Three University of Alabama football players were named to the 2006 preseason All-SEC football squad selected by Pete Futak of the College Football News it was announced Thursday afternoon.

Sophomore center Antoine Caldwell (Montgomery) was a first-team selection, while senior right tackle Kyle Tatum (Prattville) and senior defensive tackle Jeremy Clark (Daphne) were second-team picks by College Football News.

Caldwell started all 12 games for Alabama as a redshirt freshman in 2005 and moved to center for the 2006 AT&T Cotton Bowl win over Texas Tech. He was rated as the 23rd best player in the SEC by College Football News.

A three-year starter, Tatum is back for his fourth season with the Crimson Tide. He started 11 games for Alabama last years and leads all UA offensive linemen with 23 career starts. He has 32 total starts for the Crimson Tide, which includes nine career starts on the defensive line as a redshirt freshman in 2003.

Clark is one of Bama's most experienced defensive linemen with 34 career games. He has logged 60 career tackles, including 4 1/2 sacks and 7 1/2 TFLs. Clark played in all 12 games last year and recorded 16 tackles.

Although he was not a first or second team preseason All-SEC selection, senior running back Kenneth Darby (Huntsville) was rated as the 16th best player in the SEC.

Darby has 2,408 career rushing yards at Alabama and enters the 2006 season just 1,076 yards shy of Shaun Alexander's career rushing record. Darby posted back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons as a sophomore (1,062) and junior (1,161) and seeks to become the first player in school history with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.

ALL-SEC OFFENSE
Offensive Player of the Year: RB Kenny Irons, Auburn
QB Chris Leak, Sr. Florida
RB Kenny Irons, Sr. Auburn
RB Darren McFadden, Soph. Arkansas
WR Dwayne Bowe, Sr. LSU
WR Sidney Rice, Soph. South Carolina
TE Eric Butler, Jr. Mississippi State
OL Antoine Caldwell, Soph. Alabama
OL Daniel Inman, Sr. Georgia
OL Michael Oher, Soph. Ole Miss
OL Arron Sears, Sr. Tennessee
OL Brian Stamper, Sr. Vanderbilt
PK Brandon Coutu, Jr. Georgia
KR Felix Jones, Soph. Arkansas


ALL-SEC DEFENSE
Defensive Player of the Year: LB Patrick Willis, Ole Miss
DL Justin Harrell, Sr. Tennessee
DL Jarvis Moss, Jr. Florida
DL Quentin Moses, Sr. Georgia
DL Marcus Thomas, Sr. Florida
LB Sam Oljabutu, Sr. Arkansas
LB Brandon Siler, Jr. Florida
LB Patrick Willis, Sr. Ole Miss
DB Fred Bennett, Sr. South Carolina
DB Jonathan Hefney, Jr. Tennessee
DB LaRon Landry, Sr. LSU
DB Reggie Nelson, Jr. Florida
P Eric Wilbur, Sr. Florida
PR Rafael Little, Jr. Kentucky

ALL-SEC SECOND-TEAM OFFENSE
QB JaMarcus Russell, Jr. LSU
RB Arian Foster, Soph. Tennesse
RB Rafael Little, Jr. Kentucky
WR Dallas Baker, Sr. Florida
WR Earl Bennett, Soph. Vanderbilt
TE Jacob Tamme, Jr. Kentucky
OL Tim Duckworth, Jr. Auburn
OL Brian Anderson, Sr. Mississippi State
OL Kyle Tatum, Sr. Alabama
OL Gurminder Thind, Soph. South Carolina
OL Zac Tubbs, Sr. Arkansas
PK Chris Hetland, Sr. Florida
KR Lucas Taylor, Soph. Tennessee

ALL-SEC SECOND-TEAM DEFENSE.
DL Jeremy Clark, Sr., Alabama
DL Quentin Groves, Jr. Auburn
DL Marquies Gunn, Sr. Auburn
DL Turk McBride, Jr. Tennessee
LB Quinton Culberson, Sr. Mississippi State
LB Earl Everett, Sr. Florida
LB Ali Highsmith, Jr. LSU
DB Jessie Daniels, Sr. LSU
DB Chris Houston, Jr. Arkansas
DB David Irons, Sr. Auburn
DB Reshard Langford, Soph. Vanderbilt
P Kody Bliss, Sr. Auburn
PR Thomas Flowers, Jr. Georgia

TOP 30 SEC PLAYERS
1. RB Kenny Irons, Sr. Auburn
2. WR Sidney Rice, Soph. South Carolina
3. LB Patrick Willis, Sr. Ole Miss
4. FS LaRon Landry, Sr. LSU
5. QB Chris Leak, Sr. Florida
6. DE Quentin Moses, Sr. Georgia
7. OT Arron Sears, Sr. Tennessee
8. LB Brandon Siler, Jr. Florida
9. RB Darren McFadden, Soph. Arkansas
10. RB Rafael Little, Jr. Kentucky
11. LB Sam Oljabutu, Sr. Arkansas
12. CB Fred Bennett, Sr. South Carolina
13. RB Arian Foster, Soph. Tennesse
14. LB Earl Everett, Sr. Florida
15. FS Reggie Nelson, Jr. Florida
16. RB Ken Darby, Sr. Alabama
17. NT Marcus Thomas, Sr. Florida
18. RB/KR Felix Jones, Soph. Arkansas
19. LB Ali Highsmith, Jr. LSU
19. QB JaMarcus Russell, Jr. LSU
20. DE Jarvis Moss, Jr. LSU
21. QB Brandon Cox, Jr. Auburn
22. OT Daniel Inman, Sr. Georgia
23. C Antoine Caldwell, Soph. Alabama
24. RB Thomas Brown, Jr. Georgia
25. WR Dwayne Bowe, Sr. LSU
26. LB Quinton Culberson, Sr. Mississippi State
27. OT Michael Oher, Soph. Ole Miss
28. WR Earl Bennett, Soph. Vanderbilt
29. FS Jonathan Hefney, Jr. Tennessee
30. OT Brian Stamper, Sr. Vanderbilt

The University of Alabama ticket office has sold its entire allotment of student football tickets for the 2006 Crimson Tide season, UA Director of Athletics Mal Moore announced.

The sellout occurred in spite of an increase of 3,000 to the student ticket allotment for 2006 as students already have exhausted this year’s total of 15,000 available tickets. Student tickets went on sale on April 10 to all upperclassmen via the UA athletics website (rolltide.com).

By May 31, a total of 10,943 student tickets had been sold. The entire allotment of 15,000 was allocated by June 20; just 19 days after new student orders were acceptable on June 1 via www.rolltide.com. The supply of student tickets is distributed on a first come, first served basis.

The Crimson Tide football team opens the 2006 season on Saturday, September 2, against the University of Hawaii at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Kickoff time is to be determined.

As the 2006 Crimson Tide football season looms, Alabama fans have an opportunity to celebrate the 2005 season one final time, in particular Tyrone Prothro’s acrobatic catch against Southern Miss.

Voting for the 2006 ESPYs is open and fans can go to ESPY voting to watch and vote for Prothro’s catch.

Voting ends on July 9 at midnight Eastern Time. The ESPYs, hosted by Lance Armstrong, can be seen live on ESPN on July 16 at 9:00 p.m. ET.