SEC Football: Picking Each Team's Impact Freshman for 2011 Season

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) Sometimes when a coach recruits a player, he's a long term project. They'll be red shirted and developed and hopefully you can get a good junior and senior season out of them.

Then there are the rare few that come in right away and have an instant impact on the team.

Let's examine each team by conference division and see who the top impact freshman could be.

SEC West: Alabama

In the Army All Star Game, Hart settled the argument in the best running back race.

There are several freshmen who may see the field this season in Tuscaloosa, with the talent that Nick Saban brings in each year, it's bound to happen.

But the one who will get his feet wet early and often will be Dee Hart.

Saban knows that Hart, like Coffee, then Ingram and most likely Richardson are gone by the end of their junior seasons, so there's no need to try and red shirt a top running back.

In the spring A Day game, Hart showed the Crimson faithful a little glimpse of what they can expect to see from him this season.

Since he early enrolled, Hart will have a good grasp of the offense and should be conditioned enough to come right in and be an impact player should either Richardson or Lacy get banged up.

Last year, many running backs were thought to be "the best" and the top of list changed a few times. But it changed for good after Hart electrified the football world at the Army All Star Game and became the MVP of that game.

SEC West: Auburn

Frazier is sure to see action this season, perhaps a lot of it.

With 22 seniors gone from last year's team there are plenty of holes to fill but no two are as big as the ones left by two juniors who left early for the NFL, Chris Fairley and Cameron Newton.

Auburn has enough defensive talent to overcome Fairley's exit but there is only one man on the plains who has the physical and athletic skills to attempt to replace Cameron Newton, and that man is Kiehl Frazier.

He's a duel threat quarterback, 6'3'', 225 pounds and was the most sought after recruit from Arkansas in recent memory. He's already faster than almost any quarterback in the NFL and even as a freshman could push Auburn's heir apparent for this season, Barrett Trotter once he arrives on campus this summer and goes through fall drills.

In the Auburn spring game, neither Trotter or the other on campus contender, Clint Moseley looked like the star that Auburn needs. Look for Frazier to bring that star power back to the quarterback position at Auburn.

SEC West: Arkansas

Brey Cook is the real deal and Petrino won't waste a red shirt year on this lineman.

Bobby Petrino is quietly building up a solid team at Arkansas. Part of it is his good coaching ability and the other is the good recruits he's bringing in.

One of those good recruits is Brey Cook, an already imposing 6'7'' and 319 pound offensive lineman who could step in and play any position on the line but maybe center and he will get significant playing time this season and could be a full time starter by next season.

Few freshmen show up ready to play on the offensive line in the SEC, but Brey is one of those who could. For a big man, he has quick feet and once he adjusts to the size and speed of the pass rushers in the SEC, he should have the whole package and could be an early All American.

An Arkansas product that Petrino didn't let get out of state, Cook is from Springdale, Arkansas. He already benches over 400 pounds and can squat 435. He's also an honor student with a solid 3.7 GPA and should have no trouble learning the offense and the playbook.

SEC West: LSU

If LSU's quarterbacks have problems this year, look for Hilliard to help ease the pain.

With top recruiting classes almost every year, it's hard to narrow down a list from LSU to just one incoming freshman that will be have the most impact. Several could claim that spot.

But the one that stands out slightly above the others was chosen by need as much talent. That person is Kenny Hilliard, a stocky 6'0'' 240 pound running back from Patterson, La.

Why chosen by need?

There have been times last season when LSU's quarterbacks struggled. Should that happen again this year, Hilliard may could spark the running game and take some of the pressure off the quarterback position.

He may not have the break away speed that other running backs have, but he has that break tackles ability that can move the chains. He is a stout North - South running back that can hit the hole quickly and usually not be tackled by just one person.

He could prove to be a quarterback's best new friend at LSU.

SEC WEST: Mississippi State

A solid run stopper and a sack threat too. P.J. Jones will be seeing some early playing time.

It's no surprise that Dan Mullen would change the fortunes of the Mississippi State Bulldogs when he took over as head coach. And that success is helping him land some recruits that may have gone elsewhere.

One of those recruits is P.J. Jones, a four star defensive lineman from Tupelo, Ms. who shows up in Starkville at 6'2'' and 255 pounds of pass rushing muscle.

The defense is something that State takes pride in and having a freshman get playing time there is not too common, but expect to see PJ rotated in this season, especially in pass rushing situations where a fresh pair of legs and someone with his size and speed could snag a sack.

SEC WEST: Ole Miss

CJ Johnson will certainly make an impact at Ole Miss

Any top team is pleased to land a five star recruit, but when a second tier team lands one, it's big news indeed and that's just what Houston Nutt has done in landing 6'3'' 240 pound linebacker C.J. Johnson from Philadelphia, Ms.

Most five star recruits are people you expect to play early and often and this is sure to be the case with Johnson playing for the Rebels.

Jones already has the size and speed and really only needs to work on his upper body strength as he's only benching around 250 right now and that's just not enough muscle to shove of linemen who will try and engage him.

Mullen will have him benching over 300 by fall he may swap some of the "mass for muscle" and be the kind of ready to go linebacker that makes it as a freshman.

SEC EAST: Florida

Expect to see Driskel throwing balls in the swamp for a long time.

Last year Florida had a very "un Gator" kind of season despite having the talent on campus that comes with having top recruiting classes each signing day. This year is a big transition period at the Swamp and new head coach Will Muschamp looks to blend the old and new players into his vision of an SEC contending team.

One of those new players that will get a long hard look is Jeff Driskel, the number one quarterback recruit in the country who has the ideal package of 6'3'' 225 pounds, fast feet, quick release all the confidence in the world in a very lively arm. He's from Oviedo, Florida and enrolled early to participate in spring ball.

