SEC Media Days 2026
by GEORGE SOMERVILLE
THE TOUCHDOWN’s SEC CORRESPONDENT
Key Questions heading into Media Days
As much as we would like to think that football programs are well-oiled machines, there’s a huge amount of work and preparation that goes into getting the program ready for the season beginning.
Add in study time, transfer portal ins & outs, recruitment, even the constant noise around NIL, and you can see that there are a lot of distractions around a football program even before training camps have begun.
But Media Days are upon us already, and this signals the start of the clock ticking down to that first game of the season.
Each program knows what they need to do to become competition-ready. So, with a summer of hard work ahead for each school, here are the key questions each team needs to answer heading into the new season.
Day Four
Arkansas Razorbacks
The general feeling was that the football program under Sam Pittman was in decline. So Pittman was dispatched, and the Razorbacks reached out to Memphis Head Coach Ryan Silverfield to start a new era in Fayetteville.
Let’s not beat about the bush, Silverfield has a mammoth task on his hands. Arguably, Silverfield’s principal job in year one is to make sure that the Razorbacks don’t finish at the bottom of the SEC. And that is a real possibility.
The issue for the Razorbacks last season wasn’t so much on offense but on a defense, which leaked like a sieve. New Defensive Co-ordinator Ron Roberts has an almighty rebuilding job on his hands. Against the run last season, Arkansas restricted only two teams to under 300 yards – Arkansas State and Alabama A&M. Playing nine SEC games this year doesn’t fill Arkansas fans full of hope that the slide can be corrected. There will be at least 12 new players in this roster who will be classified as starters, and that is just on defense. Like many SEC teams this year, Silverfield & Co’s biggest issue will be building a cohesive unit before the season opener.
LSU Tigers
Where to start with those LSU Tigers! I’ve written enough about Head Coach Kiffin, who brings Offensive Co-ordinator Charlie Weiss Jr from Ole Miss and retains the services of LSU Defensive Co-ordinator Blake Baker. So, simply put, Kiffin offense, Kelly defense. Kind of. Although, to be fair, it was LSU’s offense that burdened most of the criticism last year, particularly at quarterback. Which is a glorious Segway to Tiger’s new quarterback, Sam Leavitt.
When it became known that Leavitt would transfer from Arizona State, he was highly sought after. Highly. Kiffin won the race and firmly believes that he has the right QB in place for the Tigers.
So question marks don’t come bigger than this. LSU does have the talent around Leavitt to ensure his arm talent can be used to its fullest. However, questions surround the QB’s fitness. Leavitt is recovering from foot surgery and only had screws removed from the foot in April. So is this a high-risk strategy for Kiffin?
Noticeably, Leavitt will be absent from SEC Media Days, meaning questions surrounding his fitness will be answered or not by his Head Coach.
Mississippi State bulldogs
Mississippi Head Coach Jeff Lebby enters his third year in Starkville. So far, the Bulldogs have not had a winning season under Lebby, and last year struggled again to find wins. So how do Lebby and his coaching staff move forward this year?
Zach Arnett returns as Defensive Co-ordinator. Yes, this is an unusual move, but one welcomed by Hail State fans. Arnett was DC under Mike Leach during arguably the Bulldogs’ best era of recent times. Arnett was then thrust into the Head Coach position after Coach Leach’s sad passing. This didn’t work out, and Lebby came in to replace Arnett. Now Arnett is back to take control of the defense. Arnett’s scheme is aggressive, and State players have already commented that they enjoy his style of play.
Kamario Taylor steps up from backup QB to starting QB after limited appearances last season. There is excitement about Taylor, but if he is to succeed, he will need his O-line to be much improved from last year. Lebby has been working hard to improve the depth of his O-Line so he can rotate more frequently.
A lot of questions surround this Hail State team this year.
Texas longhorns
There is a lot to write about the Longhorns. But I can’t get much further than the success of Arch Manning.
This is Manning’s fourth year in Austin. However, it is only his second as a starting QB. Patience is a word oft used with Manning, and certainly we have not yet seen the best of the latest Manning to come out of the QB factory.
This is not to say that Manning has disappointed. He hasn’t, however, the bar is set impossibly high given his last name.
So what can we expect from Arch this year?
This is now his third proper year in the football program after redshirting his first year, so he knows the scheme inside out. In fact, Manning will be one of the SEC’s most experienced players this season. So we should see maturity and leadership from him. As a QB, Texas fans expect him to take the game by the scruff of the neck, which we haven’t seen from him yet. Manning has shown this in flashes, but the criticism that he hasn’t done so in the big games is fair.
Is Sark under pressure?
Which leads us back to Sarkisian. The pressure on Sark’s shoulders is growing by the day. In the Longhorns’ first year in the SEC, he guided them to an SEC Championship game and a CFB Playoff semi-final. The expectation was that the Longhorns would push on from there. However, last year, Texas fell short of both in what can be considered a disappointing season.
What magic can Sark pull out of the hat this year? Because, to be honest, he needs to. I’m not suggesting that Sarkisian’s job is on the line; however, having a talent like Manning on the books and failing to turn it into gold is going to make life in Austin uncomfortable.
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
GEORGE IS A LONG STANDING FANATIC OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND WRITES HIS WEEKLY COLUMN CALLED “IT’S ONLY SEC” FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. HE IS ALSO CO-HOST AND ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST, THE UK’S FIRST PODCAST DEDICATED TO THE COLLEGE GAME.