Phil Steele, the guru of preseason college football prognostication, has released his preseason All-Big 12 teams. As usual, he went four teams deep to break down the conference's top talent.
You can find the full list here. A recap of his first-team All-Big 12 selections:
QB Bryce Petty, Baylor
RB Malcolm Brown, Texas
RB Shock Linwood, Baylor
WR Antwan Goodley, Baylor
WR Tyler Lockett, Kansas State
WR Jakeem Grant, Texas Tech
TE E.J. Bibbs, Iowa State
C BJ Finney, Kansas State
OG Cody Whitehair, Kansas State
OG Quinton Spain, West Virginia
OT Le'Raven Clark, Texas Tech
OT Spencer Drango, Baylor
DL Cedric Reed, Texas
DL Chucky Hunter, TCU
DL Devonte Fields, TCU
DL Ryan Mueller, Kansas State
LB Bryce Hager, Baylor
LB Frank Shannon, Oklahoma
LB Ben Heeney, Kansas
LB Eric Striker, Oklahoma
CB Quandre Diggs, Texas
CB Zack Sanchez, Oklahoma
S Sam Carter, TCU
S Chris Hackett, TCU
K Michael Hunnicutt, Oklahoma
P Nick O'Toole, West Virginia
KR B.J. Catalon, TCU
PR Levi Norwood, Baylor
A few takeaways from the four teams Steele put together:
Baylor led the way in first-team honors with six players. In terms of which school had the most players honored over the four teams, Oklahoma led with 19. Baylor and Texas are tied for second behind OU with 14, with TCU (13) and Kansas State (12) rounding out the top five. Iowa State (six) and Oklahoma State (seven) had the fewest players selected, and OSU is the only program with no players on the All-Big 12 first team.
You're sure to get some disagreement from folks in Lubbock over these quarterback choices. Davis Webb is the fourth-team QB after Petty, Jake Waters and Trevor Knight were slotted ahead of him. No disagreement on Petty, of course, but realistically you could come up with any combination for those No. 2-3-4 QB spots and have a fair argument.
Steele does show some love for Big 12 newcomers. Kansas WR Nick Harwell, a Miami (Ohio) transfer, has yet to play a game for KU but earned a second-team slot. Same goes for RB Rushel Shell, the Pitt transfer now at West Virginia, who made third-team All-Big 12. Kansas State junior college transfer DT Terrell Clinkscales was a fourth-team selection, and that's probably a good call. Not so sure on Harwell and Shell just yet, but the hype is justified.
The Sooners had the most offensive selections (eight) and the most defensive selections (10) for the four teams. Baylor had the second-most offensive players with seven, and eight Texas defenders made the list.
The Big 12 units most disrespected by Steele's list? Iowa State's defense had only one player honored (Cory Morrissey), and he was a fourth-team selection. The Texas Tech defense also had just two selections, and both made the fourth team. On offense, TCU did not have any players on the first, second or third team.
Anything else stand out to you? What about significant snubs? Offer up your answers in the comments below. For the record, the official All-Big 12 preseason team will be released next month prior to the conference media days in Dallas.