2018 Draft Insiders’ Preseason All-America Teams
Frank Coyle/ Publisher – Head Scout

First Team

Offense
QB Will Grier – West Virginia, Senior
RB Bryce Love – Stanford, Senior
RB Jonathan Taylor – Wisconsin, Sophomore
WR A.J. Brown – Ole Miss, Junior
WR David Sills V – West Virginia, Senior
TE Noah Fant – Iowa, Junior
C Ross Pierschbacher – Alabama, Senior
OL David Edwards – Wisconsin, Redshirt junior
OL Jonah Williams – Alabama, Junior
OL Mitch Hyatt – Clemson, Senior
OL Trey Adams – Washington, Senior

Defense
DE Nick Bosa – Ohio State, Junior
DE Clelin Ferrell – Clemson, Junior
DT Ed Oliver – Houston, Junior
DT Christian Wilkins – Clemson, Senior
LB Devin White – LSU, Junior
LB Cameron Smith – USC, Senior
LB Devin Bush – Michigan, Junior
CB Greedy Williams – LSU, Sophomore
CB Byron Murphy – Washington, Sophomore
S Taylor Rapp – Washington, Junior
S D’Cota Dixon – Wisconsin, Senior

Special Teams
PK Matt Gay- Utah, Senior
P Mitch Wishnowsky – Utah, Senior
KR Tony Pollard – Memphis, Redshirt junior
PR KaVonte Turpin -TCU, Senior
All-Purpose – Deebo Samuel – South Carolina, Redshirt senior

Preseason All-America Second Team
Offense
QB Khalil Tate – Arizona, Junior
RB Rodney Anderson – Oklahoma, Junior
RB Damien Harris – Alabama, Senior
WR N’Keal Harry – Arizona State, Junior
WR Anthony Johnson – Buffalo, Redshirt senior
TE Albert Okwuegbunam – Missouri, Redshirt sophomore
C Toa Lobendahn – USC, Redshirt senior
OL Greg Little – Ole Miss, Junior
OL Dalton Risner – Kansas State, Redshirt senior
OL Beau Benzschawel – Wisconsin, Redshirt senior
OL Martez Ivey – Florida, Senior

Defense
DL Rashan Gary – Michigan, Junior
DL Dexter Lawrence – Clemson, Junior
DL Jeffery Simmons – Mississippi State, Junior
DL Raekwon Davis – Alabama, Junior
LB Porter Gustin – USC, Senior
LB T.J. Edwards – Wisconsin, Redshirt senior
LB Josh Allen – Kentucky, Senior
CB Deandre Baker – Georgia, Senior
B Iman Marshall – USC, Senior
S Lukas Denis – Boston College, Senior
S Jaquan Johnson – Miami, Senior

Special Teams
K Rodrigo Blankenship – Georgia, Redshirt junior
P Corey Fatony – Missouri, Senior
KR Deebo Samuel – South Carolina, Redshirt senior
PR Richaud Floyd – Missouri, Redshirt junior
AP Diontae Johnson – Toledo, Redshirt junior

Draft Insiders’ Ranks ‘Bama #1 to Defend National Title

Three SEC Teams in Top 6 Rankings

Draft Insiders’ and the Associated Press Top 25 Teams

Draft Insiders’ – Top 25 Preseason
Rank/ Team/ Record

1 Alabama –      0-0
2 Clemson –      0-0
3 Georgia –        0-0
4 Wisconsin –    0-0
5 Washington – 0-0
6 Auburn –         0-0
7 Ohio St –        0-0
8 Oklahoma –    0-0
9 Miami      –   0-0
10 Michigan St –            0-0
11 Notre Dame  –           0-0
12 Stanford –     0-0
13 Michigan –    0-0
14 West Virginia –          0-0
15 Penn St –      0-0
16 USC         –   0-0
17 TCU         –     0-0
18 Mississippi St –         0-0
19 Florida St –   0-0
20 Oregon –      0-0
21 Virginia Tech –          0-0
22 LSU – 0-0
23 UCF   –           0-0
24 Boise St –     0-0
25 South Carolina –       0-0

AP Top 25 Preseason

Rank/ Team / Record / Points

1 Alabama – (42)            0-0        1505     —
2 Clemson – (18)            0-0        1476     —
3 Georgia –        0-0        1350     —
4 Wisconsin – (1)           0-0        1271     —
5 Ohio St –        0-0        1256     —
6 Washington – 0-0        1215     —
7 Oklahoma –    0-0        1173     —
8 Miami – 0-0      1027     —
9 Auburn –         0-0        1013     —
10 Penn St –      0-0        1012     —
11 Michigan St –            0-0        877       —
12 Notre Dame  – 0-0      804       —
13 Stanford –     0-0        778       —
14 Michigan –    0-0        773       —
15 USC – 0-0      543       —
16 TCU – 0-0      533       —
17 West Virginia –          0-0        511       —
18 Mississippi St –         0-0        450       —
19 Florida St –   0-0        384       —
20 Virginia Tech –          0-0        351       —
21 UCF – 0-0      312       —
22 Boise St –     0-0        292       —
23 Texas –        0-0        216       —
24 Oregon –      0-0        148       —
25 LSU – 0-0      106       —

Others receiving votes: South Carolina 96, Florida 68, Utah 60, Oklahoma State 51, Florida Atlantic 38, Arizona 28, NC State 22, Texas A&M 21, Boston College 18, Northwestern 13, Kansas State 10, Iowa State 8, Houston 6, Memphis 3, Iowa 2, Troy 2, Fresno State 1, Arkansas State 1,

