ESPN College Football

We’re pleased to announce the “official” 2009 All-SEC team.

No biases. No slant. No trying to take care of every team. No career achievement awards.

Just the best players in the SEC this season with heavy emphasis placed on how they did against league competition.

The quarterback decision was extremely difficult. Florida’s Tim Tebow is one of the best college football players I’ve ever seen over the course of his career, but the numbers say Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett was a little better this season.

Mallett had 2,189 passing yards, 16 touchdown passes and five interceptions in eight SEC games. Tebow had 1,552 passing yards, eight touchdown passes and five interceptions in nine games against SEC foes. Tebow also had eight rushing touchdowns compared to Mallett’s two.

I realize that Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody is in the running for several national awards. At times, he’s a force in the middle, but he wasn’t one of the four best defensive linemen this season on an every-down basis.

Alabama's Javier Arenas was the only player in the league to make it at two different positions. What a senior season he's had. Vanderbilt's Warren Norman was the only freshman to make the team.

There were several tough choices (running back and defensive line, in particular), but here’s our 2009 All-SEC team. On offense, we’ve included an all-purpose player:

OFFENSE

QB -- Ryan Mallett, So., Arkansas

RB -- Mark Ingram, Jr., Alabama

RB -- Anthony Dixon, Sr., Mississippi State

AP -- Randall Cobb, So., Kentucky

WR -- Shay Hodge, Sr., Ole Miss

WR -- A.J. Green, So., Georgia

TE -- Aaron Hernandez, Jr., Florida

OL -- John Jerry, Sr. Ole Miss

OL -- Mike Johnson, Sr., Alabama

OL -- Chris Scott, Sr., Tennessee

OL -- Mike Pouncey, Jr., Florida

C -- Maurkice Pouncey, Jr., Florida

DEFENSE

DE -- Antonio Coleman, Sr., Auburn

DE -- Pernell McPhee, Jr., Mississippi State

DT -- Dan Williams, Sr., Tennessee

DT -- Malcolm Sheppard, Sr., Arkansas

LB -- Eric Norwood, Sr., South Carolina

LB -- Rolando McClain, Jr., Alabama

LB -- Brandon Spikes, Sr., Florida

DB -- Joe Haden, Jr., Florida

DB -- Patrick Peterson, So., LSU

DB -- Javier Arenas, Sr., Alabama

DB -- Eric Berry, Jr., Tennessee

SPECIAL TEAMS

K -- Leigh Tiffin, Sr., Alabama

P -- Drew Butler, So., Georgia

KR -- Warren Norman, Fr., Vanderbilt

PR -- Javier Arenas, Sr., Alabama

There were a lot of outstanding players in the ACC this year, but the following players rose above the rest and made ESPN.com’s All-ACC team:

Offense

QB -- Christian Ponder, Florida State

RB -- Jonathan Dwyer, Georgia Tech

RB -- Ryan Williams, Virginia Tech

WR -- Demaryius Thomas, Georgia Tech

WR -- Donovan Varner, Duke

TE -- George Bryan, NC State

TE -- Michael Palmer, Clemson

OL -- Jason Fox, Miami

OL -- Anthony Castonzo, Boston College

OL -- Rodney Hudson, Florida State

OL – Sergio Render, Virginia Tech

OL -- Cord Howard, Georgia Tech

K -- Matt Bosher, Miami

Spc -- C.J. Spiller, Clemson

Defense

DL -- Derrick Morgan, Georgia Tech

DL -- Robert Quinn, North Carolina

DL -- Nate Collins, Virginia

DL -- Ricky Sapp, Clemson

LB -- Cody Grimm, Virginia Tech

LB -- Luke Kuechly, Boston College

LB -- Quan Sturdivant, North Carolina

LB -- Alex Wujciak, Maryland

CB -- Kendric Burney, North Carolina

CB -- Brandon Harris, Miami

S -- DeAndre McDaniel, Clemson

S -- Deunta Williams, North Carolina

P -- Brent Bowden, Virginia Tech

The official league selections will come out tomorrow. Here are my choices for the best of the Big East, from a season's worth of observations and some consultation from league coaches:

