Media days takeaways
by GEORGE SOMERVILLE
THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
For the second straight year I attended SEC football media days in person. Amongst the seemingly endless stories that come from the four-day event I have tackled the impossible task of narrowing down what I think were the key takeaways from the SEC’s flagship start to the season.
So here are my headlines from SEC Media days 2024…..
takeaways from sec media days
texas & Oklahoma mean business
With Media days being held in Texas this year , the SEC rolled out the red carpet for the two new entrants to the conference, Texas and Oklahoma.
In the lead up to the two schools joining, much had been made about the length of any transition period from the BIGXII to the SEC. Neither the Longhorns, Sooners or their media representatives were having any of that talk during the week in Dallas. No sir, they are here to win and they made that abundantly clear throughout the week in Dallas.
hook em horns
Texas head coach, Steve Sarkisian was the first of the two “newbies” to take the podium and while respectful of the SEC and its existing teams, Sark made it clear that the University of Texas has one goal.
“at the University of Texas, part of the standard being the standard is competing for championships. I’m up here talking about football, but it’s at every sport. It’s at every level. Regardless of the conference — and that’s to take nothing away from the SEC — our goal is to come into this conference and compete for a conference championship. It is what it is. That’s why you go to the University of Texas. So that won’t change”.
To be fair there aren’t many in and around the college game who don’t think that Texas has a team prepared to challenge for the National Championship. Former Alabama head coach, Nick Saban who made his formal debut as an ESPN pundit predicts Georgia and Texas slugging it out for the SEC Championship at the end of this season.
This view is backed up by the SEC poll undertaken by the media representatives who were in Dallas for Media days. SEC media members also voted for a Georgia v Texas Championship game in Atalanta on December 7th.
boomer sooner
But what of the other new kids on the block, the Oklahoma Sooners? Interest in the Sooners was no less intense. In particular the media interest in Sooners quarterback, Jackson Arnold was borderline hysterical – but I will leave this for another piece on SEC QB’s.
Head coach, Brent Venables is an imposing character at the best of times although he didn’t look entirely comfortable on the stage in the Main room facing the Media – certainly not as comfortable as Sarkisian. But like the Texas head coach, Venables made it clear his team is ready to compete from day one in the conference. However, Venables also spoke with a tone of realism:
“It goes without saying, the SEC is a deep, incredibly competitive league, unlike any other in college football, and everything, everything, again, about this league is about parity. It’s about competitive depth. And it’s a one-possession league, as we’ve looked at it outside-in. You’ve got incredibly challenging venues. Every member of this conference, top to bottom, is committed to the excellence that this conference represents. And so as a football program, being in our first year, we are really looking forward to the challenge”.
With new schools, new head coaches, no subdivisions and a 12-team college football playoff, 2024 is certain to be a season of unprecedented change. Follow with me this season as we track the progress of Oklahoma, Texas and all of the other SEC teams!
the spectre of saban looms large
If the addition of the two new teams to the conference dominated Media days this year, the other glaring headline was about the man who wasn’t in a head coaching seat, Nick Saban.
Back in January, Saban had shocked the sporting world with the news of his retirement, meaning Alabama had to start the impossible search as to who was going to replace their record-winning coach.
But if SEC head coaches thought they could escape the glare of Nick Saban whilst in Dallas, they were sorely mistaken. Seamlessly, Nick Saban moved from the podium in the main room to the set of SEC Nation almost effortlessly. The glorious irony of this move was that the SEC Nation set was situated at the back of the main room, meaning Nick Saban looked down on every head coach who took to the podium. Literally and figuratively.
If there were any concerns how Saban would transition from coach to screen, these were dispelled in no time at all. Coach had come prepared with notes so detailed that they would shame many of his old peers who appeared on the podium during the week.
Mizzou head coach, Eli Drinkwitz gave us a glimpse of just how prepared Saban was by letting slip that the old Crimson Tide coach had called each head coach individually for a 60 minute debrief ahead of him compiling his notes. SEC Nation host, Laura Rutledge told me that after Saban’s first stint at the desk, he wanted to stay for more. As the week progressed we saw Saban more and more on SEC Nation but also doing the media rounds on Sportscenter, Get Up and many other morning TV shows as well as the obligatory apearance(s) on the Paul Finebaum show across the week.
On Finebaum, Saban admitted that his preparation for the week hadn’t changed any from his coaching days. Saban told Paul,
“I tried to prepare for it, just like I was preparing for a game” Saban told Paul Finebaum after admitting that he watched every team’s Spring football game in advance of heading to Dallas.
A leopard never changes its spots, as they say.
You can watch the full interview with Paul Finebaum below.
Kirby is the leader of the pack
While Nick Saban was definitely in the room he was no longer a head coach and no longer the unofficial head of the SEC coaches union.
But as seamlessly as Saban took to the media stage, Georgia head coach, Kirby Smart stepped up to be the unofficial leader of SEC head coaches.
While I am relatively new to this, I wasn’t alone in thinking that Smart cut a new, relaxed and very composed head coach figure standing on the podium on Tuesday.
Smart is now one of the old guard in the SEC and he talked about his tenure at Georgia,
“I’ve been very fortunate to have nine years. I mean, that is just crazy to think about. This is my ninth one of these”.
“And I tell you, being an SEC head coach,….It’s not the years, it’s the mileage. It’s been a great nine-year run for us at Georgia”.
Smart also had jokes, the first being that he had entered the building without being thinned for credentials, which was a poke at Saban who had forgotten his on the first day and had been refused access.
Kirby continued to poke the bear with an anecdote about Saban and technology,
“But he has started responding to texts. I told people the other day, that’s the first time ever. Either somebody has his phone or he learned how to text. That makes all of us in his circle of friends proud because we get to reach out to him”.
