notes from nashville
By George Somerville
With Media days in the rear view mirror and the SEC juggernaut hurtling towards the start of the season, there was a lot to unpack from the week in Nashville.
In this series of articles, our SEC insider George Somerville recalls some of the key moments from SEC Media Days and talks to the big stories which will dominate and be debated right up until the first whistle of the 2023/24 SEC college football season.
#ItJustMeansMore
SEC MEDIA DAYS, Nash-Vegas, TN
Kiffin's State of the Nation
There is always an anticipation going into Media Days as to who is going to grab the headlines. Previously Mike Leach, Eli Drinkwitz and Lane Kiffin have been the ones to catch the attention and raise eyebrows. With Coach Leach sadly no longer with us, the gauntlet was passed to the other two. The University of Mississippi’s head coach, Lane Kiffin did not disappoint.
State of the Union
Before we get to Kiffin’s high jinks, the Ole Miss head coach had a serious message to get across. Kiffin’s concerns were about the state of the game.
“I’m going to address the portal, NIL, what I kind of call the disaster
that we’re in” Kiffin told the assembled media.
Kiffin’s concerns are that the biggest schools, with the biggest booster clout are the ones who are going to grab the best recruits as they follow the money.
“When this (“NIL”) first came out, basically said, whatever
programs have the most aggressive boosters with the most money are going to get the players. And now we are
adding some states that you don’t have to follow the
NCAA, and now the university can take their money and
give it to the collective to give it to the players.
So now we really have pay-for-play that the biggest
schools with the most donors, most aggressive, and the
school wants to spend the most money paying the players
to play to come to their school, is where we are with that.
So there’s kind of your state of the union of what all
coaches are dealing with around the country.
And really, a poor system that isn’t getting better is now going to get worse with this. Because again, now we just — look at
recruiting rankings and you’re going to see that they are
usually going to follow this donor base and what schools
are going to decide to give the most money to the players”.
Of course this is not the first time and won’t be the last time that a head coach calls foul on the current state of the game. Alabama head coach, Nick Saban and Clemson head coach, Dabo Swinney have been long critics of the Wild West environment surrounding the payments being made to players in the “name of” Name, Image and Likeness.
By using the national stage afforded to Kiffin in Nashville, he ws making sure that the rest of football, including the NCAA heard his concerns.
Kiffin being Kiffin
Of course this is all a little serious for the SEC coach who likes to cause chaos and is no stranger to a Twitter controversy. While Kiffin had decided to behave on the main stage, he had no such intention by the time he got to the small room to face the electronic media – the Joker was back.
In one of the more bizarre interactions over the week, a member of the media let slip that people thought that he was a Kiffin doppelgänger.
Kiffin responded by saying he too is often recognised but when asked if he is in fact Lane Kiffin replies,
“no, I hate that dude”.
But the real mischief maker surfaced when his doppelgänger said that at times his Mom couldn’t tell the difference between the two. A smile came over the Ole Miss coach’s face before saying…..
“who’s your mom?”.
Much Ado About Nothing...
Over the years we have come to anticipate Texas A&M head coach, Jimbo Fisher taking the stage. Fast talking’ Jimbo is usually defending himself and his school or he is having a pop at someone. Life is rarely dull around the Aggies head coach. Except on this occasion.
There was much for the Texas A&M head coach to talk about. The return of Texas to the SEC, a new co-ordinator and the debate over who will start at quarterback.
However for a man that speaks at a thousand miles an hour and talks a LOT, Jimbo didn’t actually tell us much in Nashville. He seemed to want to shroud most topics in secrecy. Which when talking to a room full of media people courted even more controversy. So if he thought he was going to dampen chatter about his program by not providing clarity or detail…..well he was wrong.
“I’m not going to sit here and say exactly what we’re doing
to do or how we’re going to do it. We’ll have a good plan,
and then the key is we’ve got to execute it and do it and get
the ball to the right guys and right playmakers and be solid
across the front, get the quarterback doing what he’s
supposed to do, and get it to the playmakers and let them
play”.
In response to the inevitable question about the scheme that new (but old) offensive co-ordinator, Bobby Petrino is likely to favour. Immediately there was blood in the water and the sharks began circling.
get out of the water!