Offense

QB: Tony Pike, Cincinnati

RB: Dion Lewis, Pittsburgh

RB: Noel Devine, West Virginia

WR: Mardy Gilyard, Cincinnati

WR: Jonathan Baldwin, Pittsburgh

TE: Dorin Dickerson, Pittsburgh

OT: Jason Pinkston, Pittsburgh

OT: Jeff Linkenbach, Cincinnati

C: Moe Petrus, Connecticut

OG: John Malecki, Pittsburgh

OG: Zach Hurd, Connecticut

Defense

DE: Greg Romeus, Pittsburgh

DE: Jason Pierre-Paul, South Florida

DT: Mick Williams, Pittsburgh

DT: Chris Neild, West Virginia

LB: Lawrence Wilson, Connecticut

LB: Kion Wilson, South Florida

LB: Derrell Smith, Syracuse

CB: Devin McCourty, Rutgers

CB: Aaron Berry, Pittsburgh

S: Aaron Webster, Cincinnati

S: Nate Allen, South Florida

Specialists

K: Tyler Bitancurt, West Virginia

P: Scott Kozlowski, West Virginia

KR: Mardy Gilyard, Cincinnati

PR: Robert McClain, Connecticut

Here's a look at my All-Big 12 team. There were couple of late selections that were affected by the Big 12 championship game. If you look closely enough, you probably will see where I made my switches.

Oklahoma leads the team with five selections, Texas had four and Nebraska and Missouri three picks apiece.

Offense:

QB: Colt McCoy, Texas

RB: Daniel Thomas, Kansas State

RB: Keith Toston, Oklahoma State

WR: Danario Alexander, Missouri

WR: Jordan Shipley, Texas

TE: Riar Geer, Colorado

OL: Russell Okung, Oklahoma State

OL: Brandon Carter, Texas Tech

OL: Trent Williams, Oklahoma

OL: Adam Ulatoski, Texas

C: Reggie Stephens, Iowa State

K: Grant Ressel, Missouri

KR: Brandon Banks, Kansas State

Defense:

DL: Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska

DL: Gerald McCoy, Oklahoma

DL: Jeremy Beal, Oklahoma

DL: Brandon Sharpe, Texas Tech

LB: Von Miller, Texas A&M

LB: Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri

LB: Joe Pawelek, Baylor

DB: Perrish Cox, Oklahoma State

DB: Earl Thomas, Texas

DB: Brian Jackson, Oklahoma

DB: Prince Amukamara, Nebraska

P: Alex Henery, Nebraska

PR: Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma

Loyal blog readers out there know where I'm headed with several of these picks, though I had some tough decisions in the end. It's not easy to condense so many defensive standouts into 11 slots, while there's certainly more wiggle room on the offensive side.

For your reference, my preseason All-Big Ten team and the Big Ten's official all-conference squads.

OFFENSE

QB: Daryll Clark, Penn State
RB: John Clay, Wisconsin
RB: Evan Royster, Penn State
WR: Keith Smith, Purdue
WR: Blair White, Michigan State
TE: Garrett Graham, Wisconsin
C: Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State
OL: Justin Boren, Ohio State
OL: Bryan Bulaga, Iowa
OL: Dace Richardson, Iowa
OL: Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin

DEFENSE

DL: Brandon Graham, Michigan
DL: Jared Odrick, Penn State
DL: O'Brien Schofield, Wisconsin
DL: Adrian Clayborn, Iowa
LB: Greg Jones, Michigan State
LB: Pat Angerer, Iowa
LB: Navorro Bowman, Penn State
CB: Donovan Warren, Michigan
CB: Sherrick McManis, Northwestern
S: Kurt Coleman, Ohio State
S: Tyler Sash, Iowa

SPECIALISTS

P: Zoltan Mesko, Michigan
K: Brett Swenson, Michigan State
KR: Ray Fisher, Indiana
PR: Ray Small, Ohio State

All-Big Ten selections by team: Penn State (5), Iowa (5), Wisconsin (4), Ohio State (3), Michigan State (3), Michigan (3), Northwestern (1), Purdue (1), Indiana (1)

There were 16 selections who also made the preseason All-Big Ten squad: Clark, Royster, Clay, Bulaga, Wisniewski, Boren, Garrett Graham, Brandon Graham, Odrick, Jones, Bowman, Angerer, Coleman, Mesko, Swenson and Small.

