Phil Steele’s 2012 College Football Preview
Advance Copy Ordering Information

The official on sale date of my magazine is June 5th! Trucks should be here in Cleveland with copies ready to ship on May 29th a full week before it hits the newsstands. The cost is $14.25 and that includes Priority Mail ($5.30) with an estimated delivery time of 3-5 days, THIS IS NOT GUARANTEED BY THE POST OFFICE. You can place your order through our office at 1-866-918-7711 or at PhilSteele.com. You have your choice of 11 different covers and the website is your best option. (PhilSteele.com store)

Personally when I know something is available, I want it NOW. If you are like me and cannot wait for things you can order one of our very special autographed copies NOW! I am getting 4 cases of 22 magazines delivered in advance of our truck delivery. That means I will have 88 copies in my office by Tuesday, May 22nd at the latest. If you take advantage of this special offer you will receive the 2012 Phil Steele College Football Preview Magazine with our National Cover. Since you will be paying a premium price you can have it autographed with a personalized message and we will rush it out to you via Priority Mail so you should have your hands on the magazine by the end of next week to enjoy over the Memorial Day Weekend! (delivery time is not guaranteed by the Post Office)

We are limited on the amount of early copies available to us so be one of the first in the country to have a copy. Your cost for the SPECIAL ADVANCE COPY of the magazine is $39.95 and you can place your order with us at 1-866-918-7711. This special is NOT available at our PhilSteele.com store and can only be ordered through our office, as the website cannot accommodate for autographed copies (you can tell me what you want me to write on it). While the cost may seem exorbitant, most of you know shipping and fuel costs have increased and we are only passing those costs onto you since we are getting them sent to us in advance of the regular shipment.

Also while we could probably sell 1,000 early copies at face value, the fact that there are only 88 copies does increase the value so be one of the first 88 people in the country to have their hands on the Phil Steele 2012 College Football Preview!

Please check PhilSteele.com everyday to get my Top 40 Countdown which started yesterday with #40 Rutgers and #39 Georgia Tech. Every day from now thru June 12th, I will post both magazine pages on each team that day and you can get an early look on how I breakdown your favorite team. Remember I will make those magazine pages available for only 24 hours for you to download. Today Iowa and Kansas St come in at #38 and #37 respectively.

21 DAYS UNTIL PHIL STEELE’S 2012 MAGAZINE IS ON SALE!

ONLY 107 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE FIRST COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME!!!

Today’s blog will officially start the countdown of my top 40 teams that will appear in the magazine that will hit the news stands on June 5th which is just 22 DAYS AWAY!! Every day now thru June 12th, I will post both magazine pages on each team (for 24 hours only) and you can get an early look on how I breakdown your favorite team.

Today Rutgers comes in at #40 and Georgia Tech is at #39.

The Scarlet Knights new HC Kyle Flood has 15 st’rs back but they did have beneficial off (12.8) and def (17.0) ypp’s LY. They have 4 AG’s in the BE (just 3 HG) but have the league’s best defense and will contend for the BE Title. Meanwhile GT has13 ret st’rs and LY was #4 in the ACC at +23.2 ypg. GT has 443 wins in Bobby Dodd Stadium, most of any school at their current site. GT does have to face VT, Clem, NC and UGA all on the road but should make it to their 16 straight bowl!

Click Here to Download Rutgers’ Magazine Pages.PDF!

Click Here to Download Georgia Tech’s
Magazine Pages.PDF!

Check back tomorrow to see who I have coming in at #38 and #37!!

ONLY 108 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE FIRST COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME!!!

Today’s blog includes all of my Magazine Covers with the exception of the National Cover.

Making a magazine cover has always been a big deal for college players all the way back to the old Street & Smith days which featured the top players without their face masks. In past years I have had 10 different covers that I ship out to different parts of the United States so you can pick up a mag with your favorite player in that region on it. Last year I expanded it to 11 covers by revealing my new “Northwest Cover” which featured players from Oregon, Washington and Boise St on it!

