Three Tide players earn All-America honors

A trio of Alabama players -- running back Trent Richardson, offensive guard Barrett Jones and safety Mark Barron -- have been named first-team All-Americans by Phil Steele in his annual preseason college football preview magazine, which hits newsstands on June 7.

South Carolina receiver Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina defensive end Devin Taylor and Georgia punter Drew Butler were the other three SEC players to receive first-team honors.

The SEC players receiving second-team All-America mention were:

• South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore
• Kentucky offensive guard Larry Warford
• Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower
• South Carolina cornerback Stephon Gilmore
• Alabama safety Robert Lester
• Georgia place-kicker Blair Walsh

The third-team All-Americans from the SEC were:

• Arkansas receiver Greg Childs
• Georgia tight end Orson Charles
• Alabama center William Vlachos
• Arkansas defensive end Jake Bequette
• Arkansas linebacker Jerry Franklin
• Kentucky linebacker Danny Trevathan
• Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw
• LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne
• Florida kickoff returner Andre Debose

Those SEC players making the fourth team were:

• Georgia offensive tackle Cordy Glenn
• Tennessee defensive tackle Malik Jackson
• Florida defensive tackle Jaye Howard
• Vanderbilt cornerback Casey Hayward
• Arkansas punt returner Joe Adams

In surveying Steele's All-SEC teams, a couple of interesting things stick out.

For starters, who do you think he picked as his second-team quarterback? Georgia's Aaron Murray is the obvious choice for first-team honors, but Arkansas' Tyler Wilson was Steele's choice for the second-team guy. With all of the offensive firepower Wilson has around him, he's very likely to put up huge numbers in 2011. So he's as good a pick as anyone.

For whatever it's worth, Steele didn't have suspended South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia on any of his first four teams. Garcia is expected to rejoin the team in the next week or so, but could end up sharing duties with sophomore Connor Shaw.

Also, Steele has Alabama's Duron Carter as one of his second-team All-SEC receivers. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Carter, the son of former NFL star Cris Carter, is transferring to Alabama after spending last season at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College. Carter began his career at Ohio State before leaving for academic reasons.

Alabama led all SEC teams with 13 different players receiving first- or second-team honors. Richardson was the first-team running back and second-team kickoff returner. Arkansas was second with 10 different players making the first two teams. Adams was a first-team receiver and first-team punt returner.

LSU, a top-5 preseason pick by many analysts, had just one first-team All-SEC player on Steele's preseason list -- Claiborne.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/42572/three-tide-players-earn-all-america-honors

Fred Davis Peter Mayer Nate Burleson Otto Graham Paul Brown Marion Motley