We copped out at running back, but it just didn't seem fair to recognize only two.

First-team offense
QB Sean Canfield, Sr., Oregon State
RB Toby Gerhart, Sr., Stanford
RB Jacquizz Rodgers, So., Oregon State
RB LaMichael James, RFr., Oregon
WR James Rodgers, Jr., Oregon State
WR Damian Williams, Jr., USC
TE Ed Dickson, Sr., Oregon
OG Jeff Byers, Sr., USC
OG Gregg Peat, Sr., Oregon State
OT Charles Brown, Sr., USC
OT Chris Marinelli, Sr., Stanford
C Kenny Alfred, Sr., Washington State
K Kai Forbath, Jr., UCLA

First-team defense
DT Brian Price, Jr., UCLA
DT Stephen Paea, Jr., Oregon State
DE Tyson Alualu, Sr., California
DE Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, Washington
LB Keaton Kristick, Sr., Oregon State
LB Mike Mohamed, Jr., California
LB Donald Butler, Sr., Washington
S Rahim Moore, So., UCLA
S Taylor Mays, Sr., USC
CB Trevin Wade, So., Arizona
CB Alterraun Verner, Sr., UCLA
P Trevor Hankins, Jr., Arizona State

It’s not easy picking 24 players from 54 schools to make an all-non-AQ team, but here’s what I came up with. While, several deserving guys were probably left off the list, I think this is a good representation of the best the non-AQ schools had to offer this season.

For those who follow me on Twitter (@ESPN_Others) and were in today’s chat, I thank you for the nominations. You’ll see that a lot of the guys nominated made the cut. I struggled with a lot of these choices, especially on defense. If I had one more DL spot, it likely would have gone to Nevada’s Dontay Moch. I also wished I had a couple more quarterback and running back spots because there were plenty of good ones this year.

I wanted to make sure that all of my conferences, including the Independents, were represented, but there were some no-brainers. Freddie Barnes, Jerry Hughes, Kellen Moore and Ryan Mathews were easy choices because all of those players had stellar seasons. Also, Nick Bellore and Daryl Washington were two of the most impressive linebackers I saw all year.

A little later in the day, I’m going to compile my list of top freshmen, so watch for that.

OFFENSE
Pos, Name, School
WR: Freddie Barnes, Bowling Green
WR: James Cleveland, Houston
WR: Greg Salas, Hawaii
TE: Dennis Pitta, BYU
OL: Zane Beadles, Utah
OL: Mike Iupati, Idaho
OL: John Estes, Hawaii
OL: Alonzo Durham, Nevada
OL: Marcus Cannon, TCU
QB: Kellen Moore, Boise State
RB: Ryan Mathews, Fresno State
RB: Vai Taua, Nevada

DEFENSE
Pos, Name, School
DL: Jerry Hughes, TCU
DL: Bruce Miller, Central Florida
DL: Josh McNary, Army
DL: Chris McCoy, Middle Tennessee
LB: Adrian Robinson, Temple
LB: Nick Bellore, Central Michigan
LB: Daryl Washington, TCU
DB: Kyle Wilson. Boise State
DB: Van Eskridge, East Carolina
DB: Robert Johnson, Utah
DB: Brian Lainhart, Kent State

Specialists
Pos, Name, School
PK: Alex Carlton, Army
P: Matt Dodge, East Carolina

KR: Jeremy Kerley, TCU
PR: LaVon Brazill, Ohio