While most magazines break down their covers by conference, I feel my covers separate themselves as I produce special Florida, Texas and Alabama/Auburn covers. Also I am the only magazine that has an Armed Forces cover!

This year we are featuring a record 41 different players from 38 schools made my cover(s)! 5 players made my cover for a 2nd year in a row in West Virginia QB Geno Smith, South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore, Oklahoma QB Landry Jones, Florida St QB EJ Manuel and Michigan QB Denard Robinson. USC QB Matt Barkley has now made 3 covers in a row! Broken down by position: 16 QB’s made my covers followed by 12 RB’s, 4 LB’s, 3 WR’s, 3 DL and 3 DB’s. Check out all the covers below!

The official on sale date of my magazine is June 5th! Trucks should be here in Cleveland with copies ready to ship a full week before it hits the newsstands. The cost of the mag on the newsstands is $8.95 but if you want to order thru the offices the cost is $14.25 and that includes Priority Mail ($5.30) with an estimated delivery time of 3-5 days, however THIS IS NOT GUARANTEED BY THE POST OFFICE. You can place your order through our office at 1-866-918-7711 or at PhilSteele.com. You get your choice of 11 different covers and the website is your best option. (PhilSteele.com store)

Please check PhilSteele.com everyday starting next Monday to get my Top 40 Countdown! Every day starting Monday May 14th thru June 12th, I will post both magazine pages on each team and you can get an early look on how I breakdown your favorite team. Remember those magazine pages are available for only 24 hours for you to download!
I will also give you information in a blog next week on how you can get an advanced copy of this year’s magazine!

SEC

Big 10

Midwest

Pac-12

East Coast

Florida

Texas

Alabama

Northwest

Armed Forces

25 DAYS UNTIL PHIL STEELE’S 2012 MAGAZINE IS ON SALE!

This will be the final version of our Mock Draft. Also there is a trade between Philadelphia and Jacksonville in the first round and no doubt there will be other trades as well but we did not include any others as the timing of the trades would be nearly impossible to forecast. Enjoy the draft and check back here to see how we fared with our picks as we did go against the grain with several picks!

A word of caution, remember these are not necessarily the order of the top players (check my updated top position by position breakdown for that info) but where they fit into that organization’s needs.

Covering college football as I do takes 52 weeks a year as it is and while I personally do not scout the high school games and rate each player I do compile my rankings based on the many different recruiting services across the country that follow and scout HS football year round. I not only like to use all of the biggest and best services, but I also use regional reports as well. The colleges themselves use many of these services to get the latest information on recruits.
One very important part of my College Football Preview Magazine is an individual player’s “PS#”. You will see them on almost every page and I find them vital in my analysis of a team.  A simple definition for a PS# is my ranking of the players at their positions coming out of high school.

When I receive a recruiting magazine, I translate each player’s ranking into a point system from 1-100.  Each and every player is then logged into the computer and give them a point total from each source. This is a very time-consuming process. Many players are listed by just one or two sources. The higher ranked recruits are mentioned by almost every source. The more they are mentioned and the higher they are rated in each publication, the more total points they accrue. After months of entering all of this information, I sort the list by each position and by total points. Naturally, the QB with the most total points then becomes PS#1QB for that year. If a player is PS#99QB, that means he ranks 99th in total points of all QB’s coming out of high school that year.

Before I wrap this article up, I would like to go over a couple of commonly used abbreviations that are used. Now you know just what a PS# is. Naturally, the PS stands for Phil Steele, or my rating for the players out of high school. I also use HT often. HT is a Highly Touted athlete. In the past this has been a player who ranks in the Top 100 at his position out of high school. With 50 states that comes out to be about 2 players per state at each position. A VHT (Very Highly Touted) is a player rated among the Top 20 out of HS.