So what as it going to be like having an ex-head coach on Bobby Petrino on the staff? Could Jimbo work with another head coach? In fact, Petrino wasn’t the only ex-head coach on the staff – how was this all going to work?
“I’m the boss, we’re the boss, we’ll do it at the end of
the day, but you listen to everybody’s opinion. Everybody
can voice their — I want guys with opinions. I want guys
who have knowledge. I want guys who make you think. I
want guys to create different narratives that brought to the
table that can help us”.
Was Jimbo’s response, giving new clues as to who was going to call the plays on offense this season? On this basis, perhaps Jimbo doesn’t know yet.
The sharks were in for the kill. Why wouldn’t Jimbo make a call on Petrino’s play calling….or not play calling…?
“No, there’s a lot of things, and you’re still involved with what goes on. I’m not going to get into what we’re doing, how we’re doing it. Again, I’m not trying to avoid anything. I just don’t want to create — you create advantages and narratives out there for what goes on.
But listen, Bobby was hired for a reason, and he’s a
tremendous coach and tremendous guy and tremendous
football mind, tremendous recruiter.
He’s done a great job recruiting since he’s been there, everything he does.
He’ll call a lot of — hopefully he’ll call the game. We’ll have
suggestions on things we do, whether it’s offense or
defense. Every coach is always involved”.
Which sounds a lot like Jimbo doesn’t want to relinquish calling plays. Not at this stage anyways.
money, money, money
If the question about Bobby Petrino was inevitable then so too was the question about the Aggies NIL collective. However, again Jimbo wasn’t giving anything away.
” That’s for the athletic director and the lawyers and everybody else to sort through and do what they’ve got to do. That was what they come up with, and whatever that is, we’ll navigate and work on based off the right laws in which we have.
I don’t know that answer. I’m just navigating by the rules
they give me, and I ask compliance every day, and then we go from there”.
Well there you go. A whole lot of talking but not much said. Jimbo is a man under pressure this season. You can’t be paid as much as Fisher is and have the poor season the Aggies had last year and not face pressure.
Last word to Fisher, finally
“We feel pressure every day. We feel pressure in everything we’ve got to do. So there’s no added pressure”.
So no pressure then.
Sam Pittman - Shot Putt Champion & National Treasure
It’s hard not to love Sam Pittman. He is tough but empathetic. Serious while hilarious. People listen when Pittman talks. So it was a pleasure and fascinating to sit in the room to listen to the Arkansas head coach.
Commissioner Sankey introduced the Arkansas head coach as a state champion shot putter, which again isn’t hard to believe. Sam is a mountain of a man and not one you would want to get on the wrong side of. But this paints the wrong picture of this (sometimes) gentle giant.
A couple of quotes jump out at me. First, given his humour in responses to the usual bizarro questions that come from some sections of the media. Pittman was asked if he had taken over the mantle of “college football’s most colourful and entertaining personality” from Mike Leach?
“Man, I couldn’t be — I couldn’t come close to him. We miss him, don’t we? We do. A lot of fun, and honest as the day is long”.
Said Pittman in what was the start of a poignant tribute to Coach Leach.
“He’s thought about a lot of his answers and some he didn’t.
I’ll say this: Somebody asked me, “Well, did you know
him?”
I said, “Well, no.”
And they said, “Well, are you going to the funeral?”
And I said, “I am because he would be at mine.” That’s just what kind of guy he was. Always calm all the time.
A lot of respect for him….we go to the Liberty Bowl and the people at the Liberty Bowl can’t quit talking about all the things that Mike Leach said about me.
Incredible man and let’s be honest, we miss him. The game will miss him as well.
But I want to say this: Mississippi State got it right. When that happened, they hired Coach Arnett. He’s the right hire for them. He’s a good coach. We talk a lot about the other part of it, but I think Zach Arnett is going to do a heck of a job with Mississippi State”.
Media days is as often about the off the wall questions aimed at getting a quote, rather than the hard hitting questions. Pittman, a man known to like to celebrate victories in a quiet but simple fashion was asked if he was partial to an Old Hamm beer. Pittman replied with a soundbite the question asker didn’t expect,
“Go Hogs. I like an old Hamm beer, but you burp a lot afterwards. You seem like you got a good job, man. Step it up a little bit”.
Moral of that story? Don’t mess with Sam Pittman.
