And So It Begins

As we are solidly in the middle of the first weekend of college football, I figure that there is no better time to unveil my pre-season All-American team. Although there are more than 11 offenseive and defensive players listed, the team is selected to account for the various offenses and defenses used around the country (trip receivers, spread, 3-4, 4-3, etc.). I chose to explain my picks in some instances, and not in others. Why? Because I am busy watching football. Now here are the Pepster Preseason All-Americans.

Offense

QB - Colt McCoy, Texas - Led his team in passing and rushing last year, and his completion percentage is off the charts.

RB - Jahvid Best, California; Jonathan Dwyer, Georgia Tech; Jazquizz Rodgers, Oregon State - Best might be the best player in the country, averaging over 8 yards per carry last year.

WR - Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State; Mardy Gilyard, Cincinnati; A.J. Green, Georgia - Gilyard is probably the best player nobody has ever heard of, and A.J. Green is the best sophomore receiver in the SEC, not Julio Jones.

TE - Jermaine Gresham, Oklahoma; Aaron Hernandez, Florida - Gresham came back instead of being a sure-fire first round draft pick last year and Florida's offensive hopes depend a lot more on Hernandez than people realize.

T - Trent Williams, Oklahoma; Ciron Black, LSU - Both big and strong, and keys to their respective offenses. Black is a fourth year starter. Williams is the only returning starter on the line for Oklahoma.

G - Sergio Render, Virginia Tech; Rodney Hudson, Florida State- Render is a mountain. Tech will need him to jump start their running game.

C - Maurkice Pouncey, Florida - Florida deserves multiple offensive All-Americans, especially since I did not select Jesus at the quarterback position. And frankly, I can't tell the Pouncey brothers apart.

Defense

DE - George Selvie, South Florida; Jan Jorgensen, Brigham Young - Just watch Selvie play and you will see why. Jorgensen is the conference career sack leader, in a conference that does a lot of passing. My apologies to Greg Hardy and Sergio Kindle.

DT - Terrence Cody, Alabama; Gerald McCoy, Oklahoma - Not only are they immovable objects in the middle of the line, they make plays as well behind it.

OLB - Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri; Eric Norwood, South Carolina - Norwood is a beast, while Weatherspoon just makes tackles.

ILB - Brandon Spikes, Florida; Joe Pawelek, Baylor - You know I watch too much football when I place a Baylor player on my preseason All-American team. I think Spikes is the best player on the Gators, but somehow this will be misinterpreted as a dig at Tebow.

Keep an eye on Sean Spence, Miami.

CB - Trevard Lindley, Kentucky; Janoris Jenkins, Florida - Jenkins is a phenomenal athlete, and Lindley has garnered votes for All-American each of the past two years.

S - Taylor Mays, USC; Eric Berry, Tennessee - The easiest position to select on the team.

Special Teams

K - Shane Popham, Wake Forest - Not that I think is particularly that good, just wanted to see if anybody actually paid attention to whom I selected at kicker, and he seems to have kicked 1,000 field goals against FSU.

P - Zoltan Mesko, Michigan - Simply because of his name.

R - Brandon James, Florida - If he sees a hole, he's thinking touchdown.

Forgive me for any typographical errors, I didn't feel like proofreading with games on the television. Stay tuned for my weekly college football updates.