I have changed the HT and VHT guidelines in the past couple of years. At K, the ratings drop to Top 10 for VHT and Top 35 for HT. At TE it is Top 15 for VHT and Top 75 for HT. QB is Top 30 for VHT and Top 100 for HT. WR and RB have two spots on most teams, therefore, the HT number is up to #150 and the VHT is up to #50. Most teams play 3 or 4 LB’s so that number moves to #200 for HT classification and #60 for VHT. The DL’s and DB’s generally have 4 players on the field. The HT classification is now up to #250 at those positions, while a VHT is among the Top 60 out of HS at their unit as a whole. The offensive line, which has 5 spots, is also up to #250 as an HT and up to #100 for a VHT. Many recruiting publications do not distinguish between OL and DL for their lineman. As a general rule, we put them into the OL category so that position has, by far, the largest amount of players.

Also new last year in my College Football Preview on every Top Newcomers list is the number of VHT’s and HT’s that each team brings in this year. For example, Texas signed the most number of VHT’s (22) and HT’s (6) combined with 28 while Ohio St (20) and Alabama (19) also led the way in VHT signings. This is also a nice quick way to compare how your favorite team did in the recruiting wars vs other conf foes. For example, Arkansas St signed 3 VHT players while the rest of the Sun Belt only brought in 4 other VHT players combined!

Who signed the most number of VHT’s?

(keep in mind these lists are taken from the newcomer lists which would include greyshirts, jucos, and transfers that can play immediately)

VHT’s By Conference

Conf	# of VHT	# of HT	Total	# of Newcomers	# of VHT/ Per Tm	# of HT/ Per Tm	# of VHT/HT/Tm	Newcomers Per/Tm
SEC	141	148	289	316	10.1	10.6	20.6	22.6
Pac-12	97	123	220	284	8.1	10.3	18.3	23.7
Big 12	78	116	194	253	7.8	11.6	19.4	25.3
Big Ten	84	120	204	258	7.0	10.0	17.0	21.5
ACC	69	148	217	268	5.8	12.3	18.1	22.3
Indep	15	18	33	128	3.8	4.5	8.3	32.0
Big East	24	101	125	177	3.0	12.6	15.6	22.1
WAC	5	26	31	147	0.7	3.7	4.4	21.0
Sun Belt	7	33	40	252	0.7	3.3	4.0	25.2
CUSA	7	93	100	278	0.6	7.8	8.3	23.2
MW	3	53	56	229	0.3	5.3	5.6	22.9
MAC	2	58	60	315	0.2	4.5	4.6	24.2

As you can see here to no surprise the SEC signed by far the most number of VHT’s per team with an amazing 10.1!! What was also surprising was that the Sun Belt and CUSA both signed more VHT’s than the MW who just a few years ago wanted to be among the BCS conferences as far as the bowls go.

A couple of weeks ago I gave you the odds to win the 2012 National Championship courtesy of Bovada. In today’s blog I will give you Bovada’s updated odds to win Super Bowl XLVII after yesterday’s news that Peyton Manning will be a Denver Bronco next year.

I must stress that while PhilSteele.com does not affiliate itself with gambling, I do think it is interesting to see how Vegas is examining the upcoming season.

Also make sure you are checking out my updated 2012 Draft Preview with a Top 10 position by position outlook and the top performers at each position during each drill at the combine.

Don’t forget to check out our Spring Central section to get 2012 schedules, coaching changes, who’s back/who’s not and all the NFL Draft early entrants.

Bovada Odds to Win 2013 Super Bowl
XLVII @ Superdome-New Orleans, LA
Sunday, February 3, 2013

Summary

1. Green Bay 13/2-The Super Bowl 45 champs and LY’s 15-1 season make the Pack clearly one of the early favorites and why not with QB Rodgers back behind center and of course they have done a solid job in recent drafts.

2. New England 15/2-Even with a loss in Super Bowl 46, the Patriots are one of the early favorites to capture their first title since 2004. In recent years they have retooled their defense and added a couple of outstanding TE’s and you can never count out Brady and Belichick.