2023 Preseason Media Days All-SEC Team
Towards the end of the week the Media in attendance are asked to predict the finish of the season and to vote for their All-SEC teams. Very proud to say I have a vote for this, and the outcome of the media poll is below for y’all to see and agree/disagree as you see fit. I’ll show you the predicted order of finish, including the media’s view on SEC champions in my next update. Let me know if you are outraged or delighted that your “guy” has or hasn’t made it onto the honours list…… hit me upon Twitter……. @geosomerville
OFFENSE
First-Team
QB – Jayden Daniels, LSU
RB – Quinshon Judkins, Ole Miss
RB – Raheim Sanders, Arkansas
WR – Malik Nabers, LSU
WR – Ladd McConkey, Georgia
TE – Brock Bowers, Georgia
OL – JC Latham, Alabama
OL – Amarius Mims, Georgia
OL – Tate Ratledge, Georgia
OL – Will Campbell, LSU
C – Sedrick Van Pran, Georgia
Second-Team
QB – KJ Jefferson, Arkansas
RB – Jase McClellan, Alabama
RB – Kendall Milton, Georgia
WR – Antwane Wells, South Carolina
*WR – Bru McCoy, Tennessee
*WR – Ja’Corey Brooks, Alabama
TE – Mason Taylor, LSU
OL – Tyler Booker, Alabama
OL – Brady Latham, Arkansas
OL – Javon Foster, Missouri
OL – Xavier Truss, Georgia
C – Seth McLaughlin, Alabama
Third-Team
*QB – Joe Milton III, Tennessee
*QB – Will Rogers, Mississippi State
RB – Jarquez Hunter, Auburn
RB – Trevor Etienne, Florida
WR – Ainias Smith, Texas A&M
WR – Jermaine Burton, Alabama
TE – Trey Knox, South Carolina
OL – Emery Jones, LSU
OL – Eli Cox, Kentucky
OL – Javontez Spraggins, Tennessee
OL – Layden Robinson, Texas A&M
C – Cooper Mays, Tennessee
DEFENSE
First-Team
DL – Mekhi Wingo, LSU
DL – Mykel Williams, Georgia
DL – Maason Smith, LSU
DL – Nazir Stackhouse, Georgia
LB – Dallas Turner, Alabama
LB – Harold Perkins, LSU
LB – Jamon Dumas-Johnson, Georgia
DB – Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama
DB – Malaki Starks, Georgia
DB – Kamari Lassiter, Georgia
DB – Javon Bullard, Georgia
Second-Team
DL – Jaheim Oatis, Alabama
DL – McKinnley Jackson, Texas A&M
DL – Justin Eboigbe, Alabama
DL – Deone Walker, Kentucky
LB – Smael Mondon, Georgia
LB – Nathaniel Watson, Mississippi State
LB – Ty’Ron Hopper, Missouri
DB – Malachi Moore, Alabama
DB – Dwight McGlothern, Arkansas
DB – Demani Richardson, Texas A&M
DB – Kris Abrams-Draine, Missouri
Third-Team
DL – Princely Umanmielen, Florida
DL – Tonka Hemingway, South Carolina
DL – Tim Smith, Alabama
DL – Darius Robinson, Missouri
LB – Chris Braswell, Alabama
LB – Jalon Walker, Georgia
LB – JJ Weaver, Kentucky
DB – Major Burns, LSU
DB – D.J. James, Auburn
DB – Nehemiah Pritchett, Auburn
DB – Jason Marshall Jr. , Florida
SPECIALISTS
First-Team
P – Kai Kroeger, South Carolina
PK – Will Reichard, Alabama
LS – Kneeland Hibbett, Alabama
KOS – Mitch Jeter, South Carolina
RS – Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama
AP – Ainias Smith, Texas A&M
Second-Team
P – Nik Constantinou, Texas A&M
PK – Harrison Mevis, Missouri
LS – Slade Roy, LSU
KOS – Nathan Dibert, LSU
RS – Ainias Smith, Texas A&M
AP – Tulu Griffin, Mississippi State
Third-Team
P – Oscar Chapman, Auburn
PK – Alex McPherson, Auburn
LS – William Mote, Georgia
RS – Tulu Griffin, Mississippi State
AP – Dakereon Joyner, South Carolina
* – Indicates a tie
