2 Minute Drill
Maybe the burden of carrying the Razorbacks? offense all season took its toll on Darren McFadden, who was held to 73 rushing yards in the 38-28 loss to Florida in the SEC championship game. In addition to running for a school record 1,558 yards this season, McFadden completed 6 of 8 passes for 72 yards with three touchdowns and scored on a 92-yard kickoff return.
Junior defensive end Quentin Groves is one of the most ferocious pass rushers in SEC history. The third-team Rivals.com All-American, who ranks second on the school?s all-time list with 22 sacks, finished the regular season with 9.5 sacks.
Safety Reggie Nelson and cornerback Ryan Smith have made the 100th season of Florida football one for the record books. Each player recorded interceptions last week against Arkansas and finished the season as the top defensive back duo in the country with a combined 14 interceptions.
Most of the Bulldogs? playmakers this season were on defense. Senior linebacker Tony Taylor was credited with a team-high 87 tackles, five interceptions, two fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles. Senior roverback Tra Battle recorded six interceptions and junior defensive end Charles Johnson led the team with 16.0 tackles, 7.5 sacks and nine pass break-ups.
Junior quarterback Andre? Woodson had one of the best seasons in school history. Woodson completed 62.4 percent of his passes and threw for a league-best 3,216 yards with 28 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He had 10 200-yard passing games this season and completed 66.7 percent of his passes in each of the last five games.
This season marked the third in four years that senior free safety LaRon Landry was the Tigers? top tackler, with 68 in 2006. Junior defensive end Glenn Dorsey registered 59 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks in 2006 and was twice named the SEC?s Defensive Lineman of the Week.
The first of what Patrick Willis hopes are many postseason honors arrived when he was named the winner of the Conerly Trophy, which is given to the best player in Mississippi. The senior linebacker, who was the league?s top tackler for the second straight season, is a finalist for the Butkus and Nagurski awards.
Bulldogs linebacker Quinton Culberson, who recorded a team-high 102 tackles, nine tackles for loss, two interceptions and six pass breakups, was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week and the Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week after scoring on a 51-yard interception return and collecting 10 tackles in a victory over Alabama.
The conference?s most versatile player was South Carolina senior Syvelle Newton, who got starts this season at wide receiver, quarterback and safety. Newton threw for 1,316 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions on 95-of-162 passing while filling in for Blake Mitchell.
In a league filled with talented wide receivers, Tennessee?s Robert Meachem may have been the best. The junior set the school single-season receiving record with 1,265 yards and he scored 11 touchdowns on 67 receptions. He had six 100-yard receiving games this season.
Redshirt sophomore QB Chris Nickson may be able to do something that current Denver Bronco Jay Cutler couldn?t do, and that?s get Vanderbilt to a bowl game. Getting a lot of help from sophomore wide receiver Earl Bennett, Nickson threw for 2,085 yards with 15 touchdowns and 13 interceptions this season.