3. New Orleans 10/1-The Saints arguably had one of the best offenses in the history of the NFL last season. While they had a tough playoff road loss to the 49ers, with Brees and Co back expect more of the same high-flying Saints and I’m sure they would love nothing more than to play the Super Bowl in their home stadium.

4. Denver Broncos 12/1-The Broncos were my inspiration to write this blog today as just a few weeks ago they were at least 50/1 odds at many places. Now with the addition of QB Manning, the Broncos probably have their best chance at winning to the Super Bowl since John Elway was on the sidelines more than a decade ago.

4. Houston Texans 12/1-The Texans won their first playoff game in franchise history last year and did so with their #3 QB Yates. With a healthy QB Schaub throwing to WR Johnson, a great RB in Foster and one of the NFL’s best defenses, Houston may become perennial playoff winner.

I am now fully entrenched writing my 18th edition of my college preview magazine and awhile back finished writing all the coaches sections for each of the 124 schools.

One thing that has clearly changed in the past decade plus has been the proliferation of the coaches’ salaries and in 2011 a record 32 college coaches made $2,000,000 or more for the year.

I find it fascinating to see what each of the coaches make per year and believe me much of it is well deserved when you consider the hours they put in and the constant demands by alums all over the country.

Below is a chart of the top 50 highest paid college coaches and the salary information was provided by the USA Today football coaches salary database which combine both guaranteed and non-guaranteed incomes. (Private universities such as USC and Notre Dame did not reveal what they specifically paid their coaches.)

Top 50 Highest Paid College Coaches

1. Mack Brown, Texas
Mack Brown took over a 4-7 team in ’98 but then proceeded to take them to bowls in 13 of 14 seasons. He has led Texas to at least a share of six Big 12 South Titles, a national title in ‘05 and in ’08 won the Bobby Dodd National COY.

2. Nick Saban, Alabama
Alabama had just one winning season in the previous four years before Nick Saban took over. Saban took LSU to a National Title in ’03 and spent ’05 & ’06 as HC of the Miami Dolphins. In his 16 seasons as a college HC he’s never had a losing season and of course he’s now guided the Tide to their 13th & 14th National Titles.

3. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Prior to Bob Stoops’ arrival, Oklahoma had five consecutive non-winning seasons. Stoops’ arrived in 1999 won a National Title in his 2nd season then played in the Title game in ’03, ’04 and ’08. OU’s 132 wins the last 12 years are more than any other BCS team.

4. Les Miles, LSU
When Les Miles took over at Oklahoma St the Cowboys had been to one bowl in 12Y. He left taking them to three straight. Miles led the Tigers to a National Title in his third season and after a 3Y drought without an SEC Title, guided them to a perfect 13-0 regular season LY before losing the National Title game while earning AP COY.

5. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Kirk Ferentz took over for a legend Hayden Fry in 1999. In ’02 he led Iowa to its first Big Ten Title since ’90 and also the most wins in school history (11) which he tied in 2009. Ferentz was named the Big Ten COY in ’02, ’04 and ’09.

6. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas
HC Bobby Petrino had a great run at Louisville, guiding the team to 4 bowls and a pair of #6 AP finishes. He left for the Atlanta Falcons in ’07 and was blasted by the media after quitting with three games to go. Arkansas struggled in the changeover in ’08 going 5-7 but Petrino turned it around going 8-5 in ’09 and In his 3rd year here he led the Hogs to their first ever BCS bowl and LY led them to a school tying 11 wins.

7. Gene Chizik, Auburn
Auburn fans were not thrilled when former DC (’02-’04) Gene Chizik was hired to replace Tommy Tuberville as he was 5-19 as Iowa St’s HC (’07-’08). However, Chizik delivered Auburn’s 2nd National Title (1957) in 2010 and Chizik is now 9-0 in bowls as a grad asst thru HC.