College Top 25 Preseason Poll

Coaches Poll
Rank/ Team / Record/ Points

1 Alabama (61) 0-0 1621
2 Clemson (3) 0-0 1547
3 Ohio St (1) 0-0 1458
4 Georgia 0-0 1452
5 Oklahoma 0-0 1288
6 Washington 0-0 1245
7 Wisconsin 0-0 1243
8 Miami 0-0 1091
9 Penn St 0-0 1050
10 Auburn 0-0 1004

Draft Insiders will post our Top 25 Rankings in late August

11 Notre Dame 0-0 892
12 Michigan St 0-0 870
13 Stanford 0-0 768
14 Michigan 0-0 752
15 USC 0-0 691
16 TCU 0-0 530
17 Virginia Tech 0-0 524
18 Mississippi St 0-0 407
19 Florida St 0-0 328
20 West Virginia 0-0 310
21 Texas 0-0 265
22 Boise St 0-0 261
23 UCF 0-0 259
24 LSU 0-0 254
25 Oklahoma St 0-0 168

Others receiving votes: South Carolina 138, Florida 135, Oregon 105, Utah 81, Texas A&M 67, Northwestern 67, Kansas State 35, Florida Atlantic 27, Memphis 23, Boston College 23, NC State 22, Arkansas State 19, Troy 19, Appalachian State 16, San Diego State 15, Kentucky 8, Iowa State 8, Iowa 8, Washington State 7, South Florida 6, Duke 5, Fresno State 4, Louisville 3, Arizona 2, Houston 2, Army 1, Northern Illinois 1

Frank Coyle is a long-time scout with nationwide ties with coaches, scouts and player agents. He is a long-time member of the FWAA and voter in College player awards – Heisman, Outland, Nagurski, Lombardi, Thorpe, Biletnikoff etc for the past 25 years. He writes College Football Mondays weekly during the season. He is a longtime scouting consultant for the Senior Bowl, the nation’s premier postseason All-star game. He does sports radio shows for CBS, ESPN, Fox Sports and Sporting News on a year-round basis related to NFL and College football especially during the postseason team and All-star Bowl time. He has worked for CBS Sports, NBC Sports, Yahoo and Rivals sports publications and web sites, in addition to several fantasy football sites.

#3 Georgia (13-1) vs #4 Alabama (13-1)
CFP National Championship
Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta, Ga 8 pm – ESPN

The CFP national championship game tonight in Atlanta will feature two SEC teams, Alabama and Georgia. It is only the second time two teams from the same conference will play for the national title. Alabama is going for its 5th national title under HC Nick Saban since 2009 and third in a row. They won in 2016 vs Clemson only to lose to the Tigers last year. Georgia under former Saban assistant Kirby Smart will be attempting to win the national title for the first time since 1980.

The two SEC powers did not play during the 2017 or 2016 seasons or postseason. The last meeting between the SEC powers was early 2015 with Alabama prevailing with a 38-10 victory.

This game will feature strong running back tandems, in Alabama juniors Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough vs the Georgia Bulldog dynamic senior duo of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. Both clubs like to run the ball to set up their young QBs. Bama soph QB Jalen Hurts has been a veteran of big games starting two years in the SEC and playing in his second national title clash. His two-year record of 26-2 rivals any young leader in recent years. His ability to run and make plays with his feet has been a difference maker in many big games. He ran for 808 yards in 2017 and 8 TDs, complimenting the Tide tandem of Scarbrough and Harris. Hurts has thrown for 17 TD passes and just 1 interception. The Bulldog tandem of Chubb and Michel has rushed for an FBS career record of 8259 yards, a remarkable achievement despite some key injuries. This game also features two top ten defenses who have peaked over the late 2017 season except for a select subpar efforts, Alabama vs Auburn and Georgia vs Oklahoma in the semi finals.

Georgia features true freshman Jake Fromm who is coming off a great comeback victory over Oklahoma 54-48 in double OT. He is the first true freshman to start in the national title game in over 30 years. The OT win over the Sooners was the worst game of the season for the Bulldogs defense who had not allowed more than 28 points in any game prior to the semi-finals. Georgia defense is led by junior OLBs Roquan Smith and Lorenzo Carter who must make big plays for the Bulldogs to be successful.

The Bama defense has allowed over 20 points a game only three times this season and is coming off a pounding of Clemson 24-6 where they dominated the line of scrimmage for 60 minutes. Their front seven has been dominant and will fully challenge the Bulldog line. Bama looks to stop the run first and will load the box to stuff the Georgia duo of Chubb and Michel. They hope to force the young QB Fromm to win the game from the pocket. DT Da’Ron Payne is an anchor in the middle that allows the endless group of Bama linebackers to flow to the ball. The defensive group is young, but has matured nicely over the 2017 season with over half the unit underclassmen. Saban rotates as many as 15-18 defenders to play his multiple packages that have been instrumental in his blitz packages and base defense.

Saban looks to get an early lead, similar to this recent Clemson victory behind a strong ground game and mobile QB that dictates field position with good ball security. His defense rules the line of scrimmage while his zone coverage schemes takes away big plays. Look to Saban to force Georgia freshman QB Fromm to win from the pocket operating from behind a power Tide ground game. It has been a prescription for the Tide to win numerous big games. Bama wins its fifth national title since 2009 under Nick Saban.

Alabama 27 Georgia 10