Corey Lemonier photo by uk.eurosport
Patriots and Broncos square off at 2P, Sun, January 19, 2014 for the AFC Championship. At 5:30P, the Seattle Seahawks battle the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC Championship and many of you will be tuning into the NFL for the first time this year. Why? To explain to the rest of the country, you are SEC College Football Fans and when you have the SEC, there’s not a lot of time left for watching the NFL. Well, unless you are an avid tennis fan, (which I also happen to be, but now that Serena is out of the Australian Open, so am I,) you’ll be watching these two games Sun, which I will also. And the number one question on your mind, which team to pull for and if you’re like us, you base it on the number of players from AL and AU using the number from the SEC as a second criteria if there are no Roll Tide or War Eagle players to be found on the Active Roster.
Dant’a Hightower photo by boston.com
To help you out we compiled this list of SEC players in the two championships. If you are an Auburn fan, this will be easy. You are a 49er all the way cheering on for Auburn players, number 22, Carlos Rogers , first round NFL draft 2005, and number 96, Corey Lemonier, LB, in his first year in the NFL. For BAMA fans it gets more complicated. You’ll have no trouble throwing all your support toward your National Champion, entered the NFL draft in 2012, Patriots number 54, Dont’a Hightower in the 2P game, but you may find your allegiance to the Tide torn between Seattle Seahawks number 77, Guard, James Carpenter, who left the Tide for the NFL in 2011, and 49ers, DL, number 71, Quinton Dial in his first year in the NFL.
Peyton Manning sportsillustrated.cnn.com
If you are a TN fan, you’ll no doubt be pulling for Peyton Manning and three of his fellow former TN players now galloping for the Broncos with the largest showing of any one of the SEC college teams on any active roster in the championship games. You may be surprised that the KY fans will join you in Bronco cheer as they have three on the team. The only other active roster with three from the same SEC college team is the Seahawks with three from TX A&M. So SEC fans can pop the popcorn and enjoy watching the players we know and love even if we don’t know how to get an NFL game on our TV. Does my package even have that?
So who’s going to win? Well, since the Broncos and 49ers have the most SEC players at 12, they each will win their respective division championships. The losers will be the Seahawks having only 10 and Patriots will probably lose badly, because they only have 6. The Super Bowl is scheduled for Sunday, February 2, at 5:20PM. We expect the 49ers to win the whole shebang, because they have the most SEC players and three from AL and AU. If you think that’s as dumb a method for picking a team as the color of the uniforms, well, you’re probably right, but this is SEC Country and that’s how some of us do it here.
Here’s a summary of all the SEC players in the NFL Playoffs:
12 Former SEC Players on the Active Broncos Roster
57 Mincey, Jeremy DE 6-4 265 30 6 Florida
12 Caldwell, Andre WR 6-0 200 28 6 Florida
24 Bailey, Champ CB 6-0 192 35 15 Georgia
27 Moreno, Knowshon RB 5-11 220 26 5 Georgia
84 Tamme, Jacob TE 6-3 230 28 6 Kentucky
59 Trevathan, Danny LB 6-1 240 23 2 Kentucky
52 Woodyard, Wesley LB 6-0 233 27 6 Kentucky
11 Holliday, Trindon WR 5-5 170 27 4 LSU
4 Colquitt, Britton P 6-3 205 28 5 Tennessee
97 Jackson, Malik DE 6-5 293 24 2 Tennessee
18 Manning, Peyton QB 6-5 230 37 16 Tennessee
91 Ayers, Robert DE 6-3 274 28 5 Tennessee
6 Former SEC Players Active on the Patriots Roster
54 Hightower, Dont’a LB 6-3 270 23 2 Alabama
92 Bequette, Jake DE 6-5 265 24 2 Arkansas
45 Williams, D.J. TE 6-2 245 25 3 Arkansas
22 Ridley, Stevan RB 5-11 220 24 3 LSU
38 Bolden, Brandon RB 5-11 220 23 2 Mississippi
59 White, Chris LB 6-3 238 25 3 Mississippi State
10 Former SEC Players Active on the Seahawks Roster
77 Carpenter, James G 6-5 321 24 3 Alabama
78 Bailey, Alvin T 6-3 320 22 R Arkansas
11 Harvin, Percy WR 5-11 184 25 5 Florida
91 Clemons, Chris DE 6-3 254 32 10 Georgia
50 Wright, K.J. LB 6-4 246 24 3 Mississippi State
61 Jeanpierre, Lemuel G/C 6-3 301 26 4 South Carolina
99 McDaniel, Tony DT 6-7 305 28 8 Tennessee
72 Bennett, Michael DE 6-4 274 28 5 Texas A&M
79 Bryant, Red DE 6-4 323 29 6 Texas A&M
33 Michael, Christine RB 5-10 221 23 R Texas A&M
12 Former SEC Players Active on the 49ers Roster
71 Dial, Quinton DL 6-5 318 23 R Alabama
22 Rogers, Carlos CB 6-0 192 32 9 Auburn
96 Lemonier, Corey LB 6-3 255 22 R Auburn
91 McDonald, Ray DT 6-3 290 29 7 Florida
83 Dobbs, Demarcus TE/DT 6-2 275 26 3 Georgia
90 Dorsey, Glenn DL 6-1 297 28 6 LSU
35 Reid, Eric S 6-1 213 22 R LSU
52 Willis, Patrick LB 6-1 240 28 7 Mississippi
24 Dixon, Anthony RB 6-1 233 26 4 Mississippi St.
99 Smith, Aldon LB 6-4 265 24 3 Missouri
94 Smith, Justin DT 6-4 285 34 13 Missouri
63 Jerod-Eddie, Tony DT 6-5 301 23 2 Texas A&M
62 Seymour, Ryan OG 6-4 301 23 0 Vanderbilt
Congratulations to all our former SEC players, especially from Alabama and Auburn, of whom we are so proud, for your tremendous contribution to your NFL teams, that the team owners should be so grateful to have you on their teams and throw tons more money your way.
