Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea and quarterback Diego Pavia were joined by Texas A&M defensive end Cashius Howell in winning top individual honors in the Southeastern Conference for the 2025 season as voted on by members of the media who regularly cover the league.
In results released Wednesday, the AP’s voters selected Lea as SEC coach of the year for a second straight season, while Pavia was the conference’s offensive player of the year and Howell was its defensive player of the year.
Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy — a sophomore who transferred from the University of Louisiana at Monroe — was selected as the league’s newcomer of the year, while Tennessee receiver Braylon Staley was named freshman of the year.
Pavia, a Heisman Trophy finalist who has led the Commodores to the program’s first 10-win season, completed 71% of his passes for 3,192 yards during the regular season. The sixth-year senior accounted for 4,018 total yards and 36 touchdowns, including 27 passing, in his second season with the Nashville program after transferring from Conference USA member New Mexico State and playing two seasons of junior college football before that. Pavia led the SEC and ranked fourth nationally with a 171.5 passer rating during the recently completed regular season.
Lea, a Nashville native and former Vanderbilt fullback, has been instrumental in Pavia’s development and the rise of the program. Vanderbilt has 17 wins across the 2024 and 2025 seasons — the program’s best two-year stretch in nearly a century — and has sold out games along the way. That success made Lea, in his fifth year as the head coach at his alma mater, a candidate at other programs and prompted a contract extension last month.
Lea also was named the SEC’s coach of the year in 2024 after leading the Commodores to a 7-6 mark.
Howell led the SEC with 11 1/2 sacks during the regular season, which ranked fourth nationally. He has 15 1/2 sacks in two years with the Aggies, who will be part of the College Football Playoff for the first time later this month after being seeded seventh in the 12-team bracket. He spent his first two seasons with Mid-American Conference member Bowling Green.
Hardy led the SEC with 1,560 rushing yards yards, including 300 against Mississippi State last month, and scored 16 touchdowns during the regular season. Staley caught 64 passes for 806 yards and six touchdowns.
Like the Commodores, both Missouri and Tennessee will take part in bowls after falling short of the CFP this season.
Georgia, which beat Alabama 28-7 in the SEC title game Saturday at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium to repeat as the league champion, had eight players selected for the All-SEC team. There were three first-team picks from that group of Bulldogs: defensive tackle Christen Miller, linebacker CJ Allen and cornerback Daylen Everette.
Alabama had three selections, with offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor and safety Bray Hubbard on the first team.
Tennessee also had three selections, with receiver Chris Brazzell II and offensive guard Wendell Moe Jr. on the first team.
Here’s a look at the entire AP All-SEC team, as selected by media members who regularly cover the conference. Positional players are listed alphabetically with name, school, height, weight, class and hometown; “u” denotes unanimous selections.
FIRST TEAM
Offense
Quarterback: Diego Pavia (u), Vanderbilt, 6-0, 207, Gr., Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Running backs: Ahmad Hardy (u), Missouri, 5-10, 210, So., Oma, Mississippi; Kewan Lacy, Ole Miss, 5-11, 210, So., Dallas.
Wide receivers: Chris Brazzell II, Tennessee, 6-5, 200, R-Jr., Midland, Texas; Isaiah Sategna III, Oklahoma, 5-10, 182, R-Jr., Austin, Texas.
Tight end: Eli Stowers (u), Vanderbilt, 6-4, 235, Gr., Denton, Texas.
Offensive tackles: Cayden Green, Missouri, 6-5, 324, Jr., Lee’s Summit, Missouri; Kadyn Proctor, Alabama, 6-7, 366, Jr., Des Moines, Iowa; Keagen Trost, Missouri, 6-4, 316, Gr., Kankakee, Illinois.
Offensive guards: DJ Campbell, Texas, 6-3, 321, Sr., Arlington, Texas; Wendell Moe Jr., Tennessee, 6-2, 330, R-Jr., Long Beach, California.
Center: Jake Slaughter, Florida, 6-5, 303, R-Sr., Sparr, Florida.
Defense
Defensive ends: Cashius Howell, Texas A&M, 6-2, 248, R-Sr., Kansas City, Missouri; Colin Simmons, Texas, 6-3, 240, So., Dallas.