But aside from the jesting, Smart had some words to say about his old head coach and friend. Tributes for Saban were not hard to come by with Sarkisian and Kiffin also paying homage to the now retired Crimson Tide head coach. Smart had this to say about Saban
“Couple words I want to say to Coach Saban, who meant so much to me in my career. First of all, the words he shared at the ESPYs the other night were incredible, very touching, very moving. What he’s meant to myself, my family, as a mentor, as a friend, as a competitor, that drives to you get better.
There was never a day in 11 years I worked for him that we didn’t share a room in some sort. Whether that was the defensive room, defensive back room, staff room, and I think it made me who I am today.
Because the demand for excellence is met by none other than him. So that standard that he set for me, day in and day out, he met himself. Every coach that ever worked with him or for him will tell that you he does it all himself as well.
He doesn’t hold you to any different standard than himself. So a lot of the success I’ve had I give credit to him and thanks. I know he’ll being critiquing me today, so I am looking forward to that as well”.
Schedule is not kind to Napier
While the reset button should be pressed after each season, we all know that head coaches winning and losing records hang like an albatross around their neck – unless you are Kirby Smart or Nick Saban that is.
Meaning some, but not all head coaches go into the new season with an awful lot to prove and frankly much pressure on their shoulders.
Cue, Billy Napier. At the best of times the head coach at Florida is only ever one or two defeats away from crisis and with a record over his two seasons at Florida of 11-14 Napier has no margin for error. Indeed, Napier’s record against his regular season opponents – Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, Florida State and Kentucky is a woeful 1-9.
Compounding this is a spotty recruiting record at best. Perhaps not his fault but Florida had the Rashada shambles to deal with as well as a number of other recruits who chose other schools over the Gators. While this most recent Florida recruiting class shows signs for optimism, it needs to prove itself before Napier gets any credit.
And this is where we are at. The jury is out and the honeymoon over with Florida fans, boosters and Napier meaning the Gators head coach is very much feeling the pressure. His comments to beat reporters in a side conversation in Dallas about “being on track” with his plans raised eyebrows, suggesting Napier isn’t pressing the panic button just yet.
But as we all know, when it rains it usually also pours and just when Billy Napier really needs to catch a break the 2024 schedule throws him one almighty set of challenges.
From 12th October, the Gators schedule is : Tennessee (road), Kentucky (home), Georgia (road), Texas (road), LSU (home), Ole Miss (home) and Florida State (road). If the Gators haven’t made significant strides from last year, all of these games have the potential to be lost. Which would be a nightmare scenario for Napier and his staff. Without being too much of a doom-monger heavy losses to Georgia in the Cocktail party and against Texas in Austin, most likely won’t see Napier get the chance to face the other games.
These are testing times in Gainesville!
ole miss no longer dark horses
Ole Miss Head coach, Lane Kiffin cut a very different figure to the relaxed and funny Rebels leader that we saw last year in Nashville. But huge kudos must go to Kiffin who arrived in Dallas less than a week after his father Monte passed away.
Kiffin was asked to acknowledge his father’s legacy at the very outset of his appearance at media days to avoid his appearance being overshadowed by questions about his legendary coaching father. Kiffin was clearly uncomfortable doing so however got through his opening remarks and as he said it was time to “do his job”. Before opening up for questions Kiffin said,
“But as he (Kiffin Snr) would say, his first rule when you put on the chalkboard back in the day to all players and coaches was to show up. First rule of getting better is you got to show up. Show up and do your job. That’s what I’m trying to do here”.
Of course that didn’t stop what was frankly a wave of tributes to the legendary head coach coming from Sarkisian, Beamer, Drinkwitz, Napier, Pittman – there was hardly a head coach who didn’t have a word about how they had been impacted by Monte Kiffin’s legacy. It was very touching.
For Ole Miss, the headline was that for the first time in many years, the Rebels are highly favoured to do so well this year that experts are talking about not just a CFB Playoff spot but an SEC Championship game and even an appearance in the National Championship game in Houston in early 2025.
“There is plenty of noise out there that means nothing, and plenty of teams over the years in all sports have been ranked high and haven’t played well and been ranked low and played really well. None of that means anything”. said Kiffin about the pre season noise engulfing his team.
Of course, Kiffin was asked specifically about the “rat poison” out there, referencing Nick Saban’s favourite phrase when talking about his teams being hyped to the moon and back. A phrase that Kiffin has used regularly. Kiffin was asked about how to juggle the praise his team has received with the hype and expectation of having another winning season.
“I don’t know that you contain it, you just continue to talk about it. Kind of like in parenting. You just continue to hit on it and hope that it sticks” said Kiffin.
Clearly he is having to play all of the hype down and continually reiterating to his players that it means nothing at this stage. Kiffin continued,
“On the plane ride down here with the three of them, just continue to remind them about that. You know, that doesn’t mean anything. Nowadays it’s harder as you mentioned because it’s coming to their phones all day long, how great they are or you’re in the ranked here and supposed to be ranked here as the receiver or any of that stuff…… Just continue to remind them. I get it. We’re all humans. You read stuff you start to believe it when you see it enough. Just got to continue to remind them that really means nothing. Really doesn’t”.
There was no question that Kiffin was in a reflective mood at media days. Notwithstanding this, he is acutely aware that his team could be tripped up before a ball is kicked if they start believing the hype. With back-to-back double-digit winning seasons, anticipation for the Ole Miss Rebels is high, higher than it has ever been since Eli Manning wore the #10 shirt.
It’s now up to Kiffin and his staff to keep the Rebels collective feet on the ground.
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
George is a long standing fanatic of life and football in the Deep South and writes his weekly column “It’s Only SEC (but I like it)” 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.