Everybody's All-American

As college football has concluded its 2012 campaign and we are 1 step closer to a playoff to decide the national champion, this seems as if it is the right time to name the Pepster All-Americans.  This is my reflection of the best players from college, and by no means is meant to indicate who will be high draft picks, or as my prognostication as to which players will become good or great professionals.  It is simply who I thought played the best last year.  Although there are more than 11 offensive 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 also choose some backups to account for different styles of players. I chose to explain my picks in some instances, and not in others. Why? Because I feel like it. Now here are the Pepster 2012 All-Americans.


Offense

QB - Johnny Manzell, Texas A & M;  Jordan Lynch, Northern Illinois; Geno Smith, West Virginia- Manzell needs no explanation.  Lynch set the record for most rushing yards by a quarterback and Smith put up ludicrous numbers - which he had to do because his defense was ludicrously awful!

RB - Kenjon Barner, Oregon; Montee Ball, Wisconsin, Stefphon Jefferson, Nevada - If you are asking why Barner and Ball, then you are not a true college football fan.  Stefphon Jefferson because he was second in yards, second in touchdowns scored and first in "he spells his name, How?"  Duke Johnson will be on this list next year - Guaranteed!

WR - Marquise Lee, USC; Stedman Bailey, West Virginia; DeAndre Hopkins, Clemson; Terrance Williams, Baylor - Lee had 118 receptions for 1721 yards; Bailey had 114 receptions for 1622 yards and 25 TDS!!!!  Hopkins had only 82 catches for 1405 yards, but 18 TDs, while Williams had an astounding 1832 yards - on 97 catches - after losing Robert Griffin III.

TE - Zach Ertz, Stanford - and since nobody uses TEs anymore, no Tyler Eifort.

T - Luke Joeckel, Texas A & M; Cyrus Kuandijo, Alabama; D.J. Fluker, Alabama.  Joeckel is by far the best offensive lineman in the country, and well, did you see Alabama's running game?

G - Chance Warmack, Alabama; Cyril Richardson, Baylor - Once again - Alabama's offensive line and as for Richardson, just watch the Kansas State tape, with Lache Seastrunk constantly running up the middle.

C - Barret Jones, Alabama - Seriously, they were that good.

Defense

DE - Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina; Damontre Moore, Texas A & M; Bjoern Werner, FSU - Clowney - just for the bowl game hit.  Yes THE Bowl Game HIT!  Moore because A & M played a lot more than just offense.  Werner is most people's starter, but I thought he just took too many plays off.

DT - Star Lotulelei, Utah; Sharif Floyd - Lotulelei might have been the best player of which you have never heard.  Floyd was a beast that anchored a darn good Florida Gator defense this year (and to appease the Gator fans before they see that I did not include Matt Elam on my team).

OLB - Jarvis Jones, Georgia; Khaseem Greene, Rutgers; C.J. Mosley, Alabama - Jones needs no explanation - but he did lead the country in sacks, and the only reason Greene needs an explanation is because nobody watches Rutgers.  Mosley is phenomenal, and to be honest, the only reason I have Greene ahead of him is that I really like watching Greene play.

ILB - Manti Te'o, Notre Dame; Arthur Brown - Kansas State - Te'o received most of the acclaim and all of the apostrophes, but Arthur Brown can flat play defense as well.

CB - Dee Milliner, Alabama; Johnthan Banks, Mississippi State; Jordan Poyer, Oregon State - Milliner was my MVP of the BCS Championship game, and Banks allowed Mississippi State to play an extra safety in the box against all of the tough SEC offenses.  Poyer had 7 interceptions.

S - Phillip Thomas, Fresno State; Ed Reynolds, Stanford; Eric Reid, LSU - Thomas led the country with 8 interceptions, while Ed Reynolds anchored a tough, tough Cardinal defense.  Eric Reid is included because the LSU defense was way too good to not have someone on the team, and I personally found Barkevious Mingo incredibly disappointing - and I can give lots of examples, if you prefer.

Now for my Matt Elam aside.  I attended 3 Florida games and watched at least a portion of every other game.  While Elam is a talent, (he was a consensus All-American for everyone else and is the highest rated safety in the draft - to date), he often runs himself out of plays, is often out-of-position, over pursues way too much, is way too eager to make the big hit/play rather than make a tackle and takes stupid - and I mean STUPID - penalties, often personal fouls.  I personally saw that in the LSU game there were times where Elam was on the bench in the second half for several plays - and not for an injury or equipment reasons either.  In fact, his signature play, running the receiver down and causing the fumble in the LSU game, only happened because he bit horribly on the play-action fake and was WAY out of position.  I will give him credit for not giving up on the play, though.

Special Teams

K - Cairo Santos, Tulane - 47 - 48 on the year, and that miss was on an extra point.  Plus, my Palm Beach County brethren, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission, felt he was the best kicker in awarding him the Lou Groza award.  This was a category that should have, and was, fought over by the 3 Florida kickers, Dustin Hopkins, Caleb Sturgis and Jake Wieclaw, but Santos rose above them all.

P - Kyle Christy, Florida - Although Christy only finished seventh in punting with a 45.8 yard (Ryan Allen of Louisiana Tech had an astounding 48 yard average, Christy affected each and every game with his punts, giving the Gators great field position on subsequent drives after pinning the opponents deep in their own endzone, and the Gators desperately needed the short field with their offense.

R - Marcus Murphy - Missouri - He had a 24.1 yard kickoff return average with 1 touchdown and a 13.9 yard punt return average with 3 touchdowns.  I would love to put Duke Johnson here, but he didn't return any punts  I could divide the return duties, but then I would just be playing favorites.