2025 On SI Preseason All-SEC Team

The list is short. When it comes to players named All-SEC by league coaches at the end of the 2024 college football season, which is the only thing the conference uses in determining official status of the honor, few are back with their teams this season.

There's Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams and LSU linebacker Whit Weeks, who are both going into their junior years, but return specialist Barion Brown technically doesn't count after transferring from Kentucky to LSU during the offseason. Nevertheless, they're among the frontrunners for receiving the most votes in the media's preseason All-SEC team that will be selected during next week's media days in Atlanta.

Other contenders include Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor, who are being hyped as potential early selections in the 2026 NFL Draft. But don't look for a quarterback to be in the mix. Sure, a last-minute consensus could develop between South Carolina's Lanorris Sellers, LSU's Garrett Nussmeier, Texas' Arch Manning, however it doesn't seem very likely.

Instead look to tight end, and ... Vanderbilt?

Commodores fans are already well-versed when it comes to Eli Stowers, the former quarterback who last season had 49 receptions for 638 yards, and five touchdown catches, all of which led his team, during his first season at Vanderbilt, and just second playing the position. Six times Stowers had at least four receptions in a game, and during three of them he topped 100 yards. Among them, his six receptions for 113 yards helped lead the stunning upset of then-No. 1 Alabama, 40-35.

For 2025-26, Stowers has the same head coach this season, the same offensive coordinator, and even the same starting quarterback, Diego Pavia. He was named a preseason All-American by the Walter Camp Foundation, and Phil Steele gave him a similar nod in his preseason magazine.

He may not be a unanimous selection for preseason All-SEC (which hasn't happened since Arkansas running back Darren McFadden in 2007), but might come closest in this year's media voting.

SEE ALSO: How Clark Lea is Managing Diego Pavia and Eli Stowers Heading Into Fall Camp

The On SI Preseason All-SEC Team is based off our position profiles from over the past month, which links included near the end. SEC Media Days will begin Monday in Atlanta at the College Football Hall of Fame.

SEE ALSO: Predicted Order of Finish