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Dante Fowler, Vernon Hargreaves III lead Gators on preseason All-SEC teams

The two highly-regarded defenders are Florida's only first-team selections.

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Dante Fowler, Jr. and Vernon Hargreaves III lead four Florida Gators selected to preseason All-SEC teams by "a record 293 media members" at SEC Media Days.

Fowler and Hargreaves were each named to the first-team defense — Fowler at defensive end, Hargreaves at cornerback. Offensive lineman Chaz Green made the third-team offense. And returner extraordinaire Andre Debose was named the second-team return specialist.

Hargreaves racked up 243 points from voters to rank third among defensive players, behind Alabama safety Landon Collins and Alabama linebacker Trey DePriest. Fowler's 212 points slot him in at fifth behind the aforementioned players and Mississippi defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche.

That total of four players earning preseason All-SEC honors is a marked change from 2013, when 10 Florida players dotted the all-conference teams. And it's a tiny number: Alabama, which leads all SEC schools with 13 preseason All-SEC selections, has four players on the All-SEC first-team offense.

Of course, given that the "record 293 media members" who were voting on this likely don't break down evenly to the approximately 21 reporters from each school's beat one might expect, it's a safe bet some teams enjoyed a bit of home cooking.

And in case you were worried about the accuracy of preseason projections at Media Days: Loucheiz Purifoy was forecast as the a first-team cornerback in 2013.

That didn't quite work out.