That gave coaches a good chance to look him over and they like what they saw. Two other quarterbacks that saw some playing time last year, Trey Burton and Jordan Reed, will each be playing other positions this year and the other quarterback that committed to the Gators won't be on campus until fall, so that leaves Driskel in a head to head battle with John Brantley for the starting job.

Brantley may be a senior, but he is coming off a terrible year that shook his confidence. Though the Gaytors and Charlie Weis are moving to a pro style offense that more suits Brantley's talents, they may want to go ahead and start the new coaching era with a QB of their own choice.

If Driskel isn't the starter in the fall, he may well be by season's end if Brantley continues to stumble along.

SEC EAST: Georgia

Big Ray Drew will be trading his blue jersey for Georgia red and the Bulldog fans will be happy he did.

In what may be the most controversial pick of this article, top rated running back Isiah Crowell won't have the most pronounced impact on the Bulldog team this season. That honor will be defensive end Ray Drew's.

Like Crowell, Drew is a five star recruit with all the tools to prosper at his position, but it is the defense that needs Drew far more than the offense needs Crowell.

This could be a make or break year for head coach Mark Richt and he has no intentions of wasting a red shirt year on Drew. The defense needs him too badly and too quickly to let that talent sit on the bench.

At 6'5''and 250 pounds, Drew already has the size, speed and moves to be an SEC player right now. Once he gets his head up to speed with his skill set, he'll be a top SEC player for years to come.

Drew is from Thomasville, Ga. and was the 9th defensive end overall. He would have rated higher with just a little more weight that his frame can easily accommodate without sacrificing speed. Look for the Bulldogs to make adding another 25 pounds of muscle as their biggest mission for Drew, he already seems to have everything else to make it in the SEC.

SEC EAST: Kentucky

Faulkner has all the tools to step in and be productive this year.

In the SEC, sometimes schools like Kentucky seem to only get the leftovers that the other big schools passed on, but that wasn't the case when four star defensive back Glenn Faulkner decided to become a Wildcat.

Faulkner is a 6'2'', 195 pound defensive back that many schools would have loved to have had. He is from East St. Louis, Illinois and pretty much had his mind made up to go to Kentucky from very early on in the process.

Glenn was the number one defensive back in Illinois and the nation's number eight overall and that's just too much talent for coach Joker Phillips to let sit on the bench this season. He was Kentucky's only four star recruit and was brought in by new coach Tee Martin who developed a close bond with the stud defensive back.

Though the Cats do have returning defensive backs, few have the skill set and athleticism that Glenn brings to the field and that will mean some early playing time if not a starting job this season.

SEC EAST: South Carolina

From the moment Clowney picked up that cap, he was going to be a starter.

You had to be living under a rock this past year if you haven't heard of Jadeveon Clowney. He was one of the nation's top overall recruits and the number one defensive end prospect in the nation.

It is a rating that is well deserved. Clowney has a big 6'6'', 250 pound frame with great speed and good upper body strength that already makes him an SEC ready player. He was South Carolina's only five star recruit for the 2011 class.

The only knock on Clowney may be ego, which was heavily inflated during the recruiting process and could tend to get him in trouble off the field. Everything else has him as a freshman All American and an instant impact player for the Gamecocks this season.

Though he may start off the season playing back up in pass rushing situations, he'll earn a fast starting role sometime in his freshman season.

Spurrier is not only to let this kind of talent sit on the bench for very long.

SEC EAST: Tennessee

Coleman could see playing time this year in some nickel and dime packages

With no five star recruits and a dozen four star recruits, it could be hard to pick a player that has that much more ability than another. But it is easier to find a need that needs to filled and see a player that can fill that need right away.

In this case, that player is a 5'11' 175 pound defensive back named Justin Coleman from Brunswick, Ga.

He may lack size, he may lack muscle, but he has speed and ball hawk instincts that could make him a valuable addition to this year's team.

While it may be hard for Coleman to get any faster, he's already lightning fast, he can and must get bigger, so his first priority when he hit Knoxville and got settled was to start working with Bennie Wylie, the Vol's strength coach.

With another 20 pounds of muscle, he'll be more able to be an effective tackler to go along with his already good pass defense skills.

SEC EAST: Vanderbilt

Barron Dixon about to plant another running back.

At Vanderbilt, they don't lose games because they don't have good coaches are great facilities, they lose because they have to settle on picking among the two and three star athletes that weren't taken by the bigger schools.

In 2011, Vandy had no five star and no four star athletes that signed on the dotted line, but that doesn't mean they didn't get some very talented players and one of most talented that could give the team a boost is defensive end Barron Dixon, who initially decided to play for Mississippi State, but later changed his mind and chose Vanderbilt.

Dixon, a 6'4'' 260 pound defensive end pulled out of Mississippi State after seeing them sign so many other defensive linemen and after talking it over with his parents, who were always in favor of him taking a look at Vandy because of the strong academics there.

That and the chance to play early and perhaps start swayed Dixon to be the second player in 2011 to de-commit from the Bulldogs and sign elsewhere. 

It will prove to be the right decision for Barron as he will certainly be in contention for a starting role as early as this year. He has all the tools to develop into an ALL SEC end and is a player you'll want to keep an eye on this year.

And That's It for Each Team's Impact Freshman

Larry writes for Alabama and covers other SEC and national teams.

If you like what you've seen sign up for my twitter feed at LBSPORTSWRITER and stay up on the latest articles. You'll be notified as soon as they come on line.

For a list of past articles, you can search LARRY'S ARCHIVES and catch up on some you may enjoy but missed.