The Southern Conference Media Day

Thanks for posting the info and thanks for 'bolding' Mercer and the Mercer players listed. That looks like a familiar 'enemy-posting' style and I appreciate it (seriously, not being sarcastic...for once). Also, thanks for the 'overlooked' comment. I'm being assumptive that you are referring to Mercer Players. I know at least 2 who were and I KNOW one of those now has some extra fire/motivation for the 2015 season...and I strongly suspect the other one does as well.

BTW - if one will look at my "flip/swap etc." post in the other thread as to how I would alter The Telegraph's Power POLL (and can decipher my gobbledy-gook), you will see that it matches up (almost) exactly with the Coaches voting, except they were 'willing' to break the tie between #5 and #6 that I had and 'was unwilling' to break. Note how close their voting was for #5-7. That's also the same 'bunch' I struggle(d) with separating.

Maybe I should start my own Power POLL....

1) Mercer
2) Furman





8) Everyone else

...

Nice write up by FUBeAR at the Furman Fan site on #38! Many thanks.

www.uffp2.com/SMF20/index.php?topic=9927.0

Looks like a pretty accurate pick, with a lot more than expected Bears on the list!

So...I've been looking at the 2015 Coaches Preseason All-Southern Conference Team and comparing it to the 2014 Post-Season Coaches All Southern Conference Team...and there are some strange changes on there that I just can't figure out. I'm not looking at the 2014 Post-Season Media All-SoCon Team because these are 'apples-to-apples comparisons - Coaches Selections to Coaches Selections, with the changes being Pat Sullivan to Chris Hatcher @ Samford & Sparky Woods to Scott Wach. @ VMI. Anyone have any thoughts how the following could have happened?

1) bear38 already mentioned it, Wilson Heres (Sr., MER) was the only OLman on the 2014 Post-Season Team that was not named to the 2015 Pre-Season Team. Did he get worse during the off-season? Were Sparky Woods & Pat Sullivan HUGE fans of Heres while Hatcher/Wach. are not? Why did they name 11 OLmen to the 2014 Post-Season Team (a tie in voting, I would guess) and only 9 ACTUAL OLmen to the 2015 Pre-Season Team? So....There were 3 Sr.'s on the 2014 Team that graduated, so 8 Returning All-SoCon OLmen or 2 'probably' available 'slots' (if they go with 10 instead of 11, which would be reasonable). One of those 2 'open slots' went to Synjen Herren (Sr., CHATT). Herren did not play in 2014 due to injury, but he was named to the 2014 Coaches Preseason All SoCon 1st Team, so that makes perfect sense that he would take an open 'slot' upon his return. Then, TJ Chamberlin (Sr., WOFF) was named to the 2015 Preseason Team, but not to the 2014 Post-Season Team. Did he improve that much in the off-season? Were Sparky Woods & Pat Sullivan Chamberlin-haters? Now, interestingly enough, Chamberlin was also on the 2014 Preseason 1st Team (along with Herren), but he didn't miss the 2014 Season. He started 10 of 11 games for the Terriers in 2014. IF he didn't play well enough to make the 2014 Post-Season Team AFTER being on the Pre-Season Team, what did he do in the off-season to 'rehabilitate' himself in the eyes of the SoCon Coaches? Chamberlin may be a 1st round NFL draft choice...I don't know, but I don't understand how he wasn't in the Top 11 OLmen Post-Season AFTER being Top 5 in the Pre-Season in 2014 and now he's back in there without playing a down of SoCon football between November and July. OK - so he fills the final remaining slot...whatever, he's a real OLman, at least; I'm OK with that. But wait..., as #38 mentioned, another 'slot' was 'opened' with Heres not being selected and it went to a Long Snapping pseduo-OLman, Alec Hulmes (Sr., SAM); something that makes no sense in any football-world. He plays less than 10 plays/game, on average, including all Punts, FG's, and XP's and he's an All-SoCon OLman. He could, and very well may be, the best Long Snapper in the NCAA and the NFL, but he's still not an OLman & should not be taking an OL 'slot' on the All-SoCon team...as 38 said...smh.

