SEC Coaches Select McElroy For Honor

When the Southeastern Conference coaches cast their ballots for All-SEC, etc., it was expected that SEC champion Auburn would reap most of the honors. That was the case for Alabama last year when Bama won its 22nd SEC championship en route to its 13th national title.

In 2009, Alabama had the offensive player of the year in Mark Ingram, the defensive player of the year in Rolando McClain, the special teams player of the year in Javier Arenas, and the coach of the year in Nick Saban.

Auburn didn't do quite that well.

And Alabama didn't come up empty this year.

Sure, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton was the offensive player of the year. Well, maybe that should be *offensive player of the year.

A pleasant surprise was seeing the SEC coaches select a true student-athlete quarterback for recognition.

Greg McElroy of Alabama was chosen the league’s scholar-athlete of the year.

McElroy, who is 23-2 as a starting quarterback for the Crimson Tide, graduated in three years with a degree in business marketing and is finishing his graduate degree in sports administration this fall. He completed his undergraduate work with a 3.82 grade point average and has a 4.0 GPA in graduate school. He was selected as the ESPN Academic All-American of the Year and was a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship.

The coaches selected LSU defensive back/return specialist Patrick Peterson as the top defensive player and top special teams player for 2010.

The league’s coaches also selected South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore as the top freshman performer.

Auburn offensive lineman Lee Ziemba was selected as the recipient of the Jacobs Trophy, given to the league’s top blocker. South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier was voted by his peers as the SEC Coach of the Year.