SEC Football: Top 50 players entering the 2020 season

There aren’t many linebackers in the country better than Missouri’s Nick Bolton. The rising junior stepped into the starting middle linebacker role after the Tigers lost Cale Garrett to injury and put together a dominant 2019 campaign.

Bolton recorded 103 total tackles with 8.5 tackles for loss, a sack, seven pass breakups and two interceptions including one that he returned for a touchdown. He earned first-team All-SEC honors by AP and the league’s coaches and led the SEC by averaging 8.92 tackles per game.

He enters 2020 on Athlon’s All-SEC first team and first-team All-American squad.

DeVonta Smith is a name that will forever live on in both SEC and college football lure. In 2018, he hauled in a 41-yard touchdown pass in overtime of the national championship to lead Alabama past Georgia.

Since then, he has been a mainstay in the Tide offense despite competing for targets with 2020 first-round draft picks Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs the past two seasons. Smith hauled in a career-high 1,256 yards and 14 touchdowns to earn second-team All-American honors from the AP and Sporting News in 2019.

Smith enters his senior year as a projected first-round draft pick for 2021, an Athlon Sports preseason first-team All-American and first-team All-SEC honoree.

Derek Stingley Jr. enters his sophomore year at LSU already one of the SEC’s top players and one of the nation’s best cornerbacks.

Stingley helped lead the Tigers to a national championship last season after grabbing an SEC-leading six interceptions and 21 passes defended and recorded 34 tackles and a tackle for loss. He was named the SEC Newcomer of the Year by AP, a consensus All-American, first-team All-SEC and earned a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team.

The sophomore enters 2020 on Athlon’s All-SEC first team.

There are few running backs in the country better than Mississippi State‘s Kylin Hill. The rising senior has rushed for 2,477 yards and 16 touchdowns along with 394 receiving yards and five scores so far in his college career.

In 2019, Hill was named first-team All-SEC after rushing for 1,350 yards and 10 touchdowns while adding 18 catches for 180 yards and a score.

Hill enters 2020 on Athlon’s All-SEC first team.

Najee Harris enters his senior season already on the long list of great Alabama running backs. In his career thus far, Harris has run for 2,377 and 20 yards while hauling in 356 receiving yards and seven scores.

In his first season as Alabama’s starter in 2019, Harris ran for 1,224 yards and 13 touchdowns while making 27 catches for 304 yards and seven scores.

Harris enters 2020 on Athlon’s All-SEC first team and was named a preseason second-team All-American.