2) Cedric Nettles, DB (Jr., CHATT) was selected to the 2014 Post-Season All-SoCon 1st Team, but he's now 2nd Team on the Preseason Team, while James Bradberry (Sr., SAM), Trey Morgan (Jr., WCU), and Lucas Webb (So, CHATT) all move up from the 2014 Post-Season 2nd Team, filling 'slots' vacated by only 2 Graduates. So, Nettles is knocked down to the 2nd Team. Why? What changed? How did he get worse after the 2014 Season ended and how did all 3 of those guys pass him?

3) Still in DB "World" - Reggie Thomas, DB (Sr. FUR) was selected to the 2014 Post-Season Coaches All-SoCon 2nd Team and, like Heres, was not included in the 2015 Preseason Team...even with 2 'slots' opening up. Alex Avant (Sr, MER) moved into 1 of those slots (don't disagree with that - other than Alex should be 1st Team!). So, what happened to the other slot? Sertonuse Harris (Sr., WCU) filled it. Wait, Harris is a Linebacker. Well, Harris is NOW listed as a DB on WCU's roster, but he WAS a LB last year and named to the 2014 Post-Season All SoCon team as a 2nd Team LB. So, in the Coaches eyes, a brand-new DB is better than a guy they named All-SoCon at DB the year before? Does that make sense? If he's that good of a player; that he's All-SoCon no matter what position he plays, then why wasn't/isn't he 1st team? If he's 'all that' at DB, then it would seem that Avant wouldn't have the 'open spot' to move into because Thomas was better than Avant in 2014, according to the Coaches, right?

4) The curious case of Detrez Newsome, RS (So., WCU) - So, Newsome was the 2nd Team All-SoCon RS in 2014. Suddenly, in Preseason 2015, Will Gay, RB (Sr. WOFF) is now the 2nd Team All-SoCon Preseason Return Specialist. Gay started 8 games at RUNNING BACK for the Terriers last year. He finished the season with 49 carries for 329 yards and 0 TD's. He had 0 Receptions. But the position he made the All-SoCon Preseason Team as is Return Specialist. He DID return 1 punt in 2014 for 3 yards. He had 0 kickoff returns. That's it. But, hold on, maybe he used to do returns, was amazing at it, and he's gonna do that again in 2015. Well, let's see...there were 3 RS's named to the 2013 All-SoCon Team, but Gay was not 1 of them. He did return 12 punts that year for 43 yards (3.6 yds/return) for 0 TD's. He also returned 1 Kickoff for 23 yards. He also had 2 PR's in 2012 for 8 yards. So...Career - 13 PR's/51 yds/3.9 avg/0 TD's & 1 KOR/23 yds/0 TD's. Let's look at Newsome's Career...of 1 year only. Well, he only returns kickoffs...maybe that hurt him. On the other hand, he returned 26 of them for 689 yards and a TD. So, he has over 9 times more Career Return Yards as Gay in 1 year, compared to Gay's 3 years. Gay may take 'em all to the house for the Terriers this Fall, but how do you knock Newsome off of the All-SoCon Team and replace him with a guy that hasn't really done many returns in his prior 3 years of playing and only 1 return for 3 yards in 2014. UPDATE: Just read this on another board, about a different Wofford Player; not the 2nd Team Preseason All-SoCon Return Specialist - "we will see him become a big part of our return game." This was posted by someone in a position to have a good idea about the Terrier's plans. smh

That's it - I'm done. I do feel REALLY bad for Heres, Thomas, and Newsome. They earned their way, on the field, to being selected to the 2014 Post-Season Team and they were left off of the 2015 Preseason Team for no GOOD reason; certainly could not have been anything they did on the field of play. I also feel bad for Nettles, but at least he retained some kind of spot on the team. I will definitely be 'cheering' really hard for these 4 players this season (except for 1 game for 3 of them). I expect, barring injury or other strange circumstances, all 4 of them will demonstrate in 2015 the same high-level of play that led to their earlier selections as All-SoCon Players!

My guess is coaches nominate players for consideration.  Admittedly, I am not aware of the quality of SoCon punters, so he may have been awarded that spot by default.

I'm sure these coaches lobby for their guys. And I'm sure, from Mercer's coaches standpoint, there is some perceived value in publicity for this guy to get some of that "Hey look a guy from Auburn transferred to Mercer" talk.