About a year ago, LSU coach Les Miles set off a fire stone of debate when he told a group of radio advertisers that the talent in the SEC was tougher than the Pacific-10 Conference and that he would like to play USC every season. The Tigers coach also said it was easier to get to the BCS championship game from the Pac-10 than the SEC because of the easier conference schedule and not having to play a conference championship game. Miles' comments were on target.
Mike Detillier, the NFL analyst based in Raceland, figured that a good way to gage the college talent level was to break down the projected starters for the 32 NFL teams and find out where they come from.
Detillier, a regular on WWL Radio, broke down the starters and wrote a column on his findings in a recent issue of the Houma Courier.
"The list of projected starters will change by September because of injuries, possible retirements, and performances, good or bad, in practice and preseason games, but this conference breakdown does give you a strong indication of where the starters for the 2008 season come from," wrote Detellier.
Mike's findings:
It is a little bit of a surprise, but the SEC leads the NFL in projected quarterback starters with seven, Eli and Peyton Manning are the headline performers, but a contingent of young arms like Jay Cutler (Broncos), JaMarcus Russell (Raiders) and Jason Campbell (Redskins) are on the verge of becoming impact quarterbacks in the NFL.
After the SEC, the Pac-10 has the second most projected starters with six, and the ACC has five projected starters.
The SEC edges out the ACC on projected starting running backs with seven, Joseph Addai (Colts),, Fred Taylor (Jaguars), Jamal Lewis (Browns) and Ronnie Brown (Dolphins) lead a group of top halfbacks that beat out a strong ACC group of six starters.
The Pac-10 Conference has five projected starters at running back.
The Big Ten Conference leads the way at fullback with five projected starters. The surprise is that starers from the small college schools tied with the Big Ten with five.
The ACC and the SEC tied for third place with each having four.
This may come as a bit of a shock, but if you watched college football over the past few years it is no surprise that the Big Ten leads the NFL with 13 projected starters at wide receiver.
The SEC has eight starters at tight end while the ACC has seven. The Pac-10 and the Big Ten are tied at five.
The power play of the Big Ten showed up big at offensive tackle with 14 starters. The ACC was second with 12 and the SEC had 10.
The SEC is the leader at guard with 15. The Big Ten is second with 10 and the ACC and Big 12 had seven apiece.
There is a three-way tie at center with the ACC, Big Ten and SEC each with five projected starters.
If you break down the starters of the offensive side, the SEC leads with 63 while the Big 12 has 28 and the WAC 16.
The SEC is the leader in defensive ends by a landslide with 17. The ACC and Big Ten tied for second with 10.
The SEC and the Big 12 tied for first at defensive with 13 each.
The ACC leads outside linebackers with 17 while the Big Ten was second with 11. The SEC has seven.
The SEC leads in middle linebackers with 10 while the ACC has nine and the Big Ten six.
The SEC edges the ACC with 14 to 11. Thee are seven small college cornerbacks listed as starters.
The SEC and the Big 12 share the top spot at safety with 12. The ACC is next with 10 and the Pac-10 has eight.
The SEC leads the way on defense with 74 projected starters. The ACC has 65 and the Big Ten 48. The Big 12 has 44 and the Pac-10 32.
When you break it all down, the SEC leads with 137 projected starters with the ACC second at 121. The Pac-10 finished with 70 starters, the Big East has 33 and Conference USA and the Mountain West each have 22 starters.
The WAC has 21 projected starters and the Mid-American has 19. The Independents have 13 and the Sun Belt has 12.
There are 57 players from the small colleges that are projected as starters.
In the SEC, Tennessee with 20 projected starters leads the way. Georgia is second with 19 and LSU and Florida have 16. Auburn has 13, Alabama 12 and Mississippi State 11. South Carolina has nine, Arkansas eight, Ole Miss seven, Vandy 5 and Kentucky 1.
The SEC has dominated the BCS ear of college football numerous champions of superior ability. The first BCS championship was won by the SEC (Tennessee) and the most recent by the SEC (LSU).
Of the 10 BCS winners, four are from the SEC. The only multi-year winner in history is from the SEC (LSU). No SEC team has ever lost a BCS title game.
The Big 12 has two wins (Oklahoma and Texas) and three losses (Nebraska, Oklahoma twice).
The Pac-10 has one win (OhioState).
Sonics' Name Dropped from Web Site
New Oklahoma City NBA franchise owner Clay Bennett will be leaving the SuperSonics' name, logo and colors in Seattle. The NBA hasn't yet announced a new name for the Oklahoma City franchise.
The team's Web site has been updated to include its new home. A visit to SuperSonics.com redirects visitors to the Oklahoma City site, where logos with the team's former name have been taken down.
The Oklahoma City franchise is using the Web site to take names from persons interested in buying season tickets when they go on sale.
Bennett announced last week that he would be moving the team from Seattle to Oklahoma City after reaching a settlement to exit a lease in Seattle's KeyArena.
The Oklahoma City team in the Summer League is sporting the newest NBA fashion and must compete with Oklahoma Sooners football for publicity in the media there.
The Hornets played in Oklahoma City two seasons ago before returning to New Orleans.
SOME HITHER, OTHERS YON: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell selected Drew Brees and Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora to accompany him on a seven-day summer USO trip to Iraq. The tour was led by thee Joints Chief of Staff Mike Mullen. The players shook hands with hundreds of troops, signed autographs and tossed around a football in 110-degree heat...The average NFL career lasts 3.5 years...In the past few years, Brett Favre began to prepare for training camp by throwing to high school receivers at Oak Grove in Hattiesburg. I wonder if he's throwing yet?...LSU's Trindon Holliday is touted as the fastest player in football ever based on the fact that his 10.02-second time in the 100-yard dash is the fastest even run by anyone who ever played college football. But Florida has an incoming freshman who has run 10.01. Jeffrey Demps, who has accepted a football scholarship to play at Florida in the fall, clocked that time over the weekend at the U.S. Olympic Trials, where he and Holliday both competed. That 10.01 is faster than Holliday's best and is the best in American history for a high schooler....
Atlanta Carver's Darren Myles is going to visit LSU on July 20 and will be there a few days, according to Myles' father and Carver coach, Darren Myles Sr. "We may pass through and stop at Alabama, and we're going to try to go back to Georgia on the 18th," the coach told the AJC.com. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Myles, who was recently rated as the 74th best player in the class of 2009 by Rivals.com, holds scholarship offers from Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Georgia tech, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Purdue, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Myles scored a 920 in the SAT and 19 on the ACT and has a 2.9 core GPA...The season is still months away, but there's already lots of organized Heisman Trophy hype in college football. Texas A&M has a video out on running back Mike Goodson. There's a "Pat White Plays Here" Web site produced by West Virginia to tout the quarterback's candidacy for the Heisman. Tim Tebow of Florida is the hands down preseason favorite. For the latest information on the chase for the Heisman throughout the season you can click on www.theheismanwinners.com...
Former LSU AD Skip Bertman, on coaching coaches: "I helped Nick Saban a lot, but not on the field. I helped him with professional speaking engagements, told him stories and jokes. He's a really good coach. He didn't need help on the field. Neither does Les Miles. Mikes asks me should he go here? Should I got there? Is that worth my time?"...From FloridaState coach Bobby Bowden: "After you retire, there's only one big event left...and I ain't ready for that." I'm out of time. Ed Staton can be reached at edcoachstaton@yahoo.com.
