Florida Gators

It's never too early for a preseason college football poll.

ESPN's "College Football Live" has released its preseason poll for the 2012 season. I was one of the voters along with Edward Aschoff, better known to most on this blog as the ATL Kid.

I can already hear the squealing from other parts of the country about how preseason polls are biased and that the SEC has a huge advantage ... blah, blah, blah.

We'll let everybody else debate that. The bottom line is that the SEC is getting a lot of love for the 2012 season. Five SEC teams are in the top 10 of the "College Football Live" poll, led by LSU at No. 2. USC is the No. 1 team overall.

Here's a look at the six SEC teams that made the Top 25:

No. 2: LSU
No. 3: Alabama
No. 6: Georgia
No. 8: South Carolina
No. 9: Arkansas
No. 25: Florida

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Nick Washington (Jacksonville, Fla./Trinity Christian Academy), a Florida verbal commitment and the fourth-rated safety in the ESPN 150, talks with GatorNation’s Derek Tyson at the Orlando Nike Football Training Camp.

Everybody talks about the best value picks come NFL draft time. In other words, who were the best football players to go later in the draft?

Now that everybody else has had a say, I’ll weigh in with regard to SEC players. Below are my value selections. These guys either went in the last three rounds of the draft or went undrafted, and I’m betting that all five will be contributors in the NFL. They’re listed alphabetically:

Chris Rainey, RB, Florida: The Pittsburgh Steelers took Rainey with the 24^th pick in the fifth round. Just from a special teams perspective alone, Rainey figures to be a huge asset. He has game-changing speed and will certainly be a threat in the return game, but what a lot of people forget is that he’s also Florida’s all-time leader with six blocked kicks. There’s just no substitute for the kind of speed Rainey possesses, and he’s proven than he can both run and catch the football. The Steelers will find a niche for him, and Rainey will put his speed to use in a number of different ways.

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Leon McQuay (Seffner, Fla./Armwood), the third-rated safety in the ESPN 150, talks with RecruitingNation’s Jamie Newberg at the Orlando Nike Football Training Camp.

The SEC led the country for the sixth straight year with 42 NFL draft selections, and all 12 teams had at least one player drafted.

The Big Ten was second with 41 draft selections, and then it dropped off to 31 selections by the ACC.

The SEC was the only conference to have had a player selected from every one of its teams. Alabama led the country in total draft selections with eight, followed by Georgia and Oklahoma with seven each.

Here's the SEC rundown by team:

• Alabama: 8
• Georgia: 7
• South Carolina: 6
• LSU: 5
• Arkansas: 4
• Mississippi State: 3
• Florida: 2
• Kentucky: 2
• Vanderbilt: 2
• Auburn: 1
• Ole Miss: 1
• Tennessee: 1

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Marcell Harris (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips), the eighth rated safety in the ESPN 150, talks with GatorNation’s Derek Tyson at the Orlando Nike Football Training Camp.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Former Florida offensive lineman Dan Wenger announced via Twitter that he has been "given an opportunity" with the New York Jets.

Wenger, like all draft picks and undrafted free agents, will participate in a mini-camp held within 15 days of the NFL Draft. Wenger started 11 games in 2011 in his only season at Florida (he missed two games with an ankle injury). He transferred to UF from Notre Dame after the NCAA granted him a sixth year of eligibility because of two concussions he suffered early in the 2010 season.

Former UF quarterback John Brantley (Baltimore Ravens), receiver Deonte Thompson (Ravens) and defensive end William Green (Cleveland Browns) also will participate in mini-camps, as will draft picks Jaye Howard (Seattle, fourth round) and Chris Rainey (Pittsburgh, fifth round).

Over the past 10 years, Georgia has produced 57 total NFL draft picks, which leads the SEC.

But over the past five years, LSU leads the way with 30 total draft picks.

And over the past two years, Alabama and LSU are tied for the lead with 12 draft picks. In fact, Alabama has produced six first-rounders over the last two years.

Here's a look at the total number of draft picks produced by SEC teams over the past 10 years, and we've included Missouri and Texas A&M:

Georgia: 57
LSU: 56
Florida: 54
Tennessee: 48
Alabama: 41
Auburn: 35
South Carolina: 30
Arkansas: 26
Ole Miss: 21
Texas A&M: 21
Missouri: 20
Kentucky: 14
Mississippi State: 14
Vanderbilt: 10

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- John Brantley's career at Florida certainly didn't go as planned, but he's still getting a shot to make it in the NFL.

The 6-foot-3, 219-pound Brantley signed a free-agent contract with the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night, about an hour after the NFL draft concluded.

Brantley finished his UF career with 4,750 yards passing and 30 touchdowns with 18 interceptions. He threw for 2,044 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions this past season. He is the fourth quarterback the Ravens have under contract, joining starter Joe Flacco and backups Tyrod Taylor and Curtis Painter.

Brantley will at least have one familiar face with him in Baltimore. Receiver Deonte Thompson also signed a free-agent contract with the Ravens. Thompson finished his UF career with 101 catches for 1,446 yards and nine touchdowns. Baltimore already has eight receivers under contract and drafted Miami's Tommy Streeter in the sixth round.

In addition, defensive end William Green signed with the Cleveland Browns, where he will join former UF standout Joe Haden. Haden was the Browns' first-round draft pick (No. 7 overall) in 2010.

Defensive back Moses Jenkins and offensive lineman Dan Wenger are the other players who wrapped up their careers in 2011. They have not signed free-agent deals.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida had just two players drafted over the past three days: defensive tackle Jaye Howard (fourth round, Seattle) and running back Chris Rainey (fifth round, Pittsburgh). Here are some numbers and stats to put that into perspective:

The Gators have had fewer than three players drafted in one year just five times since 1980: 2012, 2008, 1993, 1982 and 1980.

UF has had at least one player drafted in the first three rounds for the past 18 seasons. The last time UF didn’t have at least one player taken in the top three rounds was 1993 (Lawrence Hatch was a sixth-round pick by New England, and Will White was a seventh-round pick by Phoenix).

Florida’s streak of consecutive years with at least one first-round selection ends at five. Entering the draft, it was the longest active streak in the nation.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Chris Rainey’s speed and versatility made him someone the Pittsburgh Steelers just couldn’t pass up.

The Steelers selected the former Florida running back in the fifth round (159^th overall pick) of the NFL draft on Saturday, and coach Mike Tomlin is already thinking about the different ways he can use Rainey on offense and special teams.

"We, of course, are excited about his skill set,” Tomlin said on ESPN shortly after the selection. "We think that this guy is capable of helping us in a lot of ways: in the backfield, outside the backfield, in the return game."

The 5-foot-8, 180-pound Rainey did all of that at Florida. He finished his career with 3,948 all-purpose yards (fourth in school history) and his 2,464 yards rushing is ninth on the school’s all-time list. He also holds the Southeastern Conference record with six blocked punts.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Jaye Howard finally played with the consistency his coaches wanted, and it got him drafted higher than many projected.

The Seattle Seahawks selected the former Florida defensive tackle in the fourth round (114th pick overall) on Saturday, making Howard the first Gators player taken in the NFL draft. It is the latest round in which the first UF player has been drafted since 1993, when defensive back Lawrence Hatch was selected in the sixth round by New England.

"Congrats to Jaye," UF coach Will Muschamp said on Twitter. "He worked very hard this year to put himself in this position."

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While Kentucky and Florida State lead the way as top seeds, No. 6 seed Florida will headline the Gainesville regional.