ioane
OT: Miami’s Francis Mauigoa
TE: Vanderbilt’s Eli Stowers
WR: Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith
WR: Alabama’s Ryan Williams
WR: Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson
AP: USC’s Makai Lemon
K: Michigan’s Dominic Zvada

Defense

DE: LSU’s Patrick Payton
DT: Clemson’s Peter Woods
DT: Texas’ Colin Simmons
DE: Clemson’s TJ Parker
LB: Oregon’s Matayo Uiagalelei
LB: LSU’s Harold Perkins
LB: Texas’ Anthony Hill
CB: Clemson’s Avieon Terrell
S: Ohio State’s Caleb Downs
S: South Carolina’s Jalon Kilgore
CB: Tennessee’s Jermond McCoy
DB: Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman
P: Georgia’s Brett Thorson