8. Brady Hoke, Michigan
While not an alum Brady Hoke was an assistant at Michigan for eight years (’95-’02) before taking the job as Ball St HC job (34-39). After getting the Cardinals to their highest ever rank (#12) Hoke took over San Diego St which had not had a winning season S/’98. In his 2nd year he left after earning MWC COY leading the Aztecs to their best record S/’77 and last year guided the Wolverines to 11 wins and their first BCS Bowl Win since the 2000 season.

9. Will Muschamp, Florida
Will Muschamp who was the NCAA’s highest paid assistant in 2010 beat Meyer’s future team Ohio St to finish 7-6 in his inaugural season as HC. Muschamp was the DC and HC-in-waiting at Texas (’08-’10). He also was the DC at Auburn (’06-’07) and LSU (’02-’04) and he spent ’05 in the NFL (Miami assistant HC on D).

10. Mark Richt, Georgia
Mark Richt is now in his 12 ssn here and earned SEC COY honors in ’02 and ’05. He was the OC at Florida St from ’94-’00 and last year was under heavy fire after the Bulldogs started the season 0-2. Richt would then guide them to 10 straight wins earning a trip to the SEC Title Game for the 4th time in his tenure here.

If you want to check out more on coach’s salaries make sure you check out the USA Today database.

Also make sure you are checking out my updated 2012 Draft Preview with a position by position outlook, draft order, team needs and a whole lot more.

Don’t forget to check out our Spring Central section to get 2012 schedules, coaching changes, who’s back/who’s not and all the NFL Draft early entrants.

Welcome to my second mock draft of the football season. I usually wait until after the combine and some of the pro days are complete to get a better grasp of where players will be going in the upcoming NFL Draft, which is just six weeks away.

A word of caution, remember these are not necessarily the order of the top players (check my updated top position by position breakdown for that info) but where they fit into that organization’s needs. I will have at least two more mock drafts in the upcoming weeks before the draft and naturally with trades impossible to predict, these do not take them into consideration, which could effect the entire draft but like I predicted in my first mock draft, it looks like the Redskins will trade with St. Louis and get the #2 pick.

2012 NFL Draft Top 50 Overall Players

Tomorrow’s blog will feature a look at the top college football players returning for 2012 according to pass yards, rush yards and receiving yards. Can you name the five college QB’s returning in 2012 that are off B2B 3,000 pass yards seasons? Find out in tomorrow’s blog!

For the past several years I have projected the preseason AP Top 10 nearly six months in advance and I have correctly projected at least nine of the Top 10 teams each year. It is one of my more popular blogs in the off-season and this year with its overwhelming popularity I have decided to expand it for the first time to 24 teams! I will mention it now and I will mention it numerous times throughout today’s blog but this is NOT MY preseason Top 24 for next year, it is where I project the AP Top 24 to come out at the start of the season. I have also strategically projected 24 teams and not 25 because I feel confident that all 24 of these teams will be in the preseason Top 25 while leaving room for a wildcard team that could slip into the Top 25 due to injuries, suspensions, transfers or preseason magazine projections.

Most AP voters usually look at a couple of criteria when they evaluate a team for the upcoming season. First they look at the number of returning starters that the team has coming back particularly at the offensive skill positions. A team that returns its starting QB and a combination of its RB and WR’s is often times more highly thought of than a team that loses its starting QB but returns its entire offensive line. Similarly a team that returns most of its starters on offense but loses a lot of its defensive playmakers usually is more highly thought of than a team that returns a majority of its defensive starters but loses its skill position players on offense.

Another factor that is heavily weighted is the performance of the team in the bowl game, which undoubtedly is the lasting image of that team in the off-season. A team coming off a huge bowl win usually is more highly thought of than a team that is coming off a bowl loss regardless of what their schedule looks like for the upcoming season.

Using these criteria and a few more, I project the preseason AP Top 10 every year at the conclusion of the previous season, which in most cases is nearly six months in advance. Now as you all know, a lot can happen from now to August including injuries, suspensions, transfers, etc. If you want to see how I have performed with my Top 10 projections refer to my January 30 Blog. Also it should be noted that a couple of teams have been moved up or down to reflect what has happened since that last blog, which includes national signing day.

