2022 SEC Football preview

posted September 2, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Jayson O’Connell

College football is starting back up, and the SEC is still loaded with talent.

The top dogs are still there, but some schools aren’t household names and are looking to make a name for themselves this season. These underdogs will look to dethrone the classic football schools on top of the west and east.

Alabama

As much as the nation hates it, college football wouldn’t be what it is without Alabama. Year after year, they are ranked in the top four in the country to start the season, and they normally live up to the hype.

The Crimson Tide are led by Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young who is coming off a season where he threw for 4,872 yards and 47 touchdowns.

It’s going to be hard to replace the explosiveness of Jameson Williams, John Metchie and Brian Robinson but they have the cast to do it.

The Tide have a four-star recruit at all three wide receiver positions and at running back which include the likes of Jermaine Burton and Jahmyr Gibbs.

With a good number of upperclassmen returning on the defensive side, Alabama is a title favorite as always.

Georgia

Georgia finally got over the hump last year and was able to win a national championship.

But the Bulldogs lost a lot of talent to the NFL, with 10 of their players going in the first three rounds, including number one pick Travon Walker.

Not only that, but this year’s team has a lot of underclassmen in the starting lineup. This defense isn’t going to be as dominant as they were last year, and that’s going to put a lot of pressure on Stetson Bennett.

He performed very well in the playoff last year, but can he handle the pressure of taking a lot of the team’s weight throughout the whole season? Georgia is still a great team, but their recent departures may prevent them from reaching the College Football Playoff.

Texas A&M

Last season, Texas A&M had one of the biggest upsets of the season when they beat No. 1 Alabama.

But the losses they had against teams such as Arkansas and Ole Miss prove that there are still a lot of question marks around this team.

Probably their biggest one is starting quarterback Haynes King, the redshirt sophomore who only attempted 35 passes last season.

Having to lead the number six ranked school in the country puts a lot of pressure on him. But there are some lethal threats on this offense in Devon Achane, who had 10 total touchdowns last season while splitting the backfield with Isaiah Spiller, and five-star recruit Evan Stewart at wide receiver.

They also have a few players on defense who are returning for a second season of starting. A win over Alabama is almost necessary to send this team to the College Football Playoff, but it’ll take a lot to prove that last year’s win wasn’t a fluke and that they can compete with the top teams in the SEC.

Kentucky

If Kentucky wants a shot at getting to the SEC Championship game, Will Levis needs to have another amazing season. He threw for 24 touchdowns and rushed for nine last year.

He’s going to have to replicate these numbers if not do better. That will be very hard to accomplish with Christopher Rodriguez Jr. and Wan’Dale Robinson both gone.

Defensively they are in a similar situation as Texas A&M, with multiple starters from last year returning. This in theory should allow them to let up fewer points this season, but their offense may not be able to light up the scoreboard like they did last year with two of the best offensive players in school history not returning.

Jayson O’Connell is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jbo5216@psu.edu.