Six tie for first place at the end of first week of College Pick 'Em contest

I saw a cool football story over the weekend by al.com’s Mark Inabinett that talked about how 53 former Alabama high school players were playing in the NFL this season. NFL teams had to cut their rosters down to 53 players on Saturday in preparation for the opening week of the season, and more than a few players from our part of the state made the final cut.

Players from Southwest Alabama in the NFL this year include Foley High School’s Julio Jones, who plays wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons; Theodore High School’s C.J. Mosley, who plays inside linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens; Baldwin County High School’s Wallace Gilberry, who plays defensive end for the Cincinnati Bengals; Williamson High School’s Nick Fairley, who plays defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions; Linden High School’s Sean Richardson, who plays safety for the Green Bay Packers; UMS-Wright’s Jay Prosch, who plays fullback for the Houston Texans; Vigor High School’s Sen’Derrick Marks, who plays defensive tackle for the Jacksonville Jaguars; B.C. Rain’s Rodney Hudson, who plays center for the Kansas City Chiefs; 

Murphy High School’s Captain Munnerlyn, who plays cornerback for the Minnesota Vikings; Vigor High School’s Dee Milliner, who players cornerback for the New York Jets; Williamson High School’s Matt McCants, who plays offensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders; D.J. Fluker, who played at McGill-Toolen and Foley and now plays offensive tackle for the San Diego Chargers; Davidson High School’s Jimmie Ward, who plays defensive back for the San Francisco 49ers; St. Paul’s Mark Barron, who plays safety for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and St. Paul’s A.J. McCarron, who is a reserve quarterback for the Bengals.

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The first week of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em contest is in the books, and the standings after Saturday’s slate of games showed six contestants tied for first place.

First-place finishers included Marc Barlow, Tim Barlow, Glennis Curry, Chris Garner, Chuck Murph and Ricky Powell.

Five contestants were tied for seventh place, including Aaron Albritton, Arthur Ingram III, Jeremy Matheny, Hunter Norris and Sharon Peacock. Steve Stacey and Bo Minchew finished the week tied for 12th place.

The rest of the contestants filled out the 14th through the 21st place spots, including my brother Mark and I, who were tied for 18th place.

If you’re playing and didn’t finish in the Top 10, don’t sweat it. This contest will run for 13 more weeks, and it’s a marathon not a sprint. You’ll find that the Top 10 will change a lot over the next few months.

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If you’re a fan of college football, you’ve got a lot of great games to look forward to this coming Saturday, but the only SEC game between two conference opponents is the Ole Miss-Vanderbilt game. For what it’s worth, here are my picks for that game and the rest of the games involving SEC teams.

I like Ole Miss over Vanderbilt, Florida over Eastern Michigan, Kentucky over Ohio, Missouri over Toledo, South Carolina over East Carolina, Tennessee over Arkansas State, Alabama over Florida Atlantic, Arkansas over Nicholls State, Auburn over San Jose State, LSU over Sam Houston State, Mississippi State over UAB and Texas A&M over Lamar. (Georgia does not play this week.) Last week: 10-2. So far this season: 10-2.