Now let’s take a look at this year’s projected Preseason AP Top 24 and keep in mind again these are NOT MY preseason Top 24 teams!

#24 Florida-The Gators have had two sub-par seasons finishing 8-5 and 7-6 in 2010-11 but 2nd-year HC Will Muschamp looks to have the Gators on the upswing. They return 10 starters from a defense that allowed just 299.5 ypg last year and one of their keys to their season will be if they can get better QB production from Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel.

#23 Oklahoma St-Mike Gundy has done a tremendous job here and while they lose their starting QB Brandon Weeden and WR Justin Blackmon, Gundy was in a similar position two years ago losing two of his “triplets” in QB Zac Robinson and WR Dez Bryant and the Cowboys would respond with an 11-2 season. Expect good production from the QB position no matter who lines up behind center as Gundy and the Pokes are becoming one of the more consistent programs in the country.

#22 Texas-Similar to Florida, the Longhorns have had two sub-par seasons but looked poised to rebound in 2012. They again have one of the top defenses in the country, signed a great incoming frosh class including another PS#1 RB in Johnathan Gray and the big question remains whether or not they can get better QB play from David Ash or Case McCoy.

#21 Boise St-The Broncos lose their 4-year starting QB in Kellen Moore who won an NCAA-record 50 games and they also lose RB Doug Martin who could go as high as the 2nd round in the upcoming 2012 NFL Draft.  However, HC Chris Petersen is 73-6 in his first six seasons and the Broncos, no matter who fills in at the skill positions, will be the media’s favorite to win the MW.

#20 Stanford-Yes, the Cardinal lose all-everything QB Andrew Luck and two possible 1st Round DC on their OL. However, the Cardinal signed arguably their best recruiting class in school history which includes RB Barry Sanders, Jr and three of my Top 10 PS#OL. While they will be hard pressed to duplicate the 23 wins they have had in the last two seasons, 2nd-year HC David Shaw seems to have this program in reload rather than rebuild mode.

#19 Nebraska-You have to expect that Nebraska will be more familiar with their conference opponents this year. The Cornhuskers have lost four games in each of Bo Pelini’s first four seasons but their 2nd-year in the Big Ten will see them return both QB Taylor Martinez and RB Rex Burkhead along with seven starters on defense.

#18 Ohio State-While the Buckeyes will not be eligible to go to a bowl game or be ranked in the coaches’ poll like USC the past two years, they still have the opportunity to be highly ranked in the AP poll this year. The Buckeyes signed a Top 10 class loaded with DL and QB Braxton Miller, who led the Buckeyes in rushing last year as a true frosh is a perfect fit for Meyer’s spread offense.

#17 Virginia Tech-Last year the Hokies were my #1 Surprise Team and finished the regular season 11-1 and in the Top 5. While they lose RB David Wilson early to the NFL Draft this year, QB Logan Thomas returns for his second year as the starting QB. VT has won at least 10 games eight straight seasons and the Hokies should once again be the preseason favorites in the ACC Coastal Division.

#16 Wisconsin-The Badgers lose their dynamic QB in Russell Wilson but keep in mind they also went to the Rose Bowl the prior year with Scott Tolzien at QB. This year Heisman candidate RB Montee Ball returns after scoring 39 TD’s in 2011 and Wisconsin has won at least nine games in 5 of Bielema’s first six seasons as HC.

#15 TCU-The Horned Frogs take a big step up in competition this year moving to the Big 12 after a dominating run in the MW/CUSA which saw them win at least 11 games in seven of the last nine seasons.  While three of their expected returning defensive starters were recently expelled from school, the Horned Frogs on paper seem ready for the challenge returning record-setting QB Casey Pachall, their top three RB’s and their top two WR’s.

