SEC Football: Top 50 players entering the 2020 season

There might not be a faster player in all of college football than Alabama’s Jaylen Waddle. In his first two seasons with the Tide, he has been a dynamic player on both offense and special teams.

In 2019, he caught 33 passes for 560 yards and six scores while returning 20 punts for an average of 24.4 yards and a touchdown and returning five kicks for an average 35 yards and a touchdown. He earned second-team All-American honors as a return man and took home the SEC Special Teams Player of the Year award.

Waddle enters 2020 as a projected first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft in nearly every early mock. He is also on Athlon’s All-SEC first team as a return man and on the second team as a wide receiver.

After Feleipe Franks went down with a season-ending injury in Florida’s Week 3 battle with Kentucky, junior Kyle Trask came off the bench and led the Gators to an 11-point comeback win in the fourth quarter. From there, he became one of the nation’s top quarterbacks.

In 12 games and 10 starts, Trask completed 67 percent of his passes, throwing for 2,941 yards and 25 touchdowns with just seven interceptions while adding four scores on the ground. As Florida’s starter, Trask went 8-2 with his only losses coming to LSU and Georgia. He threw for 305 yards during Florida’s Orange Bowl victory over Virginia, which was the seventh-most passing yards in a bowl game in Florida history.

Trask enters 2020 on Athlon’s All-SEC second team while also a projected first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft in many mocks.

Many projected Tennessee offensive lineman Trey Smith to go in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, making his decision to return to Knoxville for his senior season a surprise.

As a freshman in 2017, Smith started all 12 games at left tackle earning All-SEC second team and All-SEC Freshman team honors.

After starting the first seven games of the 2018 season, Smith’s season came to a sudden end due to blood clots. He returned to the Vols in 2019, starting in all 13 games with 12 starts at left guard. He earned the inaugural Fritz Pollard Trophy, given to the collegiate player who has exemplified extraordinary courage, community values and exceptional performance on the field along with All-SEC first team honors.

Smith enters 2020 on Athlon’s All-SEC first team and was first-team All-American selection. He is again projected to be a first round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

There’s arguably no offensive lineman in college football better than Alabama’s Alex Leatherwood entering 2020.

Leatherwood enters his senior season with the Tide a 2018 All-SEC second team member and a 2019 first-team All-SEC and All-American honoree. Last season he started all 13 games at left guard in which he graded out at almost 89 percent, allowing just two sacks, three quarterback hurries and just seven assignments in 752 snaps for a 99 percent success rate.

He enters 2020 an Athlon first-team All-SEC selection, All-American honoree and projected first-round draft pick.

If Ja’Marr Chase had been eligible for the 2020 NFL Draft, he would’ve been the first wide receiver off the board. Instead, he returns to LSU for his junior season the SEC’s best player.

Chase put together a historic 2019 season as he hauled in 84 catches for a nation-leading 1,780 yards and 20 touchdowns.

The junior became the SEC record-holder for receiving touchdowns in a season and receiving yards, earned unanimous All-American and first-team All-SEC honors and was named the 2019 Biletnikoff Award as the top receiver in college football.

Chase enters 2020 on Athlon’s All-SEC first and an All-American honoree and projected first-round draft pick.