By Alabama Paul

This week Alabama Paul is going to talk about the SEC West. Last year’s SEC and national champion came out of this division. Do not be surprised if it doesn’t happen again this season.

1) Alabama Crimson Tide. Do not cry for Alabama for all of the players on defense that they lost to graduation and the NFL. After seeing their spring scrimmage, I can tell you that the new players replacing them are just as talented, if not more. Bad news for the rest of the SEC. Dont’a Hightower missed last season with an knee injury; he is back and will take over middle linebacker to replace Rolando McClain. Dre Kirkpatrick, B.J. Scott, DeQuan Menzie, DeMarcus Milliner and John Fulton are all young , inexperienced and fast as all get out. They will learn quickly at the cornerback position. Safety Mark Barron is the only returning starter in the defensive secondary and will have to provide leadership for all of the newbies. On offense the Tide is pretty much set. They return their starting quarterback, Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson at running back and almost all of the national championship offense. Do not look for too many teams to make them stumble along the way to their second SEC championship and a possible trip to repeat as B.C.S. champion.

2) Auburn Tigers. The new look at Auburn last year started out with a bang, then faded as the season went on. Look for the Tigers to sustain the success a little longer this season, at least until the Iron Bowl. The new starting QB, Cameron Newton, is a former Florida signee looking for a second chance. Senior RB Mario Fannin will need to perform well for the Tigers to get untracked early. The offensive line is solid with most of the starters returning this season. True freshmen, Michael Dyer and Trovon Reed, should see significant playing time at running back and wide receiver, respectively. The Auburn defense is respectable and has three seniors, Aairon Savage, Zac Etheridge and Mike McNeil, returning from injuries to help out. The Tigers are not level with Alabama yet, but they are catching up rapidly.

3) Arkansas Razorbacks. Now I am sure some of you are going to say that LSU should be in this spot. If they had Arkansas’ offense, I would agree with you. I like the Hogs in this spot because of Ryan Mallett and their passing game. Ronnie Wingo will also make a splash for them at running back. The offense is pretty much intact from last season and I am sure all of you Georgia Bulldog fans remember how good that offense is. The biggest problem for the Hogs is on defense. They are trying out a number of new players throughout the defense in hopes of improving over last season. If any or all of these new faces step up, Arkansas could cause a lot of problems for the rest of the SEC West. If nothing else, they are going to make things interesting for that division.

4) LSU Bayou Bengals( I like this nickname better than just Tigers.). I wish that I could say that LSU was going to push Alabama for the SEC West title; and on paper with their talent across the board, it should be the case. Unfortunately for LSU, the games are not played on paper. The major problem for the Tigers is offensive inconsistency. QB Jordan Jefferson was a world-beater as a freshman, but has not performed up to expectations since. Also, they are going to have to improve their rushing game from 11^th in the conference last season. They return a decent number of starters on both the offensive line and skill positions and should be better this season. On defense, the Tigers have Patrick Peterson who is thought to be the best cornerback in college football. The rest of the defense is talented and deep with several younger players being rotated to give them game experience. The new defensive coordinator last season, John Chavis, will bring in more pass rush and blitzing this year to make life miserable for opponents passing games. I just don’t see the offense improving enough to pass up Auburn or Arkansas in the standings.

5) Ole Miss Rebels. The Rebels thought that they were going to be thin at quarterback when out of the blue former Oregon bad boy Jeremiah Masoli shows up and wants to walk on in Oxford. Houston Nutt must be living right or something. The offense is going to be exciting if Masoli can return to his Oregon form and stay out of trouble. Sophomore QB, Nathan Stanley, may provide a change of pace for the Rebels or take some plays at other skill positions to shake up defenses, ala Randall Cobb. The wide receiver position is deep with seniors, Markeith Summers and Lionel Breaux, providing leadership for the younger wideouts. Ole Miss is very sturdy on defense as usual. They are led by senior DT Jerrell Powe. Other defensive standouts are DT Ted Laurent and LB D.T. Shackleford. The only real problem that the Rebels have is that they are in the SEC. In any other conference or as an independent, they would probably have very rosy prospects.

6) Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are looking to improve on defense by bringing in new defensive coordinators, Manny Diaz and Chris Wilson. They have also brought in some junior college talent in the shape of James Carmon at defensive tackle. This 345 pound monster will anchor a competent defensive line along with DE Pernell McPhee, The linebackers and secondary are experienced as well; the Bulldogs can play defense with anyone. On offense things are not as promising. The quarterback position is up in the air between junior Chris Relf( the runner) and redshirt freshman Tyler Russell( the passer). They may end up platooning this season. The running back situation may end up as a rotating affair as well. Junior college transfer, Vick Ballard, is the frontrunner right now, but Robert Elliott, Montrell Connor and LaDarious Perkins will all see significant playing time. Head coach, Dan Mullen, is struggling mightily to bring the Bulldogs back to SEC prominence, but he faces the same problem previously mentioned for Ole Miss. When you play in the toughest division of the best conference in college football, it is hard to make much progress quickly.

Alabama Paul is tired after all of this writing. I think I will go take a nap. See you all down at the Deli.