#14 Clemson-Yes the 70-33 Orange Bowl loss to West Virginia will hurt the Tigers in the minds of many AP voters but they do return QB Tajh Boyd and the electrifying Sammy Watkins. Dabo Swinney has done a solid job recruiting the past couple of seasons and will bring in new DC Brent Venables from Oklahoma to shore up the defense.

#13 Kansas St-Last year Bill Snyder got my vote for National Coach of the Year and got the most out of his team once again with a 10-win season. This year their best players return on both sides of the ball in QB Collin Klein who accounted for 40 touchdowns last year and LB Arthur Brown who is the vocal leader of an improved Wildcat defense.

#12 Michigan St-The Spartans are a rare example of a team losing their best skill position players in QB Cousins, WR’s Cunningham and Martin and RB Baker on offense but will still be one of the preseason favorites in the Big Ten. They return eight starters back from a defense that allowed just 18.4 ppg (#10 NCAA) and HC Dantonio has led MSU to back-to-back 11-win seasons.

#11 West Virginia-In my January 30th Blog, I had the Mountaineers #10 because at that time they were still a member of the Big East. I did write that if they were to join the Big 12 for 2012 they would be taking a step up in competition and I would lower them a bit and move South Carolina into the #10 spot. With the recent release of the Big 12 schedules, the Mountaineers still don’t drop too far with the dominating 70-33 Orange bowl win over Clemson still fresh in the minds of many voters. They also return 14 starters including QB Geno Smith who should be more comfortable in his 2nd-year of Dana Holgorsen’s offense.

#10 South Carolina-The Gamecocks were #11 in my last blog, but now move up a spot thanks to WVU’s move to the Big 12 and the fact that HC Spurrier welcomes in another talented incoming frosh class. The Gamecocks do return 13 starters including QB Connor Shaw and get back RB Marcus Lattimore who missed the last six games with a knee injury. They also get last year’s SEC East winner Georgia at home.

#9 Florida St-The Seminoles were a darkhorse pick for the National Title last year but an injury to QB Manuel saw the Noles drop to 2-3 at one point in the season. FSU would respond to win seven of its last eight games including wins over Florida and Notre Dame in the bowl to cap off the season and this year they return at least 15 starters including QB Manuel and defensive stars DL Jenkins and DB Reid who passed up the NFL to return. FSU looks to also bring in one of the best frosh classes in the country and should clearly be the favorites in the ACC.

#8 Michigan-The Wolverines were one of the biggest surprises in college football last year winning 11 games and a BCS Bowl under first-year HC Brady Hoke. This year they return seven starters on offense led by QB Denard Robinson and RB Toussaint who should be more comfortable in the 2nd-year of the new offense. UM also return seven starters from a defense that allowed just 17.4 ppg (#6) which was nearly an 18 ppg improvement from 2010! Michigan finished #12 in the final AP poll and figure to be the favorites to win the Big Ten this year along with a great incoming frosh class.

#7 Arkansas-The Razorbacks were #9 in my last blog and I have seen more positive stories about a possible improved defense under a new DC. They have had their most successful B2B seasons since 1988-89 going 22-5 the last two years. This year they return 13 starters including QB Tyler Wilson and will get back 2010 All-SEC RB Knile Davis who was out all of last season with an ankle injury. Last year the Razorbacks lost only two games to the top 2 teams in LSU and Alabama (both on the road) and this year the Crimson Tide and Tigers have to travel to Arkansas.

#6 Georgia-I was one of the few people in the country last year to pick Georgia to win the SEC East over South Carolina thanks to a favorable SEC slate that had them avoiding Arkansas, LSU and Alabama out of the West and the Bulldogs would not disappoint taking home the SEC East crown. This year they return 15 starters including QB Aaron Murray, leading rusher Isaiah Crowell, their top two rec’s and a 1st-Team All-American candidate on D in OLB Jarvis Jones. They also signed PS#2 RB Keith Marshall (In for spg). Again the Bulldogs AVOID LSU, Alabama and Arkansas out of the SEC West and will be the favorites to repeat as SEC East Champs.