Defensive tackles: Will Echoles, Ole Miss, 6-3, 310, So., Houston; Christen Miller, Georgia, 6-4, 310, R-Jr., Ellenwood, Georgia.
Linebackers: CJ Allen, Georgia, 6-1, 235, Jr., Barnesville, Georgia; Xavier Atkins, Auburn, 6-0, 210, So., Houston; Anthony Hill Jr., Texas, 6-3, 238, Jr., Denton, Texas.
Cornerbacks: Mansoor Delane, LSU, 6-0, 190, Sr., Silver Spring, Maryland; Daylen Everette, Georgia, 6-1, 190, Sr., Norfolk, Virginia.
Safeties: A.J. Haulcy, LSU, 6-0, 222, Sr., Houston; Bray Hubbard, Alabama, 6-2, 213, Jr., Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
Special teams
Kicker: Tate Sandell, Oklahoma, 5-9, 182, R-Jr., Port Neches, Texas.
Punter: Grayson Miller, Oklahoma, 5-10, 200, Jr., Edmond, Oklahoma.
All-purpose player: KC Concepcion, Texas A&M, 5-11, 190, Jr., Chalotte, North Carolina.
SECOND TEAM
Offense
QB: Ty Simpson, Alabama, 6-2, 208, R-Jr., Martin, Tennessee.
RB: Jadan Baugh, Florida, 6-1, 231, So., Atlanta; Mike Washington Jr., Arkansas, 6-2, 228, Sr., Utica, New York.
WR: KC Concepcion, Texas A&M, 5-11, 190, Jr., Charlotte, North Carolina; Brenen Thompson, Mississippi State, 5-9, 170, Sr., Spearman, Texas.
TE: Rohon Jones, Arkansas, 6-3, 242, Sr., Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
OT: Cayden Green, Missouri, 6-5, 324, Jr., Lee’s Summit, Missouri; Trevor Goosby, Texas, 6-7, 312, So., Melissa, Texas.
OG: Ar’maj Reed-Adams, Texas A&M, 6-5, 325, Gr., Dallas; Micah Morris, Georgia, 6-4, 330, R-Sr., Kingsland, Georgia.
C: Drew Bobo, Georgia, 6-5, 305, Athens, Georgia.
Defense
DE: Quincy Rhodes Jr., Arkansas, 6-6, 275, Jr., North Little Rock, Arkansas; R Mason Thomas, Oklahoma, 6-2, 249, Sr., Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
DT: Gracen Halton, Oklahoma, 6-2, 292, Sr., San Diego, California; Chris McClellan, Missouri, 6-4, 323, Sr., North Tulsa, Oklahoma.
LB: Josiah Trotter, Missouri, 6-2, 237, R-So., Philadelphia; Taurean York, Texas A&M, 5-10, 227, Jr., Temple, Texas; Owen Heinecke, Oklahoma, 6-1, 227, R-Jr., Tulsa, Oklahoma.
CB: Colton Hood, Tennessee, 6-0, 195, R-So., McDonough, Georgia; Ellis Robinson IV, Georgia, 6-0, 180, R-Fr., New Haven, Connecticut.
S: Michael Taaffe, Texas, 6-0, 189, Sr., Austin, Texas; Wydett Williams Jr., Ole Miss, 6-2, 210, Sr., Lake Providence, Louisiana.
Special teams
K: Peyton Woodring, Georgia, 5-10, 190, Lafayette, Louisiana.
P: Brett Thorson, Georgia, 6-2, 235, Sr., Melbourne, Australia.
APP: Ryan Niblett, Texas, 5-10, 187, So., Houston.
Voting panel
Bob Ballou, CBS Austin; Armando Barry, 40/29 sports; Kirk Bohls, Houston Chronicle; Robbie Faulk, Starkville Daily News; Mike Griffith, Atlanta-Journal Constitution; John Hale, Lexington Herald-Leader; Eli Hoff, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Michael Katz, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal; Nick Kelly, AL.com; Julian Mininsohn, WKRN-TV; David Paschall, Chattanooga Times Free Press; Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel; Jacob Waters, Opelika-Auburn News; Mason Young, Tulsa World.