Eight Tigers named to preseason Coaches All-SEC team

By Collin Mickle

Published: July 21, 2008

Friday, defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks will be representing Auburn at Southeastern Conference Media Days in Hoover.

Monday, Marks — and seven of his teammates — represented AU on the preseason All-SEC team, selected by the league’s coaches.

Marks, a junior, was one of two first-team selections for Auburn; the other was punter Ryan Shoemaker. The 6-foot-1, 288-pound Marks had 43 tackles and nine tackles for loss last season.

This year, Marks made Playboy’s preseason All-America team, as well as the Outland and Nagurski Trophy watch lists.

Shoemaker, who missed all or part of three games with an elbow injury, averaged 42.4 yards per punt last season, the second-best average in the SEC. He was a second-team All-SEC pick last season.

Offensive tackle Lee Ziemba, a 6-foot-8, 288-pound sophomore, was one of three Auburn players on the second-team All-SEC offense. Guard Tyronne Green and tailback Ben Tate were the other second-team selections on offense.

Ziemba started 12 of Auburn’s 13 games at right tackle as a true freshman last season. Green, a senior, also started 12 games last year, his first as a starter. Green earned Auburn’s Ken Rice Award, granted each year to the team’s best blocking lineman.

Tate, a 5-foot-11 junior, started six games in 2007. He ran for 903 yards and scored eight touchdowns.

Juniors Tray Blackmon and Jerraud Powers were named to the second-team all-conference defense. Blackmon, a linebacker, was limited to nine games by an ankle injury, but finished the season with 45 tackles.

The LaGrange, Ga., native is Auburn’s most physically talented linebacker, but injuries and discipline problems have limited him to 15 games over the past two seasons.

Powers, Auburn’s most experienced returning defensive back, had 63 tackles and four interceptions last season. He earned the Zeke Smith Award as AU’s defensive player of the year.

Defensive end Antonio Coleman, who finished fourth in the SEC in tackles for loss and fifth in sacks last season, was named to the third-team defense. The 6-foot-2, 262-pound junior missed most of spring practice after suffering a neck injury while tangling with Ziemba in a team scrimmage.

Defending SEC and national champion LSU led all SEC schools with 14 players selected to the three all-conference teams. Florida followed with 10. Georgia had nine selections, followed by Auburn, Alabama and South Carolina, with eight each. Kentucky had five selections, Ole
Miss and Mississippi State four each, Arkansas three and Vanderbilt two.

The SEC’s coaches have announced a preseason all-conference team for the past five seasons. The media’s All-SEC team will be selected during SEC Media Days and announced Friday.

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