BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- Five Aggies earned preseason All-Southeastern Conference honors in the 66th annual Birmingham News Spring Football Preview, which was determined by the vote of the conference’s 14 media relations directors.

Being named to the first team were senior wide receiver Ryan Swope (Austin, Texas) and senior linebacker Sean Porter (Schertz, Texas), while junior offensive tackle Luke Joeckel (Arlington, Texas) and senior running back Christine Michael (Beaumont, Texas) received second-team accolades on the prestigious honor team.

In the “Best of the SEC” category, Porter was ranked the conference’s second-best linebacker behind Georgia’s Jarvis Jones and senior Dustin Harris was the No. 2 kick returner behind LSU’s Tyrann Mathieu.

The newspaper also projected the 2012 season’s “overall strength” in the SEC and in the SEC Western Division. Texas A&M, which begins its first season in the SEC this fall, was rated No. 8 in the overall SEC rankings and No. 5 in the divisional standings.

The Aggies were also prominently mentioned on Phil Steele’s Preseason All-SEC team. Eight Aggies were named to the squad, which includes four teams on offense, defense and special teams. Swope and Porter were named to the first team, Michael, Joeckel and Harris were named to the second team, junior offensive tackle Jake Matthews was named to the third team and senior center Patrick Lewis and junior defensive end Damontre Moore was named to the fourth team.

On Phil Steele’s preseason All-America team, five Aggies were mentioned: Matthews and Joeckel on the second team, Porter on the third team, and Swope and Harris on the fourth team.