#5 Oklahoma-The Sooners were the preseason AP #1 team last year and clearly underachieved losing three games including a 44-10 beatdown in Bedlam. They did win their bowl game over Iowa, return 15 starters including QB Landry Jones who will play better than last year’s finish and WR’s Kenny Stills and Jaz Reynolds. HC Bob Stoops brings his brother Mike Stoops to coordinate the D again (DC here when Sooners won national title in 2000) and the Sooners have won at least 10 games in a season 10 times since 2000!

#4 Oregon-The Ducks have become a fixture among the nation’s elite under HC Chip Kelly with three straight BCS appearances and last year captured their first Rose Bowl win since 1916! While QB Darron Thomas and RB LaMichael James are gone, their replacements are plenty capable as QB Bryan Bennett and RB’s Kenjon Barner and De’Anthony Thomas return with some valuable game experience and the Ducks do not open with a marquee non-conference game like they did last year vs LSU.

#3 Alabama-The Crimson Tide were my pick to win the National Title last year and they did just that avenging an earlier loss to LSU by dominating the Tigers in the BCS Championship game 21-0. Nick Saban signed yet another Top 5 recruiting class and this year the defending champs return seven starters on offense led by QB AJ McCarron who played magnificently in the title game. While the defense returns only four starters from last year, keep in mind in 2010, the Tide returned only 2 defensive starters and were the Preseason AP #1 team!

#2 USC-Last year while the probation-stricken Trojans were not eligible to play in the Pac-12 title game, I picked them to be the best team in the South and clearly they were just that going 10-2 (7-2) beating their crosstown rival Bruins who were the de facto Pac-12 South Champs 50-0 in the regular season finale! The Trojans locked up their spot here with the surprising return of QB Matt Barkley who is clearly one of the Heisman favorites in 2012. He will have plenty of skill position talent surrounding him with his top 2 WR’s Robert Woods and Marqise Lee back and 1,000 yd rusher Curtis McNeal also returning.  A case could be made at the end of last season that no team in the country was hotter than USC winning seven of their last eight games with a 3OT loss to Stanford their only blemish. With 15 returning starters, another talented recruiting class albeit only 15 players coming in, the Trojans clearly will be one of the favorites to take home the crystal ball.

#1 LSU-Last year LSU was picked 2nd in the SEC West behind Alabama and would go on to have arguably the best regular season in school history going 13-0 winning the SEC Championship and would beat EIGHT Top 25 teams! While the National Title loss to Alabama still stings, many of the Tigers’ star players return for 2012 including Heisman candidate DB Tyrann Mathieu along with their WR Odell Beckham, Jr and their top 4 rushers. Throw in QB Zach Mettenberger, who Miles said last year was his best pure passing QB and a home game vs Alabama and the fact the SEC has won six straight National Titles and the Tigers will be the favorites!

There you have it – My projections for the AP Preseason Top 24. As mentioned a couple of times in this article, these WILL NOT BE THE TOP 24 IN MY MAGAZINE. As you know, I tend to go out on a limb in a lot of cases and have a lot of surprise picks in my magazine. Those will be unveiled at the start of June when my magazine hits the newsstands but when the first AP poll comes out in August this year, go ahead and take this list and compare it and you’ll find that probably find at least 23 or maybe even all 24 teams in the Preseason AP Top 25 this year!

Spring practice is right around the corner and I am already very hard at work for the upcoming 2012 College Football Preview by going through position by position for all 124 teams. In the last couple of days I have wrote the LB section of the magazine for every team! Also I wanted to announce that I am expanding this year’s magazine by 16 pages so now we will have 344 jampacked pages making the 2012 edition the biggest and best yet!!!

Here’s a weekend football fix and an easy guide to see when your favorite team starts spring practice and has their annual spring game. If you see any dates that may be wrong or if you know of a team’s practice dates please feel free to email brandon@philsteele.com and we will continue to update this page.

2012 Spring Football Schedules