re: Was this the best secondary in SEC history?

Not sure what kind of stats one uses for comparison secondaries in different years. Individual DB stats don't help because oftentimes the absence of stats is an indicator of success; the offense is choosing not to throw to the DB in question, from which we can infer that the DB is good. Team defensive stats are dependent as much on the front seven complementing the secondaries and the offenses faced as they are on actual secondary skill, too, so they don't really prove anything.

As subjective a criterion as it is, individual awards and draft pick status are probably the best barometers we have for answering the question.