Phil Steele Names Three Aggies To Preseason All-Conference Football Team

Phil Steele has released his preseason All-American and All-Big 12 football teams, which will be featured in regional editions of his Big 12 magazine, which hits news stands on June 8. Keeping in mind that this is a man who had Von Miller listed as a second-team All-American following the 2009 season in which he led the nation in sacks, and didn't have a single Aggie offensive player rated higher than third-team all-conference, despite the fact that  we were one of the top five teams nationally in total offense, and you know to take his rankings witha grain of salt. However, despite his apparent blindness to the obvious in certain areas, Steele does put out a decent preseason mag that is loaded with statistical information, and for that we give him credit. More importantly, Steele is usually one of the first to publish his magazine each year, and at a time when we're starved for football info in the drought that is the offseason, this is like manna from Heaven.

Steele has one Aggie ranked as a preseason All-American on any of his four teams, with LB Von Miller cracking the first team. While this seems like an obvious pick, as I pointed out above, Steele had Miller on the second-team following the '09 season, so nothing is a given with him. The most questionable ranking is the selection of Oklahoma RB DeMarco Murray as a first team All-American. I know Murray is a very talented back, and much was expected of him coming out of high school, but he is still struggling to justify all of that hype. Murray is injury-prone, and his lack of durability causes him to miss games. Furthermore, in the 2009 season, Murray averaged a gaudy 58.8 yards per game, 4.1 yards per carry, rushed for 705 yds and only 8 TDs, and had only two 100 yd rushing games on the season. Simply put, Murray had his worst season as a Sooner in 2009. By way of comparison, Cyrus Gray had three 100 yd rushing games on the season (Tech, ISU, Baylor), and Christine Michael had two (Tech, Baylor).  Michael finished with 844 yds rushing, 5.1 ypc, and 10 rushing TDs on the season. Murray finished the season ranked 9th in the Big 12 in rushing, and seven of the nine players ahead of him are returning. Obviously, Steele is going more on name recognition here than on actual production on the field.

On Steele's All-Big 12 first team, four Aggies make the cut, with Jerrod Johnson at QB, Uzoma Nwachukwu at one WR position, Cyrus Gray at KR on special teams, and Von Miller at one LB position. I am disappointed Patrick Lewis isn't receiving any consideration for first team offensive guard, because he is one of the best interior linemen in the nation, in my opinion, but I don't expect Steele to know the best linemen in every conference. The media typically listens to the sports information departments of schools when it comes to listing linemen, because they can't grade linemen on their own, so it is up to our SID to get the marketing rolling there, and get Lewis' name out.

Of the three Aggies to crack the first team, Johnson at QB and Miller at LB are the obvious choices. Johnson is easily the best returning QB in the Big 12 following the 2009 season, so picking him to lead the first team offense is a natural. Miller led the nation in sacks last year, and is one of the most destructive forces on the defensive side of the ball in the nation, and the nation's best pass rusher. You don't want to rank him anywhere but first team, because you don't want to give him any reason for him to remember your name and come find you. Nwachukwu at WR is a little bit of a surprise mainly because EZ lost his starting position in Spring Practice to senior-to-be Terrence McCoy. This isn't a case of Uzomaslacking off or a sophomore slump, this is just McCoy realizing that he has only one year left to play, and working his butt off and going out and earning the starting position. If anything, this shows how much depth we currently have at the WR position.

After DeMarco Murray, Niles Paulat WR has to be the most questionable all-conference pick.  Paul had 40 receptions for 796 yards and 4 TDs last season, numbers which were not good enough for him to crack the top 10 in the conference in receptions or yards. Paul had three 100 receiving games, against Missouri, Iowa State, and Kansas, three of the worst defenses in the Big 12 North. I would pick Jeff Fuller(41 receptions, 561 yds, 7 TDs) over Paul, simply because Fuller was more productive in fewer games, missing four games because of a broken leg. Of course, I can also make an argument for Colorado's Scott McKnight, Texas Tech's Detron Lewis or Alex Torres, and Baylor's Kendall Wrightover Paul, because all were more productive at WR than he was. Nebraska struggled to develop consistency at QB last season, and I'm sure some of that contributed to Paul's production woes over the season, but the fact remains, there are plenty of other WRs in the conference who should have been put on the first team ahead of him.

When the 2010 season is over, I expect there to be more than three Aggies who have made All-Big 12 first team; I think we'll land more than one player on the all-conference defensive  team, specifically. Between Trent Hunter, Terrence Frederick, Garrick Williams, Michael Hodges, Sean Porter, and Dustin Harris, we have plenty of talent on the defensive side of the ball that will shine in 2010; it is just up to them to go